I'm assuming that most of you have executed at least one move in your adulthood. And as such you understand how stressful and exhausting it is. Add in three kids and it gets really crazy!
So that's where I've been lately. We've been packing, moving, unpacking, lather, rinse, repeat for the past couple weeks. My husband getting sick slowed us down considerably, so until today, we weren't really sure we were going to make it.
But we did. So, this week I am going to make every effort to get back on schedule. At least one poem before Saturday.
Thanks for your patience with me while we moved! God bless everyone!
Monday, May 31, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
Oh Boy
Well ... I thought the week before last was busy. I was wrong.
Last week contained a trip to the Indianapolis Zoo, a devotional set at WVIHOP, a trip to the ER, a trip to the doctor, and a lot of fretting over my husband's health. This week contains some of the same! Add in a lot of packing and you've got a full schedule.
I'm only going to try to do one poem this week because I am still getting used to my new MacBook. Lullabye is a message of love and peace from God as we try to sleep.
I pray that all the mother's had a wonderful day yesterday. I received many gifts of love and a homecooked meal by my husband.
Have a great week everyone and God bless!
Last week contained a trip to the Indianapolis Zoo, a devotional set at WVIHOP, a trip to the ER, a trip to the doctor, and a lot of fretting over my husband's health. This week contains some of the same! Add in a lot of packing and you've got a full schedule.
I'm only going to try to do one poem this week because I am still getting used to my new MacBook. Lullabye is a message of love and peace from God as we try to sleep.
I pray that all the mother's had a wonderful day yesterday. I received many gifts of love and a homecooked meal by my husband.
Have a great week everyone and God bless!
Monday, May 3, 2010
Changes
Whew ... what a couple weeks! We've been busy and there's no sign of stopping!
Our family is getting ready to move at the end of this month, so things are starting to ramp up around here. I am going to do my very best to post poems, if not a blog post, every week. If don't, however, you'll know why.
In case you missed it, last week I posted a poem called Servant's Hands. It speaks of the different ways we can choose (or not) to serve our Lord, and what good our hands can do.
Today you'll be able to read At the Foot of the Cross. It's the first in a series of poems about the cross, borne out of visions I was having during meditation at the time. My husband and I would have about twenty minutes of meditation, and I was repeatedly shown the cross, in varying scenes, degrees of clarity and distances. It became very clear that was the place God wanted me to stay at the time.
Wednesday will be Crisscrossed. It speaks of the image of the cross splashed across our society today. It's intended to be a thought provoking piece, and could be a little controversial in its frankness.
Finally, on Friday, is Life of Choices. This one I worked on for a long time, completely re-writing it once. It is also intended to make you think and perhaps recenter yourself in your decision-making process.
This week's poems are somewhat challenging, but I think that's a good thing. As hard as it is (and as much as I dislike it most of the time) being challenged almost always brings me out better on the other end. It is a refining that God puts me through to make me more of what He wants. I hope that maybe a poem will strike you and start a process of refinement in you as well.
Thank you for your support on Twitter and Facebook and here on the blog. I really do appreciate it, and I hope I contribute something back to your lives with this poetry. I am here for my God first and then for other people. As the saying goes, "Love God and love people". I pray that I am doing a good job of that with my poetry. May God bless you always!
Our family is getting ready to move at the end of this month, so things are starting to ramp up around here. I am going to do my very best to post poems, if not a blog post, every week. If don't, however, you'll know why.
In case you missed it, last week I posted a poem called Servant's Hands. It speaks of the different ways we can choose (or not) to serve our Lord, and what good our hands can do.
Today you'll be able to read At the Foot of the Cross. It's the first in a series of poems about the cross, borne out of visions I was having during meditation at the time. My husband and I would have about twenty minutes of meditation, and I was repeatedly shown the cross, in varying scenes, degrees of clarity and distances. It became very clear that was the place God wanted me to stay at the time.
Wednesday will be Crisscrossed. It speaks of the image of the cross splashed across our society today. It's intended to be a thought provoking piece, and could be a little controversial in its frankness.
Finally, on Friday, is Life of Choices. This one I worked on for a long time, completely re-writing it once. It is also intended to make you think and perhaps recenter yourself in your decision-making process.
This week's poems are somewhat challenging, but I think that's a good thing. As hard as it is (and as much as I dislike it most of the time) being challenged almost always brings me out better on the other end. It is a refining that God puts me through to make me more of what He wants. I hope that maybe a poem will strike you and start a process of refinement in you as well.
Thank you for your support on Twitter and Facebook and here on the blog. I really do appreciate it, and I hope I contribute something back to your lives with this poetry. I am here for my God first and then for other people. As the saying goes, "Love God and love people". I pray that I am doing a good job of that with my poetry. May God bless you always!
Monday, April 19, 2010
Lightbulb Preparation
This is going to be a crazy week!
Monday through Wednesday will be spent getting ready for my husband to be gone to work an Emmaus Walk Thursday through Sunday. This leaves me alone with three kids for four days! Oh boy.
This week brings you two poems, Lightbulb and Preparation (hence the blog post title). Lightbulb talks about those moments when everything just clicks for you. Preparation is about the coming kingdom and who is bringing it.
Thank you for your continuing support and I pray that my poetry is reaching out to you in a wonderful, spiritual way. God bless all and have a great week!
Monday through Wednesday will be spent getting ready for my husband to be gone to work an Emmaus Walk Thursday through Sunday. This leaves me alone with three kids for four days! Oh boy.
This week brings you two poems, Lightbulb and Preparation (hence the blog post title). Lightbulb talks about those moments when everything just clicks for you. Preparation is about the coming kingdom and who is bringing it.
Thank you for your continuing support and I pray that my poetry is reaching out to you in a wonderful, spiritual way. God bless all and have a great week!
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Undone
The poem today is one that has tremendous meaning to me. I explain briefly in the comments of the poem about where it comes from, but I want to do a more thorough job here.
I was nervous about attending the Good Friday service that our local IHOP (International House of Prayer) hosted at a high school nearby. See, I had never The Passion of the Christ and was very afraid of the violence I knew was contained within it. The IHOP service was going to feature music, dancing and painting surrounding the movie, which interested me, but the movie still frightened me. So I struggled with the choice for several days.
After prayer and a promise from my husband, who had seen the movie, that he would tell when the worst was coming, I went. The movie was shown on a large screen, with the sound down, as the team sang a selection of songs. From the beginning the mood was somber and tears were not scarce, but things really got intense when the scourging began.
For anyone who has seen the movie, you know the imagery that is presented in those scenes. I made it through the first stage with them simply whipping Him with what appeared to be rods, but as they lifted the rods with barbs, I buried my head in my husband's shoulder. Tears began streaming down my face and I literally was wracked with sobs. I had to take off my glasses and tuck them into my purse. Even being unable to clearly see the screen, or hear what was happening, pain and sorrow raced through me. He did this for me, to erase my sins, and even if I was the only person on Earth, He would have done it. How overwhelming is that?
Mary cleaning up the blood her son had shed, which covered a vast area after the beating from the Romans, as well as the scene where she remembered comforting Him as a child, brought more tears. I have a son. I cannot imagine seeing him suffer, and die, like that and have no power to stop it.
So I made it through the movie and the service, and we gathered up our stuff, emotionally drained from the experience. My husband plays twice a week at IHOP so the leader, Marvin, is well known to both of us. He came down to thank Larry and give us both hugs as we started to walk out, then seeing my face, told me to, "Stay undone."
So I have done my best to do that. Every time I get frustrated or angry or feel alone in my struggles I think back on those striking images of my Lord, drenched in blood, hanging on a cross, dying for me. And it works almost every time.
This is a video with clips from The Passion, set to one of my favorite songs, 'By Your Side'. If you've never seen the movie, it will give you a taste of what it is like. Hopefully it will cause you to come undone.
I was nervous about attending the Good Friday service that our local IHOP (International House of Prayer) hosted at a high school nearby. See, I had never The Passion of the Christ and was very afraid of the violence I knew was contained within it. The IHOP service was going to feature music, dancing and painting surrounding the movie, which interested me, but the movie still frightened me. So I struggled with the choice for several days.
After prayer and a promise from my husband, who had seen the movie, that he would tell when the worst was coming, I went. The movie was shown on a large screen, with the sound down, as the team sang a selection of songs. From the beginning the mood was somber and tears were not scarce, but things really got intense when the scourging began.
For anyone who has seen the movie, you know the imagery that is presented in those scenes. I made it through the first stage with them simply whipping Him with what appeared to be rods, but as they lifted the rods with barbs, I buried my head in my husband's shoulder. Tears began streaming down my face and I literally was wracked with sobs. I had to take off my glasses and tuck them into my purse. Even being unable to clearly see the screen, or hear what was happening, pain and sorrow raced through me. He did this for me, to erase my sins, and even if I was the only person on Earth, He would have done it. How overwhelming is that?
Mary cleaning up the blood her son had shed, which covered a vast area after the beating from the Romans, as well as the scene where she remembered comforting Him as a child, brought more tears. I have a son. I cannot imagine seeing him suffer, and die, like that and have no power to stop it.
So I made it through the movie and the service, and we gathered up our stuff, emotionally drained from the experience. My husband plays twice a week at IHOP so the leader, Marvin, is well known to both of us. He came down to thank Larry and give us both hugs as we started to walk out, then seeing my face, told me to, "Stay undone."
So I have done my best to do that. Every time I get frustrated or angry or feel alone in my struggles I think back on those striking images of my Lord, drenched in blood, hanging on a cross, dying for me. And it works almost every time.
This is a video with clips from The Passion, set to one of my favorite songs, 'By Your Side'. If you've never seen the movie, it will give you a taste of what it is like. Hopefully it will cause you to come undone.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Success!
I am in week two of successfully posting poems and blog posts!
Now, that is in big part because of the efforts of my fabulous webmaster, who has arranged things on the site so that I can schedule poems to post throughout the week. It allows me to take one day to set everything up and be hands off for the rest of the week. He's awesome.
So, this week you get two new poems, Expectant and Indecision (Rev 3:15-16).
The first is about the way we all plan our lives and then ask God to bless what we've done, not let God carry out His plans for us.
The second is based on the Scripture referenced in the title. We are all lukewarm at times, with one foot in the Kingdom and one foot in the world's ways. He won't have it that way.
So I pray that you will enjoy the poems this week. Have a blessed week and may God's grace shine on you each and every day.
Now, that is in big part because of the efforts of my fabulous webmaster, who has arranged things on the site so that I can schedule poems to post throughout the week. It allows me to take one day to set everything up and be hands off for the rest of the week. He's awesome.
So, this week you get two new poems, Expectant and Indecision (Rev 3:15-16).
The first is about the way we all plan our lives and then ask God to bless what we've done, not let God carry out His plans for us.
The second is based on the Scripture referenced in the title. We are all lukewarm at times, with one foot in the Kingdom and one foot in the world's ways. He won't have it that way.
So I pray that you will enjoy the poems this week. Have a blessed week and may God's grace shine on you each and every day.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Wondrous Day
He is risen!
This is the second half of the surprise I spoke of many months ago. Wondrous Night came back in December for Christmas, and it's sister Wondrous Day arrives for Easter. You'll notice great similarities and it is on purpose. I wanted to show how the events are inexorably tied together, and not just by the child/man they are centered on.
Have a blessed day everyone!
-----
The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."
This is the second half of the surprise I spoke of many months ago. Wondrous Night came back in December for Christmas, and it's sister Wondrous Day arrives for Easter. You'll notice great similarities and it is on purpose. I wanted to show how the events are inexorably tied together, and not just by the child/man they are centered on.
Have a blessed day everyone!
-----
The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."
So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."
- Matthew 28: 5-10 (NIV)
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