Pantoum

I learned a long time ago that I am more productive in my writing when I have an assignment or have to meet a deadline. Since freelance writing consists primarily of deadlines, that works out well. Most of my work is finished just prior to deadline.

I find, however, that I often fail to carve out time for creative efforts. For the thirteen years I juggled home and work commitments with bachelor degree commitments, I had a good excuse. But we're in our third year of the empty nest and it's been over a year since I graduated from the University of Iowa, so I stand--head down, shoulders drooped, and limp arms hanging--without excuse.

Therefore, I've decided to give myself assignments. My first assignment will be to write a poem in a form that I've never used: the pantoum.

According to Robert Wallace in the yellowing pages of my copy of Writing Poems, a pantoum is a Malayan form. It contains an indefinite number of a b a b quatrain stanzas with lines 2 and 4 of each stanza becoming lines 1 and 3 of the following stanza. The carry-over lines are called repetons. The sequence ends with a quatrain that uses lines 1 and 3 of the first stanza in reversed order.

It seems similar to the sestina (which I've written) and especially the villanelle (which I've also written), except even more repetitive--and perhaps more difficult.

With any repetitive form like this, I think the trick is to come up with lines you really like--so you can bear hearing them repeated.

Before I even begin, I'm going public with my assignment. The reason is twofold: to force accountability, but also in the hope that one of my many readers will join me.

How about it? Anyone want to write and compare pantoums this week?

Coincidence Redux

Here's something to consider: My last entry, about waiting on the Lord, was posted on the morning of June 5. That day's mail, which arrived in the early afternoon, contained the answer to our prayers--an answer that far surpassed the most positive of our imagined outcomes. Coincidence?

I recently spoke with Norlan De Groot, who is raising his own support for an upcoming position with Third Millennium Ministries. I sympathized with this less than enjoyable aspect of his exciting mission opportunity.

He related how Rev. G. I. Williamson had told him, "In all my 80 years, I've never seen God fail to provide. But He never provides early and He never provides more."

Wise words. God truly does always provide. And He always provides just what is needed in exactly His perfect timing.

Was it coincidence that we received a wonderful answer to prayer on the same day I acknowledged the need to wait on the Lord with an active hope? I think not.

Waiting for the Lord

It's been some time since I've blogged. My Internet connection was recently down, but the primary reason for my lack of posts has been the continuing lessons we've been learning in God's school of patience.

Psalms 27:14, 33:20-22, 37:7, 40:1, and 130:5 talk about waiting for the Lord. It seems to me that waiting for the Lord is one of the most difficult things in the Christian life.

But waiting is more than just fatalistic passivity; it is comprised of an active hope. It's instructive to note translation differences in a couple of passages.

In the ESV, Psalm 33:20-22 says, "Our soul waits for the Lord, he is our help and shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you" (emphasis added).

The NIV renders the same text: "We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you" (emphasis added).

Consider the beautiful words found in Isaiah 40:31.

The ESV reads, "but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint" (emphasis added).

While the NIV says, "but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength..." (emphasis added).

A verb that can be translated as either "wait" or "hope" must indicate that our waiting shouldn't be fatalistic or passive. We're called to active trust and hope during the waiting process.

We wait with hope.