The “Idea” for

 “Morning-glories on the Outhouse”

comes from an experience that I had living in a third world country.   For a time, my husband, three young children and I lived in a poor colonia in the outskirts of Tijuana, Mexico.   The colonia where we lived was a community devoid of  running water and replete with haphazard shacks.  The proverbial outhouse consisted of a very deep hole in the ground with scrap wood to shelter it.

Not a pretty sight! 

One morning I was astonished to see morning-glories growing in resplendent wonder on a neighbor’s outhouse.  It was such a wonderful surprise.  Indeed.  What a sight it was.  It was a remarkable testimony to the fact that God can cover even the ugliest circumstances with joy; and create beauty in the most unexpected of places.  I have never forgotten this image and the message that it impressed upon my heart:

Life is a wonderful adventure.  And in  life, as in all true  adventures there  can be both obstacles and glory.

But we can be sure of is this:  GOD is  always present in this adventure; even when we cannot see Him, casting seeds of hope and redemption. & HE desires that we should partner with Him in this endeavor.  We can be the cultivators of  beauty and happiness, We can encourage the downhearted.  We can lighten the load. We can search for the morning-glories that grow on the outhouses of life and point them out to other people.  For they really are everywhere if only we dare to open our eyes.

Poems

Old and worn

weathered & broken, 

necessary but unlovely –

stands an aging outhouse 

in a broken land.

New with each day –

bright & beautiful 

with colors rising ,

vines twisting & grasping, 

clings a sweet expression

on this old outhouse;-

Morning-glories

sown by unseen hand.

& every bewildered 

& wandering heart wonders  . . .

Oh Morning-glories!

Why do you glory here?

Why do you pronounce beauty  

upon that which is despised?

Why do you plant your marvel

upon that which is deemed ugly?

 

Oh Morning-glories!

Why do you

so tenaciously cling to life?

Why do you splash brilliant colors 

upon the dull and splintered wood?

Why do you shine upon the spaces 

long forgotten by the world?

Why do you grow upon the forsaken

when all that surrounds you

has lost hope?

Why grow here  at all? 

You are an adornment!

an expression of joy & beauty.

You are an ornament!-

an announcing of  life

as it should be.

Why share your beauty

with the unlovely?

Why embrace the despair 

of a cold & dreary morning?

To the pondering soul             

the apparent question floats, WHY?

To the unsettled heart ,

it stirs the depths of thought.

To the jaded spirit it begs an answer.

To the watchful eye;-

It rises & then it settles,-

quietly, on a sparrow

 as it rests upon the entanglement;

& it rustles in the breeze

till it disturbs the peaceful vine.

where the movement

of the startled bird,

scatters seeds of  brighter days!

& they fall unto the earth;

in a silent unseen hope 

& while the beauty of the moment 

is cloaked in mud & sludge. 

it rises up again

as a seedling new discovered.

a morning-glory joy  . . . 

planting hope among the weary

& bringing healing to the soul.