Sunday, December 15, 2019

What You Cannot Know (through no fault of your own)


'You didn’t know me then', I sometimes say to my now grown children
 when we talk about something I used to do before they were born, 
such as drive to work at 4:00 a.m. on slippery wintery roads.
 All they know me as is mom who looks after a family’s practical needs!



 (my sis texted me this afternoon about these pages above
and more but you'll have to buy or borrow the book for the rest)😀
The Shape of a Year by Jean Hersey
I think because we have the same mother and we both have daughters
we relate to certain parts of this book on a very mutual level! 
One of my top ten favs ever!


My dear, you cannot understand (by no fault of your own)
How much your mother’s heart expands to hold children full-grown
Or how the girl she was is still a part of who she is
(no matter what changes because Time keeps its promises)

The heart you cannot fathom until you are old as she
Will always still be learning how to hold while setting free
Twixt yester’s child and today’s woman, man her love is torn
Where thankfulness and longing spar in whispers heaven-borne

Yes, she’s been disappointed at love’s disappointments, oh
At how the future is nothing like she dreamed long ago
As God so rich in mercy grants breath-stealing more or less
And teaches her to look closer at ‘what is happiness’

I did not understand back then (through no fault of my own)
How oft my mother’s heart landed before her Father’s throne
Or how once upon long ago my mother used to be
A barefoot maiden filled with dreams foot-loose and fancy-free

Before the call and cares of life joined love and motherhood
And still through all the joy and strife she knew that it is good
How all we did not understand is what waited to be
Sweet thrills of surprise at age-old, newfound discovery

…she waits for passion to become astonished at time’s way
No one can seize the pendulum that dictates night and day
But as the heart expands to hold what soon is left behind
The girl she was will remind her to be patient and kind


© Janet Martin


2 comments:

  1. I'm off to look for this book you shared with us. Looks like my kind of book. Thank you so much for this touching post -- it's most ponderable. Have often had similar kinds of thoughts about things.

    Wishing you a beautiful day,
    Brenda xox

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    Replies
    1. Dear Brenda, thank-you as always for your kind words. sometimes I look at your book pile for title ideas to search for because we do love the same kind of books... so I am quite certain you won't be disappointed if you get it<3

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