by Kim Balke and Christine Sine
Many of you, I am sure, remember my good friend Kim Balke, who had a heart transplant last year. Prior to that she was an expressive arts therapist working with children in Delta B.C.
Kim currently requires frequent blood transfusions because some of her meds are suppressing her blood production. Her disability has not meant she is inactive however. She contributed the free download Colourful Me to Godspace and still draws inspirational doodles and writes beautiful poetry, often during her long waits in hospital for the duration of her transfusions.
Kim’s creativity continues to inspire me and prompted me to ask, “What do we do while we wait during this Advent season – waiting as it were for our blood to be replenished by the light of Christ?” I think this is especially true in these last few days of Advent. The waiting gets harder the closer we get to new birth, something that I know is true for Kim as she waits for the meds she has been given to restart her haemoglobin production, to kick in and be effective.
Read through this poem below, one of those she wrote while receiving a blood transfusion. Sit quietly, take time for stillness and waiting. Perhaps you would like to doodle while you do so. How does God inspire you in this season of waiting?
Fly
My dragon fly
Through fields of Fall,
Through flavours of harvest
And the hallowed eves,
Even the fog of our unrest, unease,
Wander ‘til wings weary sleep,
To waken in my imagination,
To let winter’s waiting,
stillness,
settle seeds.
Small, hopeful deeds
Knitted into today earth,
Lullabied into lovely, laughing spring
And the beginning again of things.
But for now,
Fly
My dragon fly.
October 4, 2020, Kim Balke