News! A Poetry Book by my Mom, Elaine Gingrich

Readers who have been with me since I started blogging in 2014 will remember that, once upon a time, a regular feature of this blog was poetry written by my mother, Elaine Gingrich. Some readers liked her poetic inspiration better than my prosaic ponderings, which was fine with me. I think exegesis and poetry are fine pals, essential partners in the quest for truth and beauty.

I'm excited to announce that Mom has published a whole book of her best poems, called The Expectant Heart. It includes favorites that were shared here, plus many more. Here's the official description:

​Written over a lifetime, these 162 poems reflect the author’s longing to live with hope, certain that in the end we will discover all that the heart has ever desired. Includes formal and free verse, prayerful and playful, simple and profound, including a section of Christmas and Easter poems.

I'm so proud of Mom. This book is the hatching of a dream that incubated in her heart for many years, now taking flight to bless many.

​Where can you buy a copy? I understand supplies are limited at the moment, but more are on the way and you can get in line today. For most of you, the best place to buy is from Living Waters:

• ​Canadian customers (a few left)

• ​USA customers (more coming soon)

Here's a photo of Mom with her book inside Bearly Used Books, a bookstore in Mom's hometown of Parry Sound:

In case you've forgotten how good Mom's poetry can be, here's a favorite that fits the season--the season of the calendar and perhaps of your heart, too.

SPRING LEAVES IN RAIN
(Acts 17:27 KJV, Prov. 11:28 NLT)

Spring leaves in rain nourish me—
More skin than paper
They hang in soft folds
Of translucent baby green—
The colour of hope,
Draped like a lady’s delicate fan
From the old maple’s branches
Waiting to catch the breeze.
Pulsing with the potential
Of butterfly wings emerging
Flawless and limp
The doeskin softness fits with ease,
An almost transparent glove
Over my hand.
I trace the flow of life:
Liquid-sunshine slips
Through yellow-green veins
From stiff stem to tender leaf tips,
Through sturdy midrib lanes
To fragile feathering netted threads,
To waiting capillaries in weathered skin
To the deep veins feeding my hungry heart,
Blending with my warm blood life-red
To visit every cell that craves a reason to live.

Spring leaves in rain comfort me—
The softness is something I can grow into—
The feel of hope,
A kid-leather glove
Hiding my scarred skin
With a layer as vulnerable as love.
I would hold life as a pale young leaf,
As tender and unguarded,
As knowing as they are, as free of grief—
Fearing neither tear nor fall,
Knowing next year’s leaf already waits—
Winter bud of determination,
The Creator’s caring provision
For life’s scars and seasons.
I too can survive and reappear
Soft as a baby’s cheek,
Demanding no reasons;
Feeling after Him,
And finding Him, not far away, but near;
Tracing the abiding flow of life-sap—
The Sonshine in my veins—
From source to need,
As godly as a growing leaf.             

—Elaine Gingrich, June 10, 2013/ February 2015

A belated Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

- Dwight