I recently had a chance (in the middle of the cacophony of home renovations) to chat with fellow writer Alyson Shelton who invited me to join her Instagram Live series sharing an “I Am From” poem. “I Am From” poems originated with writer George Ella Lyon**, a poet and teacher in her home state of Kentucky. The text of my poem is below. But for … Continue reading “I Am From”–An Interview & Poem
Ash Wednesday this year is March 2nd, beginning the liturgical season of preparation for Easter, the season of Lent. Lent is the forty days of prayer and fasting observed by many faith traditions. The observance derives its name from the placing of repentance ashes on the foreheads of participants. Priests and pastors recite either, “Repent, and believe in the Gospel” or, “Remember you are dust, and … Continue reading What Can I Give up For Lent? A Noneatarian Response*
There are times in the dead of winter that I have a hard time imagining ANYTHING will every be growing or blooming in my flower beds. Then Spring and Summer come and it’s an EXPLOSION of color that can’t be contained. Somewhere in the middle of all that green there are plants vying for sunlight and air, wishing for water to nourish their leaves and … Continue reading My Heart-God’s Garden
“Personally, I know little about God, whoever he is. If he is. I realize, however, that to some, he’s downright awesome. From Gram’s description, I picture him like a raptor with a sky’s wingspan, exhaling love’s oxygen on his hatchlings, feeding them comfort and truth and power straight from his beak.” -Sugar Birds, Cheryl Bostrom I haven’t stayed up until midnight to read a book … Continue reading Sugar Birds by Cheryl Grey Bostrom
God with us in the broken place. E manu el, Yahweh whose hand steadies and steers us while we lift our face. Prayers rise. We cannot transform a heart but we can tend and feed the bodies housing hope, care for roses, prune and weed, wash and fold, clothe the people who inhabit our petitions. Wholly Spirit, He is wholly with us within, animates our … Continue reading How to Be a Poem
Last week in Sunday School we talked about the number 1, and how there’s only One Way to Heaven—and that’s Jesus. Of course, “Jesus” is the Sunday School answer to nearly everything. And it works, especially if you’re a young child. But what about as we grow older? This got me thinking. Jesus said He was the door, a way into the Kingdom of God … Continue reading Jesus–Heaven & So Much More
One of my favorite things about teaching Elementary School was being able to read aloud to children. I miss it a great deal. There’s a chapter in a wonderful book by Kate DiCamillo called ‘Because of Winn-Dixie’ about a “big, ugly, suffering dog with a sterling sense of humor” whom the main character, Opal, dubs Winn-Dixie, because she found him outside a grocery store. Opal … Continue reading Ten Things About my Mother (for my birthday)
I swerved around a swallowtail today, its goldblackblue mosaic translated across the glass and gone. Street’s curbed outline caught the corner of my eye as the colorburst startled me to noticing, awakened me to a sight just past the neighbors. A sudden glimpse of canines at their master’s feet—heads anon, ears aperk—then they rose and trotted on. ***** What if darting visions, experience, growth were … Continue reading How to Measure Time {a #poem}
I slip on this chosen shelter, hide within silken walls and wonder— How long will these layers hold? Fragile pearlescence surrounds me- who’s to say? My shattered self is still, waiting. Gauzy quiet and singular, barren days envelop me by the hour. I take pains with my words, listen more, defy the urgency of unnecessary things. Spinning a private insulation preserves me heart and mind, … Continue reading Cocoon-{a #poem}
“These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” 1 Peter 1:7 NIV I’ve begun this post at … Continue reading Finding Life in Fissures of Glory