PLACE
week 12 | june 14 - june 21
PLACE
The ways in which we live our lives have been reshaped, suddenly and drastically. Even in all the shifting, I wonder if physical “place” has not changed all that much. Pandemic or not, places remain as they were. I’m not talking about whether people are visiting said places in the same way. I’m saying the wood of your preferred park bench is still there, worn with flaking paint. The waterfall along your favorite hike is still flowing. The used book store still smells both stale and lovely. Your hometown’s baseball fields stand at the ready. The concert halls, restaurants, and other indoor spaces are all there, waiting for us to come again.
It is a joyful thing that God cares so deeply for the actual spaces and places of this world. As we are made in his image we too grow connections with locations. Our bodies were built to experience the world with our senses, and our senses bless our knowing with colors, textures, scents, and sounds. If all that was important was the abstract principles of knowing the Father through Christ, then all this physical “stuff” would be unnecessary. But our God is extravagant in his love, artistry, and hospitality.
If someone hosts a gathering for dear friends, they don’t serve the guests power bars and kale juice on the garage floor because proper nutrition is the primary life-giving value. They lay out their grandmother’s table runner, arrange wild flowers, light candles, play music, and make space for each beloved guest with their own comfortable chair and place setting. This is how our loving Father originally designed to make a “place” for us in this world. Of course, the fall guarantees that even our beloved places are marred by brokenness. But places still echo both the beginning invitation to “be with” God in the beauty of creation, and also harken to our future “with God” in the beauty of the new heavens and new earth where, again, we will exist with one another in a city—a place—made anew even more beautiful than we can now imagine.
This week’s submissions on this theme feature playful sculptures, a pincushion mountain, poetry on the concept of home, a lovely Irish fiddle tune, and more. Please be blessed.
Pincushion Mountain
Jess Anderson
punch needle with linen & wool
Grand Marais holds a special place in our family’s heart and history. Paul and I got engaged in the BWCA near Grand Marais, and now we travel north often with our kids to enjoy the beauty of nature and the charm of our favorite small town. We recently discovered a beautiful spot on Pincushion Mountain which overlooks Grand Marais and a full horizon of Lake Superior. This punch needle piece was inspired by that place and it’s beauty- a reminder to enjoy the dreams and views along the way.
Home
Steve Hunt
We all seek a place
A place to forget and remember
A place where wounds heal
And soul finds a place
Not
Displaced
Misplaced
Replaced
Out of place
Commonplace
But
A birthplace
To replace
The misplaced
Prodigal
In a foreign place
So out of place
Until he went to
The place he knew:
Home
Barcelona Fantasy & Aegean Island
Melody Villars
Two places I would have loved to visit before traveling became difficult are Barcelona, Spain, and the Greek island of Santorini. These sculptures are inspired by these beautiful, fascinating places. “Barcelona Fantasy” is based on the whimsical architecture of Antonio Gaudi, whose buildings are now a century old! The sculptures are “Island cities”, to be viewed in the round, so I included two views of each.
Barcelona Fantasy — ceramic (19” high, 19” diameter)
Aegean Island — ceramic (15” high, 18” diameter)
The Place of Waiting
Cindy Schmickle
I heard your voice
Isaiah’s words …
a promise to my heart of something more.
A calling …
to commitment …
a place of service you’ve designed me for.
I heard your voice
my heart rejoiced …
I searched to know what path would lie ahead.
Then silence …
a quiet grace …
and months of wondering, instead.
|I heard your voice
from a distant place …
an invitation to vows,
a cross …
My heart said ‘yes!’
the place was found
and joy o’ershadowed years of loss.
2016
During this unusual ‘season’ many of us find ourselves in a place of waiting with many unknowns. During a previous waiting season in my life the Lord gave me this poem. The wait lasted several years. I appreciate the reminder given in the photo to praise God in the “hallway” until He opens the door. I am, once again, in the hallway but finding security in the faithfulness of our God.
We Love This Place
Lori Eiswald
photography
Time for new shoes at Hope Rides in Mayer, MN.
The Tunes By the Fire & St. Bridget’s Well
David Ochs & friend
Irish set written and played on fiddle by David Ochs, accompanied by a friend on guitar. Irish set tunes usually flow from one to another without a break, however in this case, a musical arrangement flows through both tunes.
Places I’ve Been
John Hardacker
This is the place that calls my heart…
Where my mind goes when it needs escape…
Where my heart finds joy
. But,
When I look deeper at this place, I see what makes me think of my place in the landscape before me.
What my place in history has been…
What are its effects on those around me?
Where will be my place in the time before me?
My place in the future of others?
How have I shaped the landscape…
And how has it shaped me?