Of Breakfast, Wedding Dresses, and Exegesis

At this year's retreat, none of my friends went to breakfast.  Part of me understands.  It was heavy food that I don't usually eat; think bacon, sausage, eggs, along with several other options, like waffles, sausage gravy, and hot and cold cereal.  No smoothies, my usual breakfast, anywhere.  For me, that's the point.

Yesterday, I made this tweet/Facebook post:  "I am thinking about breakfast on retreat, where the talk often turns to cooked grains. 'Did you eat oatmeal or grits or cream of wheat as a child? Butter or sugar on top?' I overheard a 20 minute conversation at a different table on Sunday, and I keep thinking about the metaphor/symbol/theology that is possible from a simple bowl of cooked grain."

I have not gone on to write that poem or that piece of theology.  But I did write a poem over the past few days.  I had one of those vivid dreams the other night, just before I woke up, which is when I usually have my most vivid dreams.  I was wearing a wedding dress at the beach with the tide coming in.  My sketchbook and markers were on the sand, and I picked them up just in time.

I wrote a poem of 3 stanzas (3 so far--I may not be done), and each one starts with this line:  A woman in a wedding dress wanders.  The poem can't decide if it wants to be surrealistic or something else, and I'm not sure it's a problem.

What I really need to work on is my writing for seminary classes.  I have 2 exegetical papers due soon.  There's a part of me that says, "Wait?  We have another paper to write?  Didn't we just do this?"  Yes, in a way we did, for midterm.  And now it's time to do it again.

That writing will have its share of joy too, once I get started.  There's always this rush of contentment, once the seminary writing is underway.  Hopefully I'll get to experience that today.