Hope That Heals
Reflections on a Life Journey
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Hope that Heals: Reflections on a Life Journey: by Betty Jane Clem, BA, MDiv Life is filled with common experiences and with mutually held questions and adventures. Added to what we share in common is the manner in which we receive and process those experiences, answer the questions and absorb the adventures. Each person has a unique way in which the whole person becomes an accumulation of all of the stimuli and mysteries we encounter. These poems unveil the author's process in her life journey. Here are segments from the work, Hope that Heals: Reflections on a Life Journey, to whet the appetite for discovering the rest of the story. Birds' Song From my porch, I hear them greet the morning, High atop the sweet gum 'midst falling leaves of the tulip poplar. They flit about, catching the breeze, announcing the new dawn. Their song excites the spirit and engages the senses of all God's creation. ~ Rooted Observe grand maples and cypress, Standing guard at the border, Grown old in years of sun and rain, Pruned, fed, watched and watered. ^^^ This limb reaches toward sun's light Spreads like the myrtle, arms aloft, Finding food for stronger roots And solid ground on which to stand . And solid ground on which to stand. ~ Let the Tears Flow You asked what made her sad. She couldn't say. It seemed a tiny watergate had been lifted at the center of her heart........ ~ Easter Eve Easter Eve at Ocean City, the moon shines large on the Atlantic. The surf crashes against the shore behind............ Nature announces the power of renewal. ~ Dreams Can Come True Once upon a holiday, James drove his Jeep to Macy's. Arriving late afternoon, pressed for time and parking scarce, he headed to the main entrance. He stopped and opened the driver's door. Once outside, he hit a spot on his key fob and waited. ^^^^^^ ~ Ode to a Teacher Stern for your small stature, You stood before us with unquestioned authority. The written page vibrated with your reading. Drama was life and Life, drama. Your smile and your wise words revealed your humanity. Time passed. ^^^^^^^^ ~ Sunrise Out the eastern window, day breaks, The jet stream slices the gray space between orange and pink. Birds in flight draw the eye to their beauty. ^^^^^^^^ A winter sunrise. ~ ~ Mr. Lincoln Larger than life, he sits atop an overstuffed chair. Left hand in a fist, right hand poised to tap, Booted feet set flat against the marble floor. Head on, he has a somber, austere look. Slightly toward his back, his person is lost, ‘though his massive presence remains. To his left side, a gentle gaze discernablydiscernibly thoughtful, pities us in our need for aggression. ^^^^^^^^ This volume contains observations from the author's seventy-five years of life among ordinary people doing the extraordinary. They make families, strengthen their neighborhoods and towns, deepen rich faith fellowships and find creative ways to extend gifts of hope and compassion to others. Some have become Bishops in the church, instructors to volunteers in natural disasters throughout the world, writers and photographers opening the eyes of their audiences. Some are artists in the visual, the musical, the architectural, the sculpting arts. Others entice us with their culinary skills, their knack for decorating, their ability to teach our young, and give them living and leadership skills. Some are healers of body, mind and spirit. Some engage in making the rest of us socially conscious and guide us toward bringing justice into the rough places among the world's people. Others grow our food, make products that bring us joy or invent tools to make tasks easier and less time-consuming. A rare few spend hours looking at one aspect of the universe to see what it can reveal that might change the future of the cosmos or its impact on a health issue, or a puzzle otherwise unsolved. These poems represent some of what they have taught one person, who will be forever in their debt. Join in this exciting adventure into the world around us. Watch and listen to each person along your path. Absorb the breathtaking realities they open to you. When all is said and done, may we say with the apostles of old that "the whole creation stands on tiptoe, waiting for all the children of God to come into their own"*, our best, our whole fulfillment of purpose, redeemed and redemptive. *THE NEW TESTAMENT IN MODERN ENGLISH, J.B. Phillips, Romans 8:18-25, Bles-Collins, London, UK, 1964 printing]
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About the Book
Hope That Heals: Reflections on a Life Journey is the author’s first published work. After six decades of writing in diaries and journals, Ms. Clem has selected a group of poems that she extracted from those records. The collection includes observations from eight aspects of life, which, together, focus on the place of hope in human health and healing. Vacations spent near the oceans, bird watching in various landscapes and waterscapes, living with two beagles, probing for answers to personal questions and challenges, learning to relate to people, studying and making music, and wrestling with a lifelong call to serve God in word and deed are among the circumstances from which the author’s poems arise. This wide range of thought covers years when Ms. Clem found verbal expression more difficult than writing. After developing verbal communication skills, the later work evolved into writing at a new level. The development of freedom in maturing thought and speech gave rise to deeper and more complex writing. She has long dreamed of sharing her observations and discoveries, in the hope that they will be helpful to others, perhaps even encouraging them to share their own.
About the Author
When Betty Jane Clem began this project, she thought of her poem collection as reflections on the people, places, events, and inner development one experiences through life. Her experiences centered on mental, emotional, and spiritual development. Writing enabled her to integrate what impressed and influenced her. She believes this kind of journey has value for others. This brief volume fulfills her dream to share her progress toward wholeness. Ms. Clem spent her youth in Staunton, Virginia, where she enjoyed the close family atmosphere. She received a BA degree in English from Radford University, and a master of divinity degree in theology from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. She spent twenty years in ministry with the United Methodist Churches in Ohio and Virginia. She changed employment when her emotional health was impacted by life events. She spent the following twenty years on the national staff of the American Red Cross, working with and for the people that make our world diverse. Betty Jane is in the seventh decade of her life and says she has learned as much from writing about life as she has from living it. In retirement, she fills her days observing the world around her, creating word pictures of what she learns, and enjoying music, gardening, and reading. And yes! She is a dog person.