I’m in AZ and I just got back from a nice long walk with Lea and her parental units. We’re having a great time being spoiled here in ritzy Chandler/Scottsdale! Pretty upscale.

Speaking of upscale, I just had to write briefly to reveal what the word dainty means. Some of you kind of get it, yes, I’m proud of you. Side note - I’m not sure why I put “yes” in the middle of my sentences, it’s almost Smeagol-ish, if you remember. I won’t elaborate for my sake.

Okay, dainty, in my opinion means delicate and fragile. I would usually use it in regard to women that are very feminine. I would like to think of myself as dainty at times in ways. Sort of, delicate, elegant, and “light.” I’m not sure how to elaborate on “light,” but it’s a very elegant and airy way of being, the opposite of brash and blunt I guess. Soft.

So, that is my personal usage of the word dainty, and I keep running across people that don’t know what it means, so I felt I was being delegated by Webster to educate humanity and to embellish our collective vocabulary to new, elaborated heights.

Do try to incorporate it into convos. You’ll sound refined. Like me.

I want more answers on what dainty means. Don’t wimp out on me! And where are the Collicotts??? Come on family! I know you know what dainty means.

Okay, I am leaving tomorrow morning to go to Phoenix to spend a few days with Lea O’Dell because on November 4th, she’ll be Lea Gottry. Yes, she is taking the plunge. And then I’m going to LA to spend about 10 days with my friends from Sprachcamp. As long as Meredith picks me up at the airport. Come on, Meredith!

I have no idea what we’ll be doing in LA but if you know me, this is normal.

I spent this day with friends, family, new friends, music, art galleries, fall air, and God’s amazing truth and love lived and breathed in reality.

And I was sitting here, thinking, and praising God for another blessed year (the best in my opinion ) of life, and praying for the next one to come. And I just have this tenseness in my chest because I just want to burst out into some elegant and passionate prose and poetry to express the beauty of the reality of who Jesus is and what He’s done for us all and His creation. There’s such a desire in me to shout out lyrics that capture the mysterious depth of the way this entire world, all the stories, people, and smallest minute truths lead back to a miraculous and ultimately beautiful story of redemption and sacrifice. I want to write and sing poetry.

But I can’t.

I’ve tried, and it’s not cutting it. The stirrings of my soul do not come out in any accurate manifestation of words. 

And then I thought about it. And I thought that perhaps God in His faithfulness and goodness blessed all of His creation with the ultimate ability to be a poet. In fact, His Scripture breaks out into poetry when truth is just too overwhelming to write about in letter form. Creation bursts forth into praise when the wind sweeps the leaves into applause of admiration, and the symphony of the night begins to play its melody. And the distant hills sing a song of mystery to me when the sun shoots red and orange into the horizon.  Even the rocks will cry out.  

God has made me a poet. I’m trying to sing my prose to the world by the way I live my life. I want to sing a song of passion, truth, love, humility, and redemption.

Transformation. Revolution. Glory.

What poem are you writing?

Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.

What song are you singing?

 I have a new best friend. Let me introduce her to you. Her name is Margaret.

Marge thinks like I do.

Margaret understands that some people don’t have answers for that question.

Or maybe they do…maybe they’re just answers that don’t make sense to anyone else.

Maybe they answer that question like Michael J. Fox, “I have plans to do amazing things with my life, I just don’t know what they are yet.”

But, if you believe that God is who He reveals Himself to be in nature, and in people, and in the Bible, then that’s okay, because He does. And if the infinite Creator of the Universe who reaches down to give me the intimate joy of a nice breeze and a bluebird in the backyard knows what He has prepared for me to go out and tackle, I don’t think I need to know what the rest of my life looks like.

And maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe that’s the answer of all answers. But, sometimes we don’t like that wildness, that un-tamability in life. Maybe that’s why when I’m at the zoo I get irritated with middle-aged women that make kissy noises and say, “Here, kitty kitty…look at the sweet little kitty” to full-grown pumas and tigers that in reality would rip their faces apart for doing that in their natural environment. We don’t want wildness in our lives anymore. We don’t respect it. You can see it if you look around, just try it. It’s everywhere, this hoping that wildness doesn’t seep into our lives, and thinking that really, wildness, is kind of…immature.

Anyway, I like Margaret’s book. As she says, “What the heck am I going to do with my life? isn’t a safe question, but it has the power to awaken dormant dreams and silent desires. It has the ability to both compel and propel us to fulfill our lifelong calling and purpose. And that makes it a question worth asking.”

Personally, I like this cover better: