RichRock : Running Free

As I sit here, pondering my life, I realise I have a beautiful view outside. Tall, majestic clouds float past the Blorenge, a mountain I have an uninterrupted view of from my windows. In the summer, everything is a vibrant green, but in the autumn, it all turns a fiery red. I watch the trees lose their leaves, and the mountian turn brown. When the sun comes, like today, it has moments of fiery red.
Why am I writing this, you may ask? Well, it’s like this:
Autumn is not a depressing time. Think about the trees - they go through the annual cycle of growth and rest. Ecclesiastes 3:1 says:

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.”

So as the trees go through the cycle of the seasons as dictated to them from the very beginning, we see that they go through a process of renewal and strengthening each time. Whenever I see the trees lose their leaves, I realise that they will grow again in the spring, and become stronger for having been through the whole process.
So it is with us. We are people who will go through difficult times, where we cannot sleep, cannot rest or relax, and it feels as though the weight of the world is upon our shoulders. Jesus never came to say ‘Rest up guys (and gals), you don’t ever have to stress about anything ever again’. Now he did say not to worry about tomorrow, and to cast our burdens onto Him, and to be honest, quite often I feel guilty that I should have to do such a thing. So now I find myself in a personal Autumn where the pressures are great, maybe of my own making - but that’s not the problem here, it is the finding of the solutions that we need. In the process of casting burdens, we find ourselves in a clearer position, similar to winter air, which is crystal clear compared to the haze of summer. Only then can we see clearly, and be revealed the solutions to issues, or the path we should take. Yes, the days are shorter, and nights dark, and this gives us the cosy feeling in the evenings when we have the fire burning (if you’re old scholl like me) and you’re sat all cosy on the sofa. After the darkness of a winter, comes the fresh spring. Spring is awesome because the trees grow their leaves once more, flowers bloom, and life seems anew.
I can’t wait for my spring to come. Too long have I waited in the darkness of winter.

God has blessed me with so much, and for that I am grateful. As mentioned in “The Matrix : Reloaded” -
“That went badly”
“No it did not”
“Why?”
“Because we are still alive”

So it is. I am still alive, despite all the hustle and bustle of modern living. Slowly I am growing to dislike the pace of modern life, even despite living in what many would define as a ‘rural market town’. Occasionally I wish I never knew a thing about computers. That is true. Still, God knows exactly what He’s doing, and it’s ok by me.

The photo above was taken around 2000, at the start of the autumn season, and shows heavy clouds on the blorenge. Scanned from a dusty negative, taken with a dirt cheap film camera. Obviously, it’s been cropped to fit the whole theme of this site.

Being the creative poet type I am, here’s another poem:

The Evening.

The evening has drawn in
the light has faded
from the earth.

With the fading of light
comes coolness of night
to accompany dark.

Darkness now surrounds me
in full embrace, to give
me no vision.

Light is my only source
a constant reminder of what
my life really means.

In the light I fully see
what I am meant to be, a
disciple of the Word.

It’s a lovely evening out there. I’m sat in front of my laptop at home, with a curtain stopping me from being blinded by the sunlight. Crazy.

I’m planning a couple of changes to my PC at work, a new case, restructure some of the internals and I’ve been looking up PC cases. Now I’m planning on leaving the laptop and doing some writing, possibly some poetry, as my girlfriend loves that kind of thing, and I haven’t written anything noteworthy for a while. Maybe this is the creative thing I need. I’ve discovered fountain pens, a great tool for writing, far better than a rollerball, ballpoint or even a pencil, and there’s a feeling of quality that comes to a piece of written word in fountain pen ink.

So that’ll be my evening, unless my parents call by and want me to fix their pc. Hope not. It didn’t boot, so it may still not be booting up. Ahh.. The life of an ubergeek.

So here’s something I wrote about 8 years ago…

‘Without You’

I can do without this.
Tension, gripping me like a vice,
Consuming what I am, who I am,
I’m dazed. Confused, I don’t know which way to turn.
So I turn to You.

I know I’ve done it wrong again,
I’ve been there before.
You’ve found me there, filled with the tension,
of being hurt, lost, lonely, but still lovely,
In Your loving sight.

You’ve seen it all before, many times in my past,
So why do I hide in shame?
I know You knew me from the start,
And will until the very end,
Also through all the times between.

Where do I go in times of trouble,
To You, my true friend, companion and saviour,
You lift me from the hassle and tension,
Show me a different way through it all,
And Your love shines my way.