{ in her next installment, ANTLER blogger amy george invites writers of all skill levels to contemplate and create. feel free to send her the results of your exercise, or post on our page! }
My husband, Calvin, is a star gazer. Literally. He has a huge telescope with an 8-inch mirror. He enjoys looking at the planets and stars and marveling over how amazing they are. He will drag a giant telescope into the middle of nowhere (“to get away from light pollution,” he says) in the middle of the night, while most people are cozy at home. He has always loved the sciences and things with a touch of mystery.
Appreciation for the beauty around us comes and goes. Even though we live in a majestically-created, awe-inspiring world, we can easily lose our sense of wonder at the world, with all of its glorious details, both large and minute.
Have you ever viewed a child at the beach or playing in the snow? Ever watched a little one stop to smell the roses…or pick a daisy or watch a caterpillar? Has it been awhile since you slowed down to take notice of what children notice every day or let yourself enjoy what they enjoy? God’s awesome creative work at play in our environment is worth taking note of. Take a child for a walk. Her or she will “get” it.
Isaiah 40:24-26 records the majesty of God in His own words: “So—who is like me? Who holds a candle to me?” says The Holy. Look at the night skies: Who do you think made all this? Who marches this army of stars out each night, counts them off, calls each by name —so magnificent! so powerful!— and never overlooks a single one?”
Wow.
Observation of details is a powerful tool in the hands of any writer. Here are two options for you to invoke a sense of wonder of the world around you. Either will work, just look at the small details as well as the obvious ones. Think: colors, textures, sounds, smells, tastes. (Sound familiar?) Write for as long or as little as you would like. This could end up as a poem or a meditation to God or part of a story—whatever you would like.
Before you begin either exercise, read Psalm 104 and meditate on it. Thank God for its truth.
Option one:
Take a child that you know to a park. Let them loose and watch them play. Pay attention to their movements and facial expressions and listen to whatever they want to tell you while you’re there. Write it all down.
Option two:
Imagine that you are describing your favorite natural place (beach, mountains, Niagara Falls?) to someone who has never been there. Make five columns on a piece of paper, one for each sense. Jot down the details first, then put them into a poem or a letter, if you’d like.
This could even become a psalm of your own. Or the first of many.
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Amy L. George is the author of The Fragrance of Memory (Amsterdam Press, 2010), Sacred Fires and Ebullient Flames (Red Ochre Press, 2011), and Desideratum, which is forthcoming in January 2013 from Finishing Line Press. Her poetry and writings have been published in journals such as MiPoesia, Word Catalyst Magazine, Jones Av., The Foliate Oak Online and others. She and her husband live in North Texas where they both teach English at Southwestern Assemblies of God University in Waxahachie.