On Saturday 25th June we organised a Ladies engaging creative evening with Sarah de Nordwall – stand-up poet and story telling. Sarah performed many of her amusing thought-provoking poems, including Lipstick is a spiritual experience, weaved together with funny stories and anecdotes. Hammad provided musical accompaniment and backing vocal for Rest in Me – Sarah’s original composition which she hopes to record in Hammad’s studio this week.
The participants, from St Mary’s Church, Chesham were then encouraged to write to one of Sarah’s poems in response. This creative writing exercise produced some unexpected results with some reluctant ladies discovering an unknown talent. This was one of the responses:
Mosaic of Life by Sally Baily– inspired by Kintsukuroi
It’s amazing Lord, how you take our broken pieces and mend them with your light.
All those things we think are mistakes that you weave into our story to make us stronger.
Broken hearts
Broken limbs
Broken reputations
Broken dreams
Exams failed
Goals missed
all these become beautiful pieces of the mosaic of my life –
not scars but patterns of life that make up the whole,
that shape my personality,
that give me stories to tell, that inspire others;
hurts that have healed
mistakes that have been redeemed,
new God-focussed goals to replace those self-focussed goals;
reputation, built not on my achievements, but on your grace and mercy;
new dreams, not limited by my capacity to achieve, but based on your limitless capacity for fun and adventure.
I probably couldn’t have got to this place in my life without those broken things that you have mended, without those trials to overcome with your help Lord – Thank you.
‘Dare to dream’ you said to me years ago and look where we are now!
Amazing!
Feedback from the evening was very positive with comments such as:
- I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed Saturday evening with Sarah – I came home feeling exhilarated!
- Just a note to thank you and Hannah very much indeed for all the hard work you both put into making last night’s Ladies Event so successful and enjoyable. Special thanks to Hammad too for all he contributed and his sensitive accompaniment to Sarah’s song. Sarah’s positive approach and enthusiasm was contagious and on our table (the naughty one!) everyone really enjoyed the time, and surprised themselves with what they were able to create. Thanks too for the delicious desserts and drinks.
To find out more about Sarah and her amazing work around the world visit her website http://www.sarahdenordwall.com/