Today I'm linking up with Kate Motaung for Five Minute Friday. Our word this week is SING.
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Sing!
I love this prompt because I love to sing. It is an important part of who I am: when people know that I sing, they know me better.
I also love to write, of course.
Several years ago I went to the Maritime Writers' Workshop in Fredericton, New Brunswick for three days. (I wrote more extensively about that experience HERE). On one of the workshop days, the focus was Life Writing, and we spent the whole day doing various writing exercises related to our own lives, past and present. It was inspiring and exhilarating to share a bit of our own journeys and writing within our small class of 10 people.
Toward the end of the day, the teacher led us through a time of guided imagery. She invited us to close our eyes and visualize ourselves being led by a guide (mine looked exactly like Gandalf -- imagine that!) to a cave on the side of a mountain, where a great treasure lay; and that we were given one gift to take back with us.
I imagined that my gift was a white dove: it flew from my pen when I wrote and from my mouth when I sang.
I often think of that white dove -- a symbol of peace and freedom -- when I sing.
May the words of my mouth, and of my pen, symbolize that same peace and freedom when they are shared.
If you're interested, here is a video I put up on YouTube a couple of years ago; it's the only video I have of myself singing. (I recorded it in honour of my mom, who died in 2014 and who always loved this song, "John of Dreams.")
Happy Friday! I'm glad to be your neighbor at FMF.
ReplyDeleteThanks for coming by, Kristin.
DeleteThat's wonderful, Jeannie. That conference must have been amazing. It's so good to have that imagery as a reminder about your giftings with your words and your pen. And I love the idea of Gandalf as your guide. ;)
ReplyDeleteYour closing lines reminded me of Psalm 19:14—"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer." At least that is close to the actual wording. :)
Have a great weekend!
You too, Jeanne. Thanks for reading and commenting.
DeleteWell, firstly, so pleased to meet a fellow Canadian! A second, so glad to meet another singer... I love to worship and sing and write, and sometimes those are the days I feel the closest to Him that I can ever get. Worship and song "ushers us" into the throne room, so the Word says!
ReplyDeleteLovely to meet you, Jeannie, I look forward to reading more week!
Hi Christine - yes, the mention of "Canadian" in your profile jumped out at me, too. Absolutely we Canadian singers need to stick together! :-) Thanks so much for visiting today and taking the time to comment.
DeleteBeautiful! Oh and I love that you imagined Gandalf. I'm in the 49 spot this week.
ReplyDeleteWhat better guide, right? :-) Thanks for visiting, Tara!
DeleteThis is great, Jeannie! And the video's lovely.
ReplyDeleteAnd being led by Gandalf - none better, though I confess to looking rather like Gimli on a very bad hair day.
Small world, too. I have a good friend in Fredericton.
Gimli wouldn't be a bad guide to a mountain cave with treasure either: it would be just his kind of place! So nice hearing from you today.
DeleteGandalf? I just finished a re-read of LOTR this morning, with him sailing off to the western lands.
ReplyDeleteI reread LOTR every few years, too -- putting unread books aside to enter that world again. It never disappoints.
DeleteHey, Jeannie. I enjoyed your reflections on the word "sing." Sounds like a great writers workshop. So fun to hear your voice on the video. <3 Beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Betsy!
DeleteA gift being a white dove is such beautiful imagery. Love hearing your voice. This is my comment for last week's. I will visit you soon for tomorrow's. #fmfparty
ReplyDeleteThank you, Carolina - I appreciate your comment. Thanks for coming by!
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