She Said Yes
Lynette Friesen sent this to me this week and it truly made me happy. Lynette’s quite the poet herself. Browse the lovely lines at her place.
God Says Yes To Me
Kaylin Haught
I asked God if it was okay to be melodramatic
and she said yes
I asked her if it was okay to be short
and she said it sure is
I asked her if I could wear nail polish
or not wear nail polish
and she said honey
she calls me that sometimes
she said you can do just exactly
what you want to
Thanks God I said
And is it even okay if I don’t paragraph
my letters
Sweetcakes God said
who knows where she picked that up
what I’m telling you is
Yes Yes Yes
Rachelle-
Rave:
I read your page off and on. whenever I do, I get some nugget I love
or something that challenges me.
Thank you.
do I have permission to rant?
every where people are moaning and groaning about Christianese - that code language that only Christians understand.
Please don’t invent your own language. You so beautifully use the english language -peppered with expressions we understand like bubble gum and bubble bath.
Please refrain from the use of latin. It is confusing (it is foriegn) to the outsider. It doesn’t make what you do better (it sounds snobby).
So much of what you do is fresh, I love it.
I am probably speaking out of line hear but if I may -
let go of your romanticism of discarded traditions of a dying institution…..Live into the future.
Thanks for listening-
huh?
i don’t get it. r, you are one of the few people i would send *anyone* to checkout, *anyday* of the week. i don’t get this vibe from you at all, but i guess it’s to your credit that someone wants to rant in your comments.
Isn’t it nice to have a God who makes no demands upon a person.
I’d hardly think that imagining God as less than anxious over a nail polish issue counts as deciding that God makes no demands on a person. It’s not a poem about social responsibility, it’s a poem about acceptance. I read this poem more along the lines of “Maybe God, like your friends, thinks you are someone to be called ‘Honey.’ Maybe God wants you to be who you are, not taller, or shorter, or quieter. Maybe God loves you whether or not you indent every paragraph.” I didn’t read it as “God never asks anything of me.”
agreed rebecca!
r
Stephen,
Don’t know if you’re still reading or not, but I thought I’d respond. Better late than never, right?
I’ve been deconstructing a traditional institution for some time now. That was neccessary for a time. But now, I’m tired of ripping things down. I want to build things back up. So I’m reconstructing a faith practice that makes sense to me. I adapt and use traditional practices not because I am a doe-eyed romantic, but because _they work for me._ They draw me closer to God. They expand my soul. They give me the tools, energy and inspiration I need to serve others.
These practices are named in latin, so I use those names. It’s not an attempt to be snobby. Believe me, I bet anyone who knows me would tell you there’s not a snobby bone in my body. They’re just names. Lectio Divina means (roughly) holy reading. The Ignatian Examen is an examination of one’s life that was designed by a man named St. Ignaitas of Loyala. The forms that I describe here, and that I use every week, are very watered down versions of more complicated practices that are more difficult to engage with. It’s been my hope to make them more accessible for people.
As for creating my own langauge which is as equally inaccesible as the old…I’m not sure what you are referring to. I do sometimes refer to the Spirit as the Muse. As this is my on-line journal, I do sometimes write about things that are my own. I think that’s okay.
I hope you keep reading. I’m glad some of my words have been understandable to you, and that they’ve brought a little bit of beauty to your day.
Thanks for reading,
R
Well, I have to say my writting wasn’t too clear.
I love the Kaylin Haught “Yes poem”.
I am not saying you are snobby. just the use of latin today sounds obscure - it could be understood as snobby - atleast to me it sounds inaccessable.
I love the practice of Lectio Divina. Just please use an english term for it. I know the prayers and practices had latin names originally - and it makes sense to use those names since that is what they have been called. but I don’t speak latin-
and I think Latin is annoying…. maybe other people love the use of Latin I don’t know.
I am just putting my own hang ups out there. I shouldn’t bother but I can’t help my self. I am gripping about the 1 % that gets under my skin. It is an issue of preferance; I should be bigger than that and applaud the 99% I love and shut up about the 1% that annoys me.
It is like the breast plate of St. Patrick prayer . it is a great prayer. I loved it the first time I heard it. Then I kept hearing it every where and I want to puke the fifth time I heard it. It is a good prayer; I just wish people would be more original and use their own words- and say what they mean.
Maybe I am a pathological critic and I should stop criticizing. I just know how I feel. Forgive my shallowness.