Just inside the gate

"Inside the gate," 5 x 7 #watercolor card

How many gates have we passed through in our lives?
Literally, and figuratively? Innumerable.
The literal ones beckon, invite, draw our attention, hinting at adventure, or mystery, or journey, or promise of travel on the other side.
Others we are not aware of, perhaps, until later after we have opened, entered, shut, and moved on. They all have consequences, some with negative results, but we yearn for them to be positive.

I pass this gate on my morning walks

Gates in their many forms become symbols, for what is beyond in life. I photograph and paint many of them. This holiday season heightens that sense.
Consider the old Gospel hymn, "Just inside the gate."
"Oh how happy I will be when life's journey here is run
And I look upon His face and I hear Him say, 'Well done
You have fought a faithful fight and my child you've kept the faith
Enter now my joys are yours, so just step inside the gate'

Chorus:
Inside the gate (just inside the gate), 

inside the gate (just inside the gate)

I'm home (just inside the gate) sweet home

Just inside the gate."

A gate always beckons

Beckoning...9 by 8 1/2 watercolor, handmade India paper

Is it swinging open, or swinging shut? Can you tell if it is sunrise or sunset? 
I can't, and don't care to.
Something beckons about a gate, closed, ajar, or wide-open. Is it an ending, or a beginning? I saw this in my garden this morning.
Of the central symbols in my life, gates rank there with cabins, old windows, mountains and deserts it seems. So much change happens without answers, and gates are images of that uncertainty. Metaphors help us cope or understand, or at least add perspective.
Though it's a Gospel song about the end of life,  the title "Just Inside the Gate," captures that spirit in life, regardless of religion or belief.
Think of the gates in your life, actual, and experienced. They always beckon of change, of something different. Come with me.

Gospel of Back Roads

Narrow is the way--3 by 5 watercolor

"But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and  only a few find it." --Matt 7:14
Jesus had only three years to do his work, and we never see him in a hurry or late.
Why are we? Our technology and Interstate culture makes us hurry and fear being late. He walked or rode a donkey.
When he spoke about living, it was about a narrow, twisting trail where your feet got hot and dirty, but where you could also "consider the lilies of the field."
We live on Interstates, and ride at 60 plus miles per hour, chafe at "stop" lights, always work on a "dead" line, and wonder why we don't get more out of life. He was right--it's no wonder so few find life.
What are we afraid of? Do we even know how fearful we are of everything in our high-speed culture? Of how controlled we are by a man-made clock? Why do we consider those who slow down as abnormal, or even threats to our lives?
I know this sounds hypocritical coming from me, who hates traffic lights, mutters at slow drivers, and glories in covering many miles in record times. Long-time friends will be sure to point it out with snide remarks. My oldest son refers to me as "the patient man that you are." I am indeed a creature of my culture, and on top of that, a first-born Capricorn, who expects timely results and perfection.
But as the miles and years roll by, I'm finding more and more enjoyment in taking the back roads, slowing down, walking in the park, sitting silently on the back porch with a piñon fire in the chiminea. One high-achieving friend says she's never happier than when she's on her bicycle, pedaling long miles across country. Another friend says I seem the happiest when I'm painting, mind completely slowed down from the surrounding world.
I think Jesus must have spoken those words about the narrow path to life after a long day walking a dusty trail, enjoying cool water and a meal with his friends; but 2,000 years ago, he somehow knew about the dangers of Interstate "living."
On those narrow dusty trails, I find the Gospel of Back Roads, where  you can slow down and find  the vibrancy of life in full color.
***
Numerous other chapters with photographs in the Gospel of Back Roads appear in earlier posts on this blog. If you're interested, just type in "Back Roads Journal" or "Back Roads" in the search box. Here's Back Roads Journal-I.

Today's clouds, and living in texture

There's an old Gospel song, theoretically based on Rev. 22, The Land of an Unclouded Day, written in the 1880s by Josiah Alwood. It's a song of growing older, of missing those who have "passed over," and of surviving life's tribulations.
I love that song, but it occurs to me, I don't want to live in a place without clouds. Growing up in the Great Plains, clouds bring both hope and horror, as we've seen recently in Oklahoma. But life would be so boring, so featureless without them. So hopeless in fact, I think after a recent visit to the Oklahoma panhandle where there has been less than an inch of rain since January. Ranchers are selling their stock, pastures are gone, ponds and wells running dry. These are tough people, but they know the toughest drought in four generations when they see it.
As a child of the Great Plains, I can't help but take photos of clouds, of wanting to paint them to enjoy them, because they bring a source of life and life itself would perhaps not be worth living if not for the metaphorical and real clouds that come through our lives over the years. Johnny Cash sings it.
If there weren't clouds, would there be any happiness? And as August approaches with its withering heat, I hope these cloud photos of the past few days get to continue, rather than the dull, sun dried pale blue that is the opposite.

"Out here there's the sky," --Willa Cather

An unholy gospel of punctuation, chapter 2

Nothing is sacred or holy about punctuation. Matter of fact, as my youngest son Derrick gigged on Facebook after yesterday's sermon, those  "other" gospels (and the rest of the New Testament), were written in Greek without any punctuation at all.
Makes you wonder who decided to put the punctuation in, doesn't it, since punctuation can change meaning? Obviously though, it wasn't God.
So punctuation is only a man-made tool to help clarify written language. Here are some more guidelines, generally accepted, for its use in American English, from this repentant old English major.

• Period--Use lots of them. (Short sentences). And after abbreviations. But don't put a period after an abbreviation when it concludes a sentence, as He moved to Washington, D.C..
• Question mark--Perhaps the easiest one, at the end of a question. Understand? Only difficulty is with quotation marks. See that item from yesterday, ok? And never use more than one. It’s immature.  Got it????????
• Semi-colons--Avoid because they make for long sentences. Usually break something into shorter sentences for better readability. Use only in a series for clarity when commas are used: He went to Bugtussle, Oklahoma; Dimebox, Texas; and Hell, Michigan.
• Ellipses--Avoid (…), even when cutting quotes, because people distrust them and think you're leaving out stuff you don't agree with, or are taking out of context. You can choose parts of quotes to use and as long as you don’t change context, there’s no harm: “I’m going to resign tomorrow,” said Superintendent Jones, at the end of a speech on embezzlement.
• Dashes--Use with caution, when a comma or period won't do, or for emphasis. I am partial to these, for emphasis instead of an appositive, but still be careful. Also useful as I have done in this article—for lists.
• The virgule (slash). My last mentor and friend Dr. Harry Heath hated this sign as in and/or, or his/her. Again, try to write around it.
• Parentheses. Don't use them, unless you're William Faulkner (Or are Clark writing this sermon on punctuation and he’s already used them several times for clarity).  (See?)  They are stop signs for readers and interrupt the flow of reading. They make for long complicated reading. Make another sentence, or a compound sentence, linked with "and" or but." (But avoid most compound sentences, like parentheses). 

Revelation? I hope these sentences are. Again, always ask yourself if you have a question about punctuation, “Why do I need this?” or “Why am I using this?” 

Hear the word of Clark. Remember this mantra, religiously:

Most punctuation and grammatical problems can be cured with short sentences.

(Hey, if you enjoyed it, please tweet it in the space on the left sidebar. Help convert the masses.)