Already, but not yet

One day
You will find yourself
Deep within the valley of waiting

Where the dew upon the grass
Becomes drenched with tears of a weeping widow
Where the echo within the mountains
Fill themselves with the cry of a childless mother
Where the wind whispers your doubts
Into belief

Where the trees are rooted upon
The mourning of those who wait

In long suffering
You will wait too

Until kairos light appears
Illuminating the mighty river of life

There you will stand
Still beneath the shadow of your darkest day
With your hands scarred from grasping
Empty from striving
With your eyes cast down
and your heart so tightly bound

To a world that is not yours to belong

You must surrender
As if there was really any other choice
But this one
Release
Release into this one moment
The already, but not yet
Let the river of truth
Wash over you like a mighty flood
And all that you held,
No longer will falsely hold you

Already, but not yet
Joy is coming

Holdfast beloved
Joy is coming

Cast your eyes ahead
Joy is coming

                                       Joy Is Coming

LILLIE IS A FILM PHOTOGRAPHER, WRITER, and POET
 

She believes that there is a deep inter-connectivity that dwells deeply within us all. Spiritual and human connection has always been the driving force and inspiration for every piece of art and writing Lillie presents to the world. Her mission in life is to use art and human connection to walk people through the valleys of grief and trauma. There is a deep need to help everyone who comes in contact with her art, feel and see a world they have never known before, a depth and beauty awaiting an awakening within themselves. Lillie is known for her depth of understanding, profoundly articulate nature, terribly honest words, and brutally empathetic, soft spirit.

There came a day where everything I once knew to be true now escaping from formed shadows seemed hard to know, hard to believe at face value any longer. This type of deep wrestling of the soul has the potential to excavate the soul if we let it. This is where the art, wisdom, and deep emphatic love comes from.

I was 27 when the Darkest Night of my soul fell upon me. Tragedy had come, grief became my nearest known feeling as I walked right into an existential crisis hidden within the walls of the deepest valley I could have ever imagined for myself and my family.

It is part of me now, part of my story, part of my calling in life. I am to know grief. I am to know trauma. I am to know the way it affects every tiny part of one's mind, body, and soul. I am to know it but not just for the sake of knowing but for the sake of others. To walk alongside others and weep when they weep.

We all have stories. Our stories have meaning. The meaning often times is far beyond us, but yet held within a connection with humans and ultimately leads to a deeper communion with our Creator.

As I walk this journey back home to myself, I will take the next few years to become a Grief and Trauma Specialist, undergoing one training after the next to seek to understand and know all of the aspects of grief and trauma, how it has the power to disconnect us from others and ourselves.

Writing, poetry, photography...all of these things have always been a part of me but now they are my voice. My way of reaching people with the story given to me. My way of saying...yes there is hope even in the deepest roots in the coldest valley of life...there is hope.

Warmly,
Lillie

FILM PHOTOGRAPHER

Lillie has been a professional photographer for over 7 years. At a crucial turning point in her journey as a woman, mother, and artist she began focusing on the art of photography and less on the business of photography. In her pursuit to live a slower, more intentional life she began to dive into the ever growing world and art of film photography.

One of Lillie's great callings in life is working with women on their spiritual and emotional awareness journey, helping women to see their greater purpose and calling in life. This is why, of all the photography Lillie has done, feminine portraiture has been the deepest and most meaningful. Using her softness and ability to see people for who they are she is able to create beautiful feminine portrait work.

POET AND WRITER

Since an early age Lillie was reading classic poets like Walt Whitman and Henry David Thoreau. Poets and men like this have shaped her mind and writing over all of the years. Poetry was her first art form and still to this day remains the deepest and most impactful way she shares her story, love of God, and healing through grief with the world.

“Lillie Duncan has a natural way of capturing small moments and stretching them into beautifully poetic contemplative prose and poetry. Her work is place where wonder and knowing intertwine and soft innocence and fierce wisdom dance in fluid harmony. Something like a dream, a safe harbor and wildfire of blazing truth all combined.”

Quote from Victoria Erickson,
Author of EDGE OF WONDER and Rhythm and Roads

As seen in

Lillie has a parenting column in Folk Rebellion's paper The Dispatch which comes out monthly.

Simple Parenting: Deconstructing Boxes | Folk Rebellion

Searching for the Broken Ones | Folk Rebellion

Wellness Woman

Unvael Journal

Contact