The Big Finish

Dear Kinesthetic Christian friends and fans,

Since July of 2012 I have been posting to this space, as a way to explore and share ideas about an embodied faith — a faith that lives and moves and has its being in and through me. Perhaps it feels so also with you. Thank you, Dear Reader, for your time in commenting, responding and encouraging me along the way.

At 835 published posts, I am drawing the Kinesthetic Christian blog to a close. But before I go… I have reorganized the Kinesthetic Christian site to feature my favorite “evergreen” posts in categories: “FAITH,” “HOPE,” and “LOVE.”

As scripture tells us, “Faith, hope, and love remain, these three, and the greatest of these is love.” Surely, you’ll agree, our world needs more of all three. I hope you’ll visit the site and share what speaks faith to you with those you love.

Faithfully Yours,
Wendy Rilling LeBolt
Kinesthetic Christian

I’m taking the day off

It's my birthday, 
so I'm taking the day off from worrying...

about the state of the earth, whether it's terminal 
about the state of the nation, whether it's fixable
about the state of our politics, whether they're resolvable.

I am exempting myself...
from chores unless I want to do them
from duties unless I care to accept them
from stuff that screams PAY ATTENTION! 

Worry and responsibility have been distracting
me from what it's clear I should be celebrating ...
--  the wonderful friends I have found
--  a glorious family that abounds 
-- the generous gifts which resound
-- the amazing world all around.

Disclaimer: 
I know full well, it is my privilege to get to choose worry-free;
because today no one is depending on me --
for food, for peace, for calm, for life.

Even more then the ample reason
to give thanks for this reality season; 
when I can't do what I used to, perhaps
so I especially enjoy the things I get to.

My pesky pups a'clambering to play
On this sunshine-kissed spectacular day,
Of course the first thing that I do,
Is step right in the dog poo.
Eh, shake it off, fertilizer, nothing to lose,
For now, I've got another pair of shoes.

I wonder how many things I'd worry about less 
If I trusted I had what's needed to clean up the mess.  

On this, my birthday in 2023
thank you friends for celebrating with me. 
I am feeling spectacularly free,
a privilege I don't take lightly.
   

Renewal

The whole world comes alive
when the sun rises.

One by one, two by two
they emerge
from east, from west, 
from every way and every other way,
whole flocks together
as if a heavenly call
has gone out and 
they're heeding its message.

Is it the rays, the light, the glimmer
that bids them come? 
the oranges, reds, the magenta
that dazzles and displays?
or something else I can't see, 
can't hear, can't comprehend?
Is there a knowing I don't know?
A joke I'm not in on?

Ashore, I stand
mired...heavy...earthen.
the only unflighted one of morning.
Astonished at their 
soaring, gliding, joyful shouting, 
"Here I am!" 
"Coming!" 
"Wait for me!"
Guzzling the good, good news of morning.

What a glorious day has come
and is coming
when we, 
weighted and terribly terrestrial 
loosen our ties and 
shed the lashing pinning our wings.  
 
And, with the rest, come
alive in the new day.