MUCH ADO ABOUT AN UMBRELLA

“Most of the people in the village were a little envious of Binya’s blue umbrella. No one else had ever possessed one like it…

Secretly, everyone admired it.

Unlike the adults, the children didn’t have to pretend. They were full of praise for the umbrella. It was so light, so pretty, so bright a blue! And it was just the right size for Binya. They knew that if they said nice things about the umbrella, Binya would smile and give it to them to hold for a little while—just a very little while!”

As I read this in The Blue Umbrella, I thought to myself: What a contrast!

*I have given an excerpt from RUSKIN BOND’s The Blue Umbrella, a tale set in the mountains of North India. Do take time to read this tale and watch the movie, for it really captures the quaintness and simplicity of Indian villages. Click on the link to read
https://kv2libraipur.files.wordpress.com/2017/02/the-blue-umbrella-by-ruskin-bond.pdf

blue umbrella

*Friday Fictioneers is talented group of enthusiasts penning down a story, a poem, a prose, etc., expressing their heart about a photo prompt © Dale Rogerson

SAVOR OF THE SEASONS

Every season has its own beauties, its own duties, its own blessings and it’s own lessons.

SEASONAL CHANGE

Spring is the time of new beginnings that comes after the hibernating quietness of winter. New shoots, new growth, new sprouting, new leaves… Its a time of new life, exhilaration at the stirrings of nature, excitement at the newness of it all. Its wonderful to see the earth shake and shrug off its widow mantle of white and begin to don a garb of colors, green, brown and more!

Summer brings the fullness of growth and the budding of the fruit. A time of hard work, tears and sweat, it carries within itself a hint or hope of a harvest to reap. The heat of the day becomes a harbinger of the cool of the night ahead. The color spectrum moves more towards the blue-green-yellow end, a vividness that displays the splendor of the earth in its fullness!

Autumn comes in to paint with its brush of yellow, orange, red, brown colors, to mellow the ground and everything else. The fruit has ripened, the grain grown great and everything bows low so it is easy to be divested of its pregnant burden. There is a rush to gather in the harvest, for a chillness in the air portends the impending cold. There is a scrambling to finish the gathering, to maximize the storing of resources for the season that’s just around the corner!

Winter with its monochrome whiteness seems to speak of the stillness of death, but in reality is truly the quietness of rest and restoration. Earth and it’s minions have earned their Sabbath sleep and no one can grudge them that, for they have toiled hard. Even the waters slumber under their blanket of frozen whiteness, but underneath lies a world of actively teeming life just waiting for the call to come forth renewed!

CYCLE OF LIFE

Life is programmed for and as a cycle of growth stages, with even the moon and the tides growing through a waxing and waning. The beauty of the mountains is the contrast of heights and valleys, while repeated retreat of the sea waves is the true cause of a delight to stand before it.The courtship, the building of a nest, the birthing there in, the growth that brings spreading of wings is all a preparation for the flight from and dismantling of the nest. After a period of rest, life then moves on to a new cycle, a new place, a new nest, a new everything.

Nature’s example gives hope for mankind, to evolve and grow with each season of life, without resistance or solemn refrain though there maybe pain!

Life, cannot be stopped but will bubble forth, unless you dig a grave and build an epitaph over it – consistently constantly continuously!Keep moving with life and don’t build a tomb!

*Photo courtesy https://m.escolakids.uol.com.br/estacoes-do-ano.htm

WINE, CHOICE & REFINED

I’ve often felt and heard people say “I wish I hadn’t done that in the past” or “I wish I could change my past”.

I’ve also heard people exclaim “I wish I could go back and start all over again”

Me? I don’t wish to go back!

Surprising, right? Yet, it is the truth!

I have come too far to go back.

Like a plane passing the point-of-no-return, so called because it would take more fuel to return than go forward!

I have come too far. I have made mistakes but they have been so incorporated into me as learning points.

I have fallen & got up, fallen & been raised up, fallen & climbed back up…

Every step & every detail has been ironed out, fused together and assimilated into me as character, experience, expertise etc, etc etc. My past has made me who I am today .

I sure wish I hadn’t made some mistakes and errors, but I have benefitted from them.

In overcoming my faults & defaults, I’ve become better than I hoped to be, thanks to the Hand of the Master Craftsman.

Maybe you won’t believe this: I am content to be who I am.

Like wine, choice & fine, I have distilled, aged & refined.

I am happy to go on, to build my future with the back up of my past.

Regrets yes, but won’t trade my present for my past or for changing it!

How about you?

Love to hear from you!

*https://goo.gl/images/5JdpXS

CLOCKWORKS

SEPT13TH

“Betsie,’ I whispered, “what can we do for these people? Afterward I mean. Can’t we make a home for them and care for them and love them?’

“Corrie, I pray every day that we will be allowed to do this! To show them that love is greater!”

And it wasn’t until I was gathering twigs later in the morning that I realized that I had been thinking of the feeble-minded, and Betsie of their persecutors.”
― Corrie ten Boom, The Hiding Place: The Triumphant True Story of Corrie Ten Boom

*The pic brought so many aspects from the book The Hiding Place that I couldn’t resist writing another piece. It probably compensates for the months of silence!
*The pic reminded me immediately of the book THE HIDING PLACE which is real life story of Casper ten Boom & his family who by profession were clockmakers. It is a fascinating read that chronicles the story of one family as they sought to be the light in the darkness of World War II in Holland
*Friday Fictioneers is talented group of enthusiasts penning down a story, a poem, a prose, etc., expressing their heart about a photo prompt © J Hardy Carroll

CLOCKWORK (ER)

 

“Love is the strongest force in the world, and when it is blocked that means pain.

There are two things we can do when this happens.

We can kill the love so that it stops hurting. But then of course part of us dies, too.

Or, Corrie, we can ask God to open up another route for that love to travel.

God loves Karel—even more than you do—and if you ask Him, He will give you His love for this man, a love nothing can prevent, nothing destroy.

Whenever we cannot love in the old, human way, Corrie, God can give us the perfect way.”
[Words spoken by Casper ten Boom to daughter Corrie ten Boom, The Hiding Place)

*The pic reminded me immediately of the book THE HIDING PLACE which is real life story of Casper ten Boom & his family who by profession were clockmakers. It is a fascinating read that chronicles the story of one family as they sought to be the light in the darkness of World War II in Holland
*Friday Fictioneers is talented group of enthusiasts penning down a story, a poem, a prose, etc., expressing their heart about a photo prompt © J Hardy Carroll