http://rachelheldevans.com/ra-noe-woman-valor It's an amazing story. I love the images of weaving beauty through the "mistake" in the pattern.
Jessica quotes a Rainier Maria Rilke poem in that post and here is the poem in its entirety.
The Unspeaking Center
She who reconciles the ill-matched threads
of her life, and weaves them gratefully
into a single cloth—
it's she who drives the loudmouths from the hall
and clears it for a different celebration
where the one guest is you.
In the softness of evening
it's you she receives.
You are the partner of her loneliness,
the unspeaking center of her monologues.
With each disclosure you encompass more
and she stretches beyond what limits her,
to hold you.
of her life, and weaves them gratefully
into a single cloth—
it's she who drives the loudmouths from the hall
and clears it for a different celebration
where the one guest is you.
In the softness of evening
it's you she receives.
You are the partner of her loneliness,
the unspeaking center of her monologues.
With each disclosure you encompass more
and she stretches beyond what limits her,
to hold you.
When I searched for the poem online, I also found this poem by Rilke- again with the images of weaving.
Sing, My Heart
Sing, my heart, the gardens you never walked,
like gardens sealed in glass balls, unreachable.
Sing the waters and roses of Isfahan and Shiraz;
praise them, lush beyond compare.
Swear, my heart, that you will never give them up.
That the figs they ripened ripened for you.
That you could tell by its fragrance
each blossoming branch.
Don’t imagine you could ever let them go
once they made the daring choice: to be!
Like a silken thread, you entered the weaving.
whatever image you take within you deeply,
even for a moment in a lifetime of pain,
see how it reveals the whole — the great tapestry.
Rilke, Sonnets to Orpheus II, 21
I love the images of the weaving and the ill matched threads and the beauty that comes out of that. In the second poem, the silk enters the weaving and takes the image of beauty-even if it's a moment in a "lifetime of pain." Our weaving a new life has pain and beauty. Our life sometimes feels like a bunch of mismatched threads. Yet, we weave on...trusting that we will see the tapestry some day.
I love the images of the weaving and the ill matched threads and the beauty that comes out of that. In the second poem, the silk enters the weaving and takes the image of beauty-even if it's a moment in a "lifetime of pain." Our weaving a new life has pain and beauty. Our life sometimes feels like a bunch of mismatched threads. Yet, we weave on...trusting that we will see the tapestry some day.
Here are some of the threads that we are weaving into our lives.
I am just finishing up a three week class at Portland State University. Still no word on a permanent job. I have resumes at two junior colleges, Portland State and a private college nearby. I have interviewed at three schools. All make decisions around the third week of September, based on enrollment. Sigh. In the meantime, I feel fortunate to have this three week teaching gig- sweet students from Japan and working on the beautiful urban campus of Portland State.
Some of my students interviewing an American about their coffee habits.
There is ivy that is woven onto sculptures that are attached to the windows.
We have also started doing some work with the youth at our church.
Friday night worship with a cello, of course!
A fun game of chopsticks and chapstick- the goal was to build a tower of four chapsticks using chopsticks. No one succeeded and it was really fun.
I love the poems. Those weaving images are why our church is named Tapestry and church members are called "threads." :-)
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