"...the flowing haiku of her hands..." All of it and the story of Lily. How beautiful, Graham. And I am laughing watching you drag that tree branch into the library. I feel like my hands are stuck to the sap as I bow down to relish in the fragrance. How wonderful. What a gift you were to those kids. And a gift to us. So real. So evocative. Our heads clobbered with hail. I love it! Thank you
wow, this story really makes me slow down and just watch the human moments in life. while reading your description of holly signing, i couldn't help but notice the lilies and violets outside my window swaying in the wind. you seemed like such a fun teacher, graham, and i wish more could be like you!
so many endless treasures in the Hebrew! just finished ps 19 -- very excited for you & the others to read / hear it tomorrow, or whenever the time is right...
Graham, your work sometimes reminds me a lot of Tom Hodgkinson’s. He is not religious, but you both explore similar themes. If you haven’t read him, I highly recommend it.
This is a beautiful reminder to me. Grateful to take it into tomorrow.
“Which Holly, through her total mastery of human emotion, human thought, stripped down even further for her mother and father—way, way down—into the flowing haiku of her hands and body, the brightness, the effortless, expressive power, the astonishing and transcendent simplicity of her guileless, divinely awakened, beautiful breathing mammal face saying the one thing, actually, that all of us had always been trying to say to all of our students, all along, we just never knew how:
They love you, Lily
They love you so much”
... we really can communicate this all the time. Looking people in the eye, feeling the movement in our hearts when we become aware of them, work to keep them open. I love you I love you I love you I try to say in my head all the time--at least when I have the bandwidth and I remember. I sense people can feel it. The world bounces love back.
So true, Isabel! And when you said that, I wondered if something like this was the inexpressible thing that the followers of Yeshua saw in him, in his eyes, which is impossible to convey in text -- but possible in *living* likewise, treating others the same...
With total sincerity and absolutely no shred of irony or sarcasm, I wish I'd had teachers like you. Getting smacked in the face with hail is to me far more preferable than what takes place in most of the classrooms I've been in.
Also, as someone who has always had an obsessive desire to learn, but has never been good at fitting into the typical American academic mode centered on exams and letter grades, I must say that that evaluation system is something I wished I'd had.
I absolutely love your work. Your words touch me to the core of my being.
Blessings,
Cleo Bibas
Thank God, Cleo, that's wonderful to hear, and thank you for saying so.
I'll be back writing in a few, God willing...
"...the flowing haiku of her hands..." All of it and the story of Lily. How beautiful, Graham. And I am laughing watching you drag that tree branch into the library. I feel like my hands are stuck to the sap as I bow down to relish in the fragrance. How wonderful. What a gift you were to those kids. And a gift to us. So real. So evocative. Our heads clobbered with hail. I love it! Thank you
wow, this story really makes me slow down and just watch the human moments in life. while reading your description of holly signing, i couldn't help but notice the lilies and violets outside my window swaying in the wind. you seemed like such a fun teacher, graham, and i wish more could be like you!
so wonderful to hear, Aurora, that means a lot -- thank you!
greetings and thanks today for your fresh-from-the-Hebrew Psalm 90 . You have given me my goal for a class just begun; a few friends
are studying Biblical Hebrew together-- when asked why, I had no concrete answer -- until just now!
so many endless treasures in the Hebrew! just finished ps 19 -- very excited for you & the others to read / hear it tomorrow, or whenever the time is right...
Graham, your work sometimes reminds me a lot of Tom Hodgkinson’s. He is not religious, but you both explore similar themes. If you haven’t read him, I highly recommend it.
Sounds like a cool dude -- thanks for the recommendation, Bernard!
This is a beautiful reminder to me. Grateful to take it into tomorrow.
“Which Holly, through her total mastery of human emotion, human thought, stripped down even further for her mother and father—way, way down—into the flowing haiku of her hands and body, the brightness, the effortless, expressive power, the astonishing and transcendent simplicity of her guileless, divinely awakened, beautiful breathing mammal face saying the one thing, actually, that all of us had always been trying to say to all of our students, all along, we just never knew how:
They love you, Lily
They love you so much”
... we really can communicate this all the time. Looking people in the eye, feeling the movement in our hearts when we become aware of them, work to keep them open. I love you I love you I love you I try to say in my head all the time--at least when I have the bandwidth and I remember. I sense people can feel it. The world bounces love back.
So true, Isabel! And when you said that, I wondered if something like this was the inexpressible thing that the followers of Yeshua saw in him, in his eyes, which is impossible to convey in text -- but possible in *living* likewise, treating others the same...
With total sincerity and absolutely no shred of irony or sarcasm, I wish I'd had teachers like you. Getting smacked in the face with hail is to me far more preferable than what takes place in most of the classrooms I've been in.
Also, as someone who has always had an obsessive desire to learn, but has never been good at fitting into the typical American academic mode centered on exams and letter grades, I must say that that evaluation system is something I wished I'd had.
This was a beautiful piece, Graham!
Oh Graham. Thank you so much for this. God bless you a million trillion blessings!