Wondering Pilgrim

World-changer!

#Bloganuary Writing Prompt: How Are You Changing The World?

My old cartoon instincts are immediately kicking in, reminding me of my early days of fatherhood sharing the squawling, squirming infant-changing routine. Except no infant here, but a hard done by globe, polluted and sickly, lamenting the loss of dimly remembered pristine goodness.

The question for many is not how to change the world, but how to exploit it even more. I’m sure that if an audit of daily routine occurred with me, a conscientious objector, the scales would still come down heavy on me as an exploiter rather than a changer. My carbon footprint, though lighter than some, is heavier than many on this globe.

So how do I change this? By cultivating awareness. Nibbling the bit of the giant pizza that is nearest me. And maybe collecting cartoons and writing poetry.

Playlist

#Bloganuary Writing Prompt: What is on your music playlist right now?

The warble of the koolbardi*
The chatter of the djitti-djitti*
The crash of waves at Mullaloo
The wind in the treetops too.

The sounds of silence when I walk in the bush
The crunch of boots as onwards I push.
This is the music that tickles my ears
No buds needed – will last many years!

* koolbardi (Noongar)= magpie
* djitti-djitti (Noongar)= willie wagtail

Solitude

#Bloganuary Writing Prompt: Where do you go when you need solitude?

Where do I go for a bit of quiet?
Away from thoughts that start to riot?
A secluded spot, a garden shed?
Nah, there’s a spot deep inside my head!

Where does one go for a bit of peace?
Avoiding tensions that defy release?
A quiet room, some place apart?
Nah, there’s a niche deep inside my heart!

Where do I run to hide from the storm?
To avoid life’s stresses that are part of the norm?
A daily routine, stuck in a rut?
Nah, there’s a nook, deep within my gut!

DJR January 2022

Mirror, mirror on the wall

#Bloganuary Writing Prompt: What is your favorite part about yourself?

My resistance to questions such as this! I am finding myself quite reactive and rebellious – it’s like asking for a description of the color of one’s underwear or one’s most intimate thoughts. When one writes for such blogging exercises one is already putting one’s neck through the noose of vulnerability and transparency. Granted, one chooses what to write, but as a mentor once said, “you cannot not tell your story!”

Accordingly my neck hackles are standing to attention. Like a zebra stallion guarding its herd I stand on the edge watching for the movement of the tall pampas grass to reveal the location of its hidden predators. Nup, nope, nyet! I am tempted to say “That’s as much as I shall reveal today.” And maybe that’s my favorite self-trait.

But I have to dig deeper. I have sometimes described my work in spiritual direction as a “story whisperer.” In the Christian contemplative tradition, it takes time to develop the kind of relationship where questions such as the one that forms today’s prompt might help a pilgrim step over a threshold into unexplored territory in their inner landscape. Today’s prompt feels like a startling shout rather than a whispered invitation. And I’m well aware that’s a perception that will not be shared by others. Then again, perhaps today I’m just grumpy!

Vegemite Valor!

#Bloganuary Writing Prompt: Write About Something That Makes You Feel Strong

Vegemite was staple fare for me as an ankle-biter. As an aging dieter, Vegemite and cheddar on a Cruskit is my lunchtime go-to.

There is also something perverse about my taste. Visitors from dominant overseas backgrounds wince at the thought of this tasty spread, thus affording me an enjoyable moment of feeling superior as I tuck into its delicious sticky black saltiness before their startled and horrified expressions.

I would have auditioned to be one of the original Vegemite kids!

Dream a Little Dream

#Bloganuary Writing Prompt: Write About a Dream You Remember

Once upon a time, when I remembered dreams, I journaled them. I could now dig up the archives and write about one of them, but that would be ancient history – the issues to which they pointed are long resolved or accommodated.
I know I continue to dream, but I don’t recall them anymore. This leads me to the conclusion, that in spite of everything, I am mostly very content and very innocent!
But as I now write, I recall a recurring childhood nightmare triggered by a visit to a local cinema matinee showing of Peter Pan. That murderous ticking crocodile! I am sure it continues in some form as a manifestation of a battle with existential dissonance. Like Captain Hook, I think I would miss it if it wasn’t there – it sharpens my mettle in awakening awareness to vaster expanses!
So a haiku and an American Sentence to tame the beast wherever she may lurk.

Tic Toc Goes the Clock
Waiting to consume my ways
Tic Toc Goes the Clock

Illusion of time pursues the unaware to an inglorious end.

Deeper than expected and remains a ponderable!

Clippy Exclusive!

#Bloganuary Writing Prompt: Interview a Fictional Character

An Exclusive Interview with Clippy, who in 2007 quietly retired after ten years service as Microsoft’s Office Assistant. He helped many a PC novice write a letter.

Interviewer: Thank you for coming out of retirement to talk with us, Clippy. Your sudden retirement seemed rather abrupt. Are you able to enlighten our audience if anything occurred to hasten it?

Clippy: Well some would say it was a business decision. People were becoming more PC savvy. They didn’t really need help to write letters anymore.

Interviewer: Is it true then that your bosses were having to respond to negative public relations because clients felt they were being patronized whenever you popped up to say “It looks like you are writing a letter?”

Clippy: No way! There are always the haters. If they bothered to look at the menu once in a while they would have found out how to turn me off!

Interviewer: Would you care to comment on rumors that you were given permanent maternity leave?

Clippy: A load of rubbish – a lame attempt to discover a gender reveal. Some tried to settle it by granting me the honorific “Mr.” It didn’t stick. Others said that paper clips were like seahorses, hermaphrodites that could spontaneously reproduce their own young! That one had me laughing myself into a twist.

Interviewer: How have you been spending your time in retirement.

Clippy: Being as incognito as possible. Being a celebrity in the limelight for ten years was more than enough. These days I could be any one of the 500 paper clips in your desk drawer. With the growing advent of paperless work places, my obscurity, thankfully, is even more assured,

Interviewer: Thank you, for your time, Clippy. Let me honor your service with a limerick.

There was a helper called Clippy
Whose help on the PC was quite zippy
We tried a letter, but he said “Let’s do better”
We sacked him because he became drippy!

Life Commandments

#Bloganuary Writing Prompt: What is your favorite quote and why?

This pretty much sums up my approach to life. It’s simple but not simplistic. If I filter it through the recurring four-gospel cycle championed by Alexander John Shaia, it involves engagement with times of enduring world-shattering change, persisting through pain and struggle, exalting the beauty of those fleeting experiences of union, and imparting the benefit of such lessons through mature service to others.

Does it haiku?

If full life you seek
First seek justice, love mercy
Then humility

American sentence (and yes it is)?

What do you know, the full quote (including citation) meets the criteria!

Those who have gone before

#Bloganuary Writing Prompt: If you could, what year would you time travel to and why?

John Charles Ryle by Carlo Pellegrini – Published in Vanity Fair, 26 March 1881

I’d set the dial in the Time Machine for somewhere in the 1880s and visit an ancestor, a much published bishop in the Church of England, John Charles Ryle.

I’d sit in his study in Liverpool anticipating all the topics we might cover in an amiable fireside chat. I feel we’d have much in common, even though our backgrounds and cultural orientation vary in some significant areas – eg class awareness vs egalitarianism.

He was descended from landed gentry. His father was a successful silk merchant in Manchester. Young J C had been looking forward to a rich inheritance and a career in Parliament. A bank collapse changed all that, and J C Ryle became an accidental clergyman. His influence grew however, and in spite of troubles and disappointments reflective of the Victorian era, was regarded as a man of deep calm and resilience. In spite of all this he never got over the deep lament and shame of the family loss.

I, too, in early adulthood, ended up a pastor following a great deal of resistance on my part. My journey has taken my family through times challenging, disappointing, and exhilarating. Our faith in the Way of Christ has been refined and tried in ways that are too numerous to count.

And there are family resemblances – I winced at the well-meaning critique that J C’s father and his business partner were “known more for their generosity than their business acumen.”

Yet J C pondered what might have occurred had the collapse been avoided. He instead would have been wealthy and had a career in politics – but he believes his spirituality would have suffered greatly. I feel we’d be on the same page.

Leaping Leo!

#Bloganuary Writing Prompt: What is your favorite photo you’ve ever taken?

Well I didn’t take it, but my camera was used. I was with a small group at a conservation park in Gweru, Zimbabwe. Lion cubs are raised in captivity, then taught to range before being released into the wild. We had just completed two weeks of liaison work with Zimbabwe Churches of Christ in the rural south, and this was part of our relaxation – walking through some savannah with a pair of lions so they could pick up some ranging skills!

Why do I like it?
1. Never in all my days had I imagined I’d be chilling out with a pair of lions.
2. I like anything conservation related.
3. I recall my younger self being challenged to abandon my timid mouse persona and release the inner lion! So perhaps there is something totemic about this image.

Anyhow, there it is – not exactly answering the prompt, but near enough.