Prompt: "When a storm comes, where does your heart run?" [Tess Guinery]

Note: Full access to prompts like this one, as well as the prompt archives, is reserved for paid subscribers here at The Mending—upgrade now for access. Free subscribers enjoy this preview!

This month’s prompt is a borrowed/inspired prompt from the opening lines of Tess Guinery’s poem: “When a storm comes, where does your heart run?” I encourage you to pause a minute to have a read in its entirety here, and when you come back, I want to draw your attention to these lines:

"When the storm comes,
have yourself some true things,
some soft landings,
soft places
for
your
heart
to
go."
-Tess Guinery

I know we’re in the middle of the summer right now (if you’re reading this around the time of publishing), a season that tends to be defined by long, sunny days. But even in the summer, storms come.

Growing up in rural Illinois and spending summers in northern Wisconsin, the summer months brought some spectacular thunderstorms, sometimes heat lightning, and sometimes destructive tornadoes. But now living in Northern California, I’m spared from most summer storms, although we’re warned to prepare for earthquakes or wildfires. Wherever you live, you’re likely to be cautioned about potentially hazardous weather and storms that may occur. We prepare by making emergency plans and having emergency supplies already on hand.

We all know that life can bring figurative storms. Sometimes our inner weather can feel a bit tumultuous and stormy. Do you have a readiness plan for life's storms?