"Honeymoon with Big Joy" #4

Featuring James Crews and Beautiful Chorus

Oct 05, 2023

Welcome to “Honeymoon with Big Joy”

Remember, you’re the co-creator of this dive. Do as much or as little as you’d like, when you’d like, how you’d like, with the materials I provide. Just keep gentle faith with yourself.

Set your intention

Take a moment to name the primary intention you have for this month-long deep dive and/or this particular session. Take a quiet moment to center yourself in that intention.

En-JOY the music

Read the poem

You’ll notice that today’s poem by James Crews is conversing with yesterday’s poem by Mary Oliver.

I invite you to read this poem twice—aloud, at least once. You may also listen to my reading, perhaps with your eyes closed.

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SUNFLOWER
James Crews

“Joy is not made to be a crumb,”
Mary Oliver once wrote, but isn’t that
how it often shows up at first? One crumb
of attention, then another, and another
until you’re able to follow the trail
leading to the volunteer sunflower
you hadn’t noticed blooming by the garden.
“Volunteer,” we say, meaning no human
hand nestled that seed in the ground,
though the same could be said of joy too,
which seems to spring up out of nowhere
when you see the face of the flower
the French call tournesol, meaning
“turned toward the sun.” And don’t we
each carry a small sun in our chests
that tells us where to turn, where it’s warm,
where something bright has struggled up
out of the earth, and is now calling your name?


(found at this link)

Contemplate/Create

Use any of these questions however you wish—e.g., as openings for meditation or prayer, as prompts for journaling or poetry-writing, as sparks for drawing or painting, as catalysts for change-making . . . You may also ignore my questions altogether to go off in other directions!

As noted above, today’s poem by James Crews is conversing with yesterday’s poem by Mary Oliver. James takes off on Mary’s line “Joy is not made to be a crumb” and offers a different view. Now I invite you to take off on a line from James’s poem and see where it leads.
Reflect/write on/create from your sense of the relationship between joy and attention.
Notice small things in your immediate environment things that are gently asking for the light of your attention and appreciation—a light that shines from “the sun in your chest.” Take a moment to try to contemplate—and feel—the natural connection between what’s outside of you and what’s inside. Relax into the joy of that connection.

Want to visit with other Rafters in the Deep Dive?

Here are two options: either leave a comment on this post using the button, or join the chat thread dedicated to this Deep Dive. (Note: if you haven’t created a Substack profile yet, you’ll be asked to do so before you can comment or chat.)

Join us on October 31 for “Rafter Refuge”!

6:30-8:00PM Central (7:30 ET, 5:30 MT, 4:30 PT)

Let’s close this Deep Dive with a time of voluntary sharing. (It’s fine just to listen!) Come and reflect with other Rafters on “Honeymoon with Big Joy.” Registration is required for this celebration.