Mixed Media | Hollow Me

Our mixed media features this month includes two contributions by Stephanie King. (Stephanie Eden, as a musician). Both her song lyrics for Hollow Me and the recording of I Have Never Left You from her recent album All That I Am tie in with our themed series on doubt. We are grateful for permission to share a track from her album and warmly recommend taking a closer listen. -Editor.

These are the lyrics to a song I wrote this past October while carving pumpkins with my children. It is inspired by a sermon given by Jonathan Rose a number of years ago on exinanition (the process of being emptied out).

Hollow Me

One October a pumpkin grew
Full of seeds and thoughts
She said I don't wanna be one of those
That sits around and rots

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Protecting Ideals and the Reality of the World in which We Live

From a mother's perspective, Stephanie asks the hard questions about balancing ideals with the challenges of reality. Stephanie is insightful and penetrating in her questions but remains gentle in her conclusions as she acknowledges how difficult and personal the struggle is for each person trying to make the best choices she can. -Editor

The New Church offers beautiful teachings with unadulterated ideals about marriage. Something I struggle with is how to hold and protect these precious, perfect ideals I've been privy to have an awareness of, and how to love and accept myself and others in our imperfect states and world. Specifically, I struggle with the ideals of conjugial love and the myriad ways in which it is adulterated. Some questions that arise in my mind include relationships outside of marriage (including homosexuality, cohabitation, pre-marital sexual relationships, open relationships, etc.), the spectrum of the presence of mothers, and the roles and specific duties of men and women within marriages.

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