Years have taught me this:
Classrooms grow two seasons.
Some minds bloom.
They tilt toward light,
Ask questions like rivers,
Walk long roads with books for bread,
Keep vigil with the moon
Till knowledge breaks the dark.
They lift their parents’ names,
Spark their peers to motion,
And sit-------quietly........
Where crowns listen.
Others arrive as drought.
They silence bells,
Drink effort dry,
Turn patience into ash.
Lessons knock;
Their doors do not answer.
They learn by weight, not will,
Crushing the fragile courage
Of those who teach,
Leaving hearts bruised,
Hope breathless.
So I ask
Are you seed or stone?
Fire or fog?
An answer to sacrifice
Or the thief of time?
Look back at the hands that paid,
The hours poured like rain.
Look forward.
Choose what kind of season
You will be.
Years have taught me this:
Classrooms grow two seasons.
Some minds bloom.
They tilt toward light,
Ask questions like rivers,
Walk long roads with books for bread,
Keep vigil with the moon
Till knowledge breaks the dark.
They lift their parents’ names,
Spark their peers to motion,
And sit-------quietly........
Where crowns listen.
Others arrive as drought.
They silence bells,
Drink effort dry,
Turn patience into ash.
Lessons knock;
Their doors do not answer.
They learn by weight, not will,
Crushing the fragile courage
Of those who teach,
Leaving hearts bruised,
Hope breathless.
So I ask
Are you seed or stone?
Fire or fog?
An answer to sacrifice
Or the thief of time?
Look back at the hands that paid,
The hours poured like rain.
Look forward.
Choose what kind of season
You will be.
from the passenger seat
she watches life
sliding past out her window.
so many u-turns
so many deadends
going the ‘long way’
driving the ‘wrong way’
and never quite ever
reaching her destination.
Tired.
So tired be she.
She wanted to flee the world.
But air got wind of it
and tornadoed the news
to friend and foe
Complicating all,
madly blowing shut windows,
loudly slamming doors.
Now was not the day
not the day
not today...
this storm will pass
whispered the breeze,
believe and know
This too shall pass.
combing my unkempt hair
unraveling years of not caring
my freedom knotted with reckless abandon
untangling each strand of dissatisfaction
cutting as curls fall away
each length a strand of injured time
January 30, 2023
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Sponsored by Line Gauthier
Crawling from the ground
Beautiful butterfly springs
Wings ablaze—fly, fly
some are discouraged
display the love that builds up
~be a force for good
The tickling watches, the shaking legs,
Minds full with silent cries and begs
Hearts are homes
Where the oil is ceaseless impatience,
And neighbours – the anxious ancestors.
The dreams, the love, the perfection,
All blur.
The waiting, waiting and waiting,
In this bewildering times they all were!
It’s a road not unique,
It’s a road they all walk,
The roads with the same lock.
In the universe which was parallel,
They all set a paradise in their own barrel!
But how to walk the road?
To pedal, crawl, jog, jump or travel on a plane aboard?
The waiting is the HOW.
The waiting is the WHEN.
The waiting is the room,
Where all have pitched their tents.
It’s so disheartening how figuring everything out
Is the air to us.
It’s so dis-illusionary why even our luxury
Is to get it ALL FIGURED OUT!
Letting life be life,
Why shape it into a casket of perfection,
Why not mould it into hope,
Not curiosity.
To all on-board this road,
Let’s give the permission for life to flow,
Let it carve out its own roller coaster ride
Let life be life,
Paving way for it to groom,
And not the bleeding, fearing, woeful waiting room!
My cat was killed. Murdered. Gunned down by a car.
In the street in front of his house. Horribly maimed.
I was bereft. It had been a terrific week until it wasn’t.
Then the tide turned and I started smiling again.
Not forgetting but shoving back my poor cat.
A child is missing. Two blocks from my home.
He is twelve. I cuddle my five and four year old tighter.
Looking out their windows, studying the street.
Wondering what has happened to this child.
Wondering who is out there.
It hurts to sit. I struggle through ten days of it.
On Tuesday I am in the emergency room.
Sharp pains in tummy and shingles on
my left hip blistering and angry now.
Purple blotches, and swollen. Angry.
I can do this. They hospitalize me four days.
Shove me out on my birthday
Even though I told them my pain is at nine.
I drive home, feeling excruciating pain.
Two hours later someone wakes me up.
My brother is dead.
I am done.
Hope gone.
The banks along the sides
at times how wide the current rides!
The massive waves, how nigh
they rise to overflowing,
like the master of his ship, gliding
o'er rough the seas of confusion -
Then as quick the waves' unfolding
from certain depths not fathomed,
and the banks' eternal holding
tend to narrow now -
The splashing waves, once enraged,
seem less than a trickle in my mind;
no tossing, no turning or climbing
the sides of the banks, yet somehow
my discouragement knows
the banks will soon fade again -
I Was Discouraged… But Jesus Found Me!
I was so discouraged the
way things were going.
I was frustrated and upset.
And it was showing!
I was about ready to give up
on everything I tried…
And remember the nights I laid awake and cried.
I thought of God. Whom I once had professed…
But now was doubtful, confused and so depressed.
Just then, I felt a voice coming down,
And soon felt God’s love and
presence all around!
His voice spoke clearly
that particular day.
And spoke three words to me;
“trust and obey!”
These words had a new meaning
and touched my heart.
For Jesus has loved me. Right from the start!
I poured out my heart to him
with every burden.
He rolled back the dark clouds
and “heavy curtain.”
He helped me to focus and give
my worries to him.
As a new life began to transform from within!
I’ve given to him my every problem
and every need.
His word and spirit has given
a new direction to lead.
Won’t you allow him to change
your life this hour?
And experience his love and
life-changing power???
By Jim Pemberton
10/14/10
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