Sunday, October 27, 2013

Poetry Sunday ~ All Good Men by Adam Zipp

Pic of Fort McHenry


All Good Men
©Adam Zipp


The gunpowder and smoke,
the sounds of a roaring hell,
that is where the glory is shed,
along with the blood stained rivers,
the sick lay wounded in their beds.


Turn away from the pain,
let the night sky fall down like rain,
it is said that good men die young,
but good men stand up to be strong.


Good men fight,
They play the songs of the war bands,
they guide us all with an unseen light,
and always take our hands.


Liberty lives within strong men,
even when evil lashes out like a roaring fire,
the darkness will seep out from the Lion’s Den,
If good men do not aspire.


They never fought alone,
One good man can win a battle,
but when grouped with many men,
together a war can be won.


The men who fought,
they are strong and wise,
they have been through the pits of hell,
always risking their lives.


In the cold months ahead,
in the long warmth of the dead,
may we give thanks to those living and gone,
for everything they have done,
let us thank a vet.
 
 

Poetry Sunday ~ The Step

2 Sam. 22: 37 Thou hast enlarged my steps under me; so that my feet did not slip.

The Step

When we’re born of this world
We took steps as we grew
A journey called life
And days we’d pass through.

Without a step forward
Our lives seemed marred
A struggle to bear;
Each movement too hard.

A step is a cushion
That cradles your feet
A welcoming home
Of each day that we greet.

No steps in place,
No ladder to climb.
A hindered life
No reason, no rhyme.

God gave us steps
To comfort our walk
To Him we turn
We bow to talk.

Thank you Lord
For the steps that you lay.
My pain is now eased
To you I do pray.

Pss. 37: 31 The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide.

Thank you Steven, for building that one step that relieved so much pain in my back!!!
 
 
 

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Quotation Saturday


GENUINE

“The difference between my darkness and your darkness is that I can look at my own badness in the face and accept its existence while you are busy covering your mirror with a white linen sheet. The difference between my sins and your sins is that when I sin I know I'm sinning while you have actually fallen prey to your own fabricated illusions. I am a siren, a mermaid; I know that I am beautiful while basking on the ocean's waves and I know that I can eat flesh and bones at the bottom of the sea. You are a white witch, a wizard; your spells are manipulations and you’re a cauldron from hell yet you wrap yourself in white and wear a silver wig.”
~ C. JoyBell C.

“If you are a warrior, decency means that you are not cheating anybody at all. You are not even about to cheat anybody. There is a sense of straightforwardness and simplicity. With setting-sun vision, or vision based on cowardice, straightforwardness is always a problem. If people have some story or news to tell somebody else, first of all they are either excited or disappointed. Then they begin to figure out how to tell their news. They develop a plan, which leads them completely away from simply telling it. By the time a person hears the news, it is not news at all, but opinion. It becomes a message of some kind, rather than fresh, straightforward news. Decency is the absence of strategy. It is of utmost importance to realize that the warrior’s approach should be simple-minded sometimes, very simple and straightforward. That makes it very beautiful: you having nothing up your sleeve; therefore a sense of genuineness comes through. That is decency.”
~ Chögyam Trungpa

“Love your neighbor, even the ones who do not show you the same courtesy. You can’t expect to receive love if you’re selective and not really willing to give it. What you put into the world, you will indeed get back, even if it’s not from the person you’re expecting it to be.”
~ Alexandra Elle
  
SPIRIT 

“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.”  

~ Albert Einstein

“Take my love, take my land
Take me where I cannot stand
I don’t care, I’m still free
You can’t take the sky from me
Take me out to the black
Tell them I ain’t comin’ back
Burn the land and boil the sea
You can’t take the sky from me
There’s no place I can be
Since I found Serenity
But you can’t take the sky from me…”
~ Joss Whedon

“My soul doth magnify the Lord,
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.”
~ Mary (mother of Jesus), KJV

LOVE

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

“It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.”
~ André Gide

“When I say it's you I like, I'm talking about that part of you that knows that life is far more than anything you can ever see or hear or touch. That deep part of you that allows you to stand for those things without which humankind cannot survive. Love that conquers hate, peace that rises triumphant over war, and justice that proves more powerful than greed.”
~ Fred Rogers

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Poetry Sunday ~ Coyotes Call


Coyotes Call

Coyotes are singing their morning call
They’re scampering through the fields.
The chill is biting as the full moon sets
The road they cross to no car yields.

In a pack they huddle around
Seeking food for the long nights haul
Howling murmurs can be heard
The echoes of their maul.

The sun is rising; they run and hide
You hear their cries of morn
They scurry about as light abounds
To sleep as a new day’s born.
 
John 10:12 But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.
 
 

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Quotation Saturday

I chose optimist this week, because more times than not I always see the glass as half full.
  
~ OPTIMIST ~

“People who are too optimistic seem annoying. This is an unfortunate misinterpretation of what an optimist really is.

An optimist is neither naive, nor blind to the facts, nor in denial of grim reality. An optimist believes in the optimal usage of all options available, no matter how limited. As such, an optimist always sees the big picture. How else to keep track of all that’s out there? An optimist is simply a proactive realist.

An idealist focuses only on the best aspects of all things (sometimes in detriment to reality); an optimist strives to find an effective solution. A pessimist sees limited or no choices in dark times; an optimist makes choices.

When bobbing for apples, an idealist endlessly reaches for the best apple, a pessimist settles for the first one within reach, while an optimist drains the barrel, fishes out all the apples and makes pie.

Annoying? Yes. But, oh-so tasty!”
~ Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

“Tried be cheerful, tried be upbeat, tried not to let my feelings show, not to blame him, not to mind when day after day, week after week, his nonchalance eroded my heart. Sometimes, being an optimist was quite the effort.”
~ Kristan Higgins, All I Ever Wanted

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”
~ Winston Churchill

“A poet is a blind optimist.
The world is against him for
many reasons. But the
poet persists. He believes
that he is on the right track,
no matter what any of his
fellow men say. In his
eternal search for truth, the
poet is alone.
He tries to be timeless in a
society built on time.”
~ Jack Kerouac

I chose deceive because I feel a man (or woman) that can lie and deceive should not call themselves Christians, for they are HYPOCRITES of the very Law they profess.

~ DECEIVE ~

“Just because something isn't a lie does not mean that it isn't deceptive. A liar knows that he is a liar, but one who speaks mere portions of truth in order to deceive is a craftsman of destruction.”
~ Criss Jami

“Whatever others may say, they say it to deceive and comfort themselves, not help you.”
~ Dejan Stojanovic, The Sun Watches the Sun

“When you are posessed by evil spirits, it is crafty manipulations that you follow; but when you are posessed by the Holy Spirit of God, it is wise discretions you pursue!”
~ Israelmore Ayivor

I chose hypocrite for obvious reasons. We want to believe their true and not deceiving us, but the WISE can discern the deception from the truth.

~ HYPOCRITE ~


“Hypocrites get offended by the truth.”
~ Jess C. Scott, Bad Romance: Seven Deadly Sins Anthology

“The only vice that cannot be forgiven is hypocrisy. The repentance of a hypocrite is itself hypocrisy.”
~ William Hazlitt, Selected Essays, 1778-1830

“These religious types were the fans that Jesus seems to have the most trouble with. Fans who will walk into a restaurant and bow their heads to pray before a meal just in case someone is watching. Fans who won’t go to R-rated movies at the theater, but have a number of them saved on their DVR at home. Fans who may feed the hungry and help the needy, and then they make sure they work it into every conversation for the next two weeks. Fans who make sure people see them put in their offering at church, but they haven’t considered reaching out to their neighbor who lost a job and can’t pay the bills. Fans who like seeing other people fail because in their minds it makes them look better. Fans whose primary concern in raising their children is what other people think. Fans who are reading this and assuming I’m describing someone else. Fans who have worn the mask for so long they have fooled even themselves.”
~ Kyle Idleman

“The best sermons are lived, not preached.”
~ Cowboy Wisdom

“Sometimes I feel as though I’m a hypocrite while other times I feel I am human.”
~Joni Zipp

I chose wisdom because it is wisdom that allows me to see the glass as half full and to know a hypocrite when I see one. “A deceptive man doesn’t realize his mask has a hole in it.” ~ Joni

~ WISDOM ~

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”
~ Aristotle

“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.”
~ Isaac Asimov

“In a good bookroom you feel in some mysterious way that you are absorbing the wisdom contained in all the books through your skin, without even opening them.”
~ Mark Twain

“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”
~ Aristotle, Metaphysics


 

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Fanning the Flames

The Fire of Hate
Joni Zipp

Feed the fire, fan the flame
No one here but YOU to blame
A frenzied lie; mass delusion
Leads too many to confusion!

You breed corruption; you harbor hate
Watch the world disintegrate.
Infect the world with pure love
Watch the radiant rain above.

As men deliver irrational fears
All that’s fueled is crimson tears.
Imagine the spread of positive flow
The Lord will erupt in a wondrous show!
***


We’re living in a day and age where it is so easy to spew hate instead of spreading love. I dislike many things that are happening in the world, but to keep my sanity, I turn the thoughts of distaste into love to get through my day.

So many people are willing to ‘share’ their hatred that they get others feeding the fire of hate also. It is no different than taking a match and handing it to a dry piece of kindling wood, which gets handed to a log amid a pile of dried heaped up logs, you then have formed a bonfire of hate all with your one little match of hate.

I am not a political person, so I don’t HATE my president that the country voted into office. I do dislike what is happening in our government as a whole, but does that cause me to spew hate? What am I gaining from it? Well let me tell you, it would be turning me away from the very God I profess to love! The very God that declares love is the key to all healing!

My time and energy is better off spent in sharing the gospel truth that so many of these disillusioned spewers need to hear so they can take a more positive path than the anger that they relay to the bonfire awaiting their match.

Granted, not everyone is open to God and bible quotes, so I make it a mission to share a positive spirit that might infect some of these naysayers into being more productive with their thoughts so that together, in the spirit of love, we control the power of unleashing a mass hysteria of LOVE!

As a writer I like to research where all this hate comes from and to see if it is truth that people are spewing. Oftentimes I go to Snopes. Com to debunk these myths. Recently a spewer said that even Snopes is false. So again I researched the truth and found this link Snopes Exposed!

I think we live in a world where so many people are eager to hate that they don’t even care if it is the truth or not, it just makes them feel good to get their opinion, often hate-filled, out there.

If you’re in my circle of friends, do you realize what you are doing? Do you know that with every spit of hatred it causes me to find love in the source of your anger? Do you realize the more that you fill your wall with anger posts, the more room you are giving to satan in your heart? But at least you gain a prayer in doing so because with each fan of the flames I bow my head in prayer for you.

Sure you say you love God, but how can you mix love and hate and feel clean in doing so? Last time I checked oil and water don’t mix well.

On a final note, I love my country and am grateful for every single thing I have. While you spew hate for the government, without that very government, I would’ve starved, my man would have remained blind and a leech of government funds. No, it is BECAUSE of my government my pride took a leap off a cliff and I was able to survive BECAUSE of the government.

I praise the Lord for feeding my soul, I thank my country for not judging me and giving me the ability to live and thrive.

My prayers go up for the military and their families, my prayers walk with my government instead of against them, my prayers go out to my friends (and family) who need to feel MORE of the LOVE that God offers.

Spread the LOVE, change the WORLD!!!!
 
 

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Poetry Sunday ~ Seasons Change



Ecc. 3: 1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

Seasons Change

Crippled leaves cross the field
Wispy winds stir by
Gone is heat from raging sun
Winter’s frost draws nigh.

Trees are green, orange and yellow
Progression has begun
Seasons melt a new one reigns
With the setting of the sun.

Combines wipe the farmland clean
The cows are sent to the meadow
Trees they weep their leaves are gone
Harvesters reap what they sow.

Clouds they form a serpentine flower
Displays of a heavenly hue.
Blue erupts from the gray
The angel’s seasonal stew.

Sprouting ceases as summer ends
Russet rests on the floor.
Pearly white will welcome the season
Salting the ground once more.
 
 
 
 

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Quotation Saturday



WORK

I chose work because this week has been a full week of work. I’ve been refreshing my grammar skills while also maintaining a pristine household.

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
~ Confucius

“Seven Deadly Sins

Wealth without work
Pleasure without conscience
Science without humanity
Knowledge without character
Politics without principle
Commerce without morality
Worship without sacrifice.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi

“Out of clutter, find simplicity.”
~ Albert Einstein

“A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people to whom it is easy to do good, and who are not accustomed to have it done to them; then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbor — such is my idea of happiness.”
~ Leo Tolstoy

ENDURANCE

I chose endurance because this is what is needed to keep the cogs working to accomplish your goal.

“No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God . . . and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire and which will make us more like our Father and Mother in heaven.”
~ Orson F. Whitney

“I used many times to touch my own chest and feel, under its asthmatic quiver, the engine of the heart and lungs and blood and feel amazed at what I sensed was the enormity of the power I possessed. Not magical power, but real power. The power simply to go on, the power to endure, that is power enough, but I felt I had also the power to create, to add, to delight, to amaze and to transform.”
~ Stephen Fry

“Then let us all do what is right, strive with all our might toward the unattainable, develop as fully as we can the gifts God has given us, and never stop learning”
~ Ludwig van Beethoven

“Were it possible for us to see further than our knowledge reaches, and yet a little way beyond the outworks of our divinings, perhaps we would endure our sadnesses with greater confidence than our joys. For they are the moments when something new has entered into us, something unknown; our feelings grow mute in shy perplexity, everything in us withdraws, a stillness comes, and the new, which no one knows, stands in the midst of it and is silent.”
~ Rainer Maria Rilke

PERSISTENCE

I chose persistence because this is definitely what is needed to endure.

“Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently.”
~ Maya Angelou

“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”
~ Winston Churchill

“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”
~ Calvin Coolidge

“You never know what's around the corner. It could be everything. Or it could be nothing. You keep putting one foot in front of the other, and then one day you look back and you've climbed a mountain.”
~ Tom Hiddleston

PRISTINE

I chose pristine because I love a pristine clean house. Cleanliness is next to Godliness, and a clean house is next to heaven.

“Alec looked at her and shook his head. "How do you manage never to get mud on your clothes?"
Isabelle shrugged philosophically. "I'm pure at heart. It repels the dirt.”
~ Cassandra Clare, City of Ashes

“Telling the truth to yourself is Integrity; Telling the truth to others is Honesty; Telling the truth with no fear or intimidation is Bravity and being free from falsehood is Purity!”
~ Israelmore Ayivor 
*Bravity I believe is Bravery or Brevity

“...it will be a world made not bright but brighter, not clean but cleaner.”
~ Dean Koontz

“Make sure that your heartfelt thanksgiving is more consistent than your nagging needs and your passionate apology fervent than your unhealthy justifications. Be clean and hopeful.”
~ Israelmore Ayivor

*author’s note

Wednesday, October 09, 2013

Apostrophe S Continued


Well let’s jump right in and see what we learn Grammar Book.

Rule 6

With a singular compound noun, show possession with 's at the end of the word.

Example:
my mother-in-law's hat
My example:
her father-in-law’s umbrella

Rule 7

If the compound noun is plural, form the plural first and then use the apostrophe.
My goodness, there’s a compound noun?
Example:
my two brothers-in-law's hats
My example: My sisters-in-law’s coats

Rule 8

Use the apostrophe and s after the second name only if two people possess the same item.
Examples:
Cesar and Maribel's home is constructed of redwood.
Cesar's and Maribel's job contracts will be renewed next year.
Indicates separate ownership.
Cesar and Maribel's job contracts will be renewed next year.
Indicates joint ownership of more than one contract.
Uh oh, it might be sinking in.

Rule 9

Never use an apostrophe with possessive pronouns: his, hers, its, theirs, ours, yours, whose. They already show possession so they do not require an apostrophe.
Correct:
This book is hers, not yours.
Incorrect:
Sincerely your's.
I actually remember this one! YAY me!

Rule 10

The only time an apostrophe is used for it's is when it is a contraction for it is or it has.
Examples:
It's a nice day.
It's your right to refuse the invitation.
It's been great getting to know you.
My example:
It’s been nice learning.
It’s going to be a blessed journey.
It has its ups and downs. (that was a trick sentence) Wink!

Rule 11

The plurals for capital letters and numbers used as nouns are not formed with apostrophes.
Examples:
She consulted with three M.D.s. (Okay, I’m confused again M.D.s.??? The word plural possessives creeps me out)
BUT
She went to three M.D.s' offices.
The apostrophe is needed here to show plural possessive.
She learned her ABCs.
the 1990s not the 1990's
the '90s or the mid-'70s not the '90's or the mid-'70's
She learned her times tables for 6s and 7s.
Exception:
Use apostrophes with capital letters and numbers when the meaning would be unclear otherwise.
Examples:
Please dot your i's.
You don't mean is. (Well duh! I knew this one.)
Ted couldn't distinguish between his 6's and 0's.
You need to use the apostrophe to indicate the plural of zero or it will look like the word Os. To be consistent within a sentence, you would also use the apostrophe to indicate the plural of 6's.
My examples:
She went to the M.D.s’ offices in her town.  (Still doesn’t look right to me)
I learned my ABCs in kindergarten.
I was a child of the 80s
I use the word zero’s when I write.

Rule 12
Use the possessive case in front of a gerund (-ing word).
Examples:
Alex's skating was a joy to behold.
This does not stop Joan's inspecting of our facilities next Thursday.
My example:
Adam’s painting won first prize.
This doesn’t stop Joni’s nagging.

We’re almost done this lesson. HipHipHooray!

Rule 13

If the gerund has a pronoun in front of it, use the possessive form of that pronoun.

Examples:
I appreciate your inviting me to dinner. I appreciated his working with me to resolve the conflict.

My example: NONE

So there you have it! I see on the site that they have a quiz following the lesson. I’m wondering if I should take it and see how well I do, or how bad I do. I’ll get back to you on that. Oh wait, the quiz is for a FEE? Of course it is, you can’t learn for free ya know.

Next, we’re gonna learn about the comma! Aren’t you all so happy? Or do you all know this stuff already and don’t NEED a refresher?

Well la-di-da! Show off. *chuckles here*





Apostrophe S

Okay, I’m going to admit it; apostrophe s trips me up daily. Just when I think I’ve got it nailed, I misuse it, and someone QUICKLY calls me on it. So I misuse commas too, but nobody really cares about them; they’ll overlook them but not apostrophes no way!!

I don’t depend on spellcheck but often times I’ll see that squiggly line, fix it to what it recommends, only to have a grammar pro point out I misused the apostrophe S. I’m going to work on just where that comma goes in quotation marks also, but right now I need to work on apostrophe S!

My son said to me last week, “Mom, the apostrophe S shows possession.”
I really need my son to teach me what I learned in grade school? Apparently!

I found this helpful grammar site:  Grammar Book 

Did you know there are THIRTEEN rules of the apostrophe??? Well color me blonde!

I’m going to practice, refresh, if you will:
  
Rule 1
Use the apostrophe with contractions. The apostrophe is always placed at the spot where the letter(s) has been removed.
My example:
It’s – it is
Doesn’t – does not
Isn’t – is not

Rule 2 

Use the apostrophe to show possession. Place the apostrophe before the s to show singular possession.

This is where my confusion begins.
Their example:
one actress's hat
one child's hat
Ms. Chang's house

My example:
Billy’s hat
Mr. Roper’s hat

NOTE: Although names ending in s or an s sound are not required to have the second s added in possessive form, it is preferred.

Their example:
Mr. Jones's golf clubs
Texas's weather
Ms. Straus's daughter

Confused! I was taught that we’d add an apostrophe AFTER the S. See rule FIVE.

Ms. Jones’ house
Texas’ weather

But if I read what Grammar Book is saying, I’m wrong.
  
Rule 3
Use the apostrophe where the noun that should follow is implied.
Their example:
This was his father's, not his, jacket.

My example:
His father’s home never felt like his own.

Rule 4

To show plural possession, make the noun plural first. Then immediately use the apostrophe.

Examples:
two boys' hats two women's hats
two actresses' hats
two children's hats
Okay, there’s the S’ !!! Are they TRYING to confuse us? Is this legal?!? (denote sarcasm)
One more:

Rule 5

Do not use an apostrophe for the plural of a name.

Examples:
We visited the Sanchezes in Los Angeles.
The Changs have two cats and a dog.


I have no examples! I need to go off and drink all of this in. I’ll continue tomorrow with the rest of the confusion. Don’t worry, I’m just refreshing what I THOUGHT I already knew!

ENJOY!


Tuesday, October 08, 2013

Punctuation Skills


Or my lack thereof. Prickly little buggers they are, commas and apostrophes and such!

I need to work on my punctuation skills. How am I going to teach YOU skills if I don’t even know them myself? I guess Schoolhouse Rock wasn’t sinking in as strongly as I thought it was. Yeah I still sing “Lolly, Lolly, Lolly get your adverbs here.” But see that <--- my punctuation stinks in a big way!

Interjections show excitement or emotion,
they're generally SET apart from a sentence by an exclamation point,
or by a comma when the feelings not as strong.

I’ve been called on my lousy punctuation skills to the point of it digging in me and possibly scarring me for life. I’m a writer, I NEED punctuation skills! Reminds me of a facebook post from a Writing page:

“Let’s eat Grandma!”
“Let’s eat, Grandma!”

Do you see how important that comma is? Well gosh-a-rooney! Am I really THAT bad?
I didn’t think I was until it was pointed out many years ago on a Poetry site that I, and I quote, ‘Basterdized punctuation’. I even wrote a poem with the same title since I did feel a little slighted and I was new to this infernal world of spiders. (worldwide web?)

I slaughter punctuation! Not intentionally mind you but I do. I overuse comma’s, misplace apostrophes, and I love the exclamation point! I barely use them now because I feel someone is going to laugh at my lack of skill in using them. So, I’m going to learn! See that?

This was my first page in trying to understand punctuation. Punctuation
Hey what can I say, I clicked the first one that came up.

I see an error and wonder how accurate the site is:

A set of commas is a means of separating items in a list.
  The details required are name, date of birth,  address and telephone number.
Sometimes a comma is needed between the last two items to ensure clarity.
The details required are name, date of birth, address and telephone number.

Both the sentences are exactly the same, so what are they telling me? And I wonder why I slaughter punctuation, eh?

Another site I found was helpful, Skills You'll Need , but I’m still weeding my way through to see just where it is I need help the most. You know, it would be so much more helpful if someone pointed out just what I slaughtered instead of chuckling and saying, “Boy you fudged that up. Where did YOU learn grammar?” 

I guess laughing at my ineptness makes them feel that much more intelligent themselves. Another way of me, making people feel good. Glad I could make you smile.

As I work through my grammar skills, I’m also working on my writing. It seems something was lost that I need to rein in and recapture what has tried to get away. I make typos, I’m human, but if I cut up my punctuation to the extent you’re laughing at my ability, by all means, correct me.

Punctuation skills are not my strong point, WRITING is!



Sunday, October 06, 2013

Poetry Sunday ~ Unattended



Prov. 21: 16 The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead.

My heart is unattended
I want to thank you all
For each having your own part
In allowing me to fall.

The whispers loud as thunder
The secrets a knife in the back
Silent thoughts that aren’t shared
the intimacy you lack.

Non-communication spills
the words across the floor
like marbles loose to wander
right out the open door.

I feel like I am poison
a venom to your soul,
I compromise your journey
as a constant nagging stroll.

I cannot remain in last place
when all others come ahead.
Lies become your fortress
With secrets you imbed.

Is this the life I see for myself
what happened til death do us part?
I saw my soul melt in your eyes
On the day you stole my heart.

I stand here unattended
Can someone here my cries.
Sweep me off the floor again
I’ll drink of all your lies.
 
 

Saturday, October 05, 2013

Quotation Saturday


Many of you might wonder why I choose the quotes I pick to post on my Quotation Saturday. In the experimental stages, I’m going to express why I chose the quotes I chose.
Here goes:
I chose PRIDE because all to often this week I have seen chest pounding antics of people who seem to be too high on a pride-filled horse and personally need to be knocked off and smacked with reality.

PRIDE

“Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.”
~ Jane Austen

“As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on thing and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down you cannot see something that is above you.”
~ C.S. Lewis

“The proud person always wants to do the right thing, the great thing. But because he wants to do it in his own strength, he is fighting not with man, but with God.”
~ Søren Kierkegaard

“Greed, envy, sloth, pride and gluttony: these are not vices anymore. No, these are marketing tools. Lust is our way of life. Envy is just a nudge towards another sale. Even in our relationships we consume each other, each of us looking for what we can get out of the other. Our appetites are often satisfied at the expense of those around us. In a dog-eat-dog world we lose part of our humanity.”
~ Jon Foreman

“When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but with creatures bristling with prejudice and motivated by pride and vanity.”
~ Dale Carnegie


I chose judgment because it seems that prideful people are placing judgment on others these days. I do believe if they are without sin, then go ahead cast stones.


JUDGMENT

“If you didn't grow up like I did then you don't know, and if you don't know it's probably better you don't judge.”
~ Junot Díaz
“Man is not, by nature, deserving of all that he wants. When we think that we are automatically entitled to something, that is when we start walking all over others to get it.”
~ Criss Jami

“Can you look without the voice in your head commenting, drawing conclusions, comparing, or trying to figure something out?”
~ Eckhart Tolle

“I never approve, or disapprove, of anything now. It is an absurd attitude to take towards life.”
~ Oscar Wilde


I chose vanity because I feel pride and vanity are very much alike. They’re not but people seem to embrace them both.

VANITY

“Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.”
~ Jane Austen

“Nobody sees anybody truly but all through the flaws of their own egos. That is the way we all see ...each other in life. Vanity, fear, desire, competition-- all such distortions within our own egos-- condition our vision of those in relation to us. Add to those distortions to our own egos the corresponding distortions in the egos of others, and you see how cloudy the glass must become through which we look at each other. That's how it is in all living relationships except when there is that rare case of two people who love intensely enough to burn through all those layers of opacity and see each other's naked hearts.”
~ Tennessee Williams

“When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but with creatures bristling with prejudice and motivated by pride and vanity.”
~ Dale Carnegie

I chose dignity because people seem to lack this very much.

DIGNITY

“Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in the consciousness that we deserve them.”
~ Aristotle

“Self-respect is the root of discipline: The sense of dignity grows
with the ability to say no to oneself.”
~ Abraham Joshua Heschel

“Every life deserves a certain amount of dignity, no matter how poor or damaged the shell that carries it.”
~ Rick Bragg

“People have the right to call themselves whatever they like. That doesn't bother me. It's other people doing the calling that bothers me.”
~ Octavia E. Butler

“Dignity is as essential to human life as water, food, and oxygen. The stubborn retention of it, even in the face of extreme physical hardship, can hold a man's soul in his body long past the point at which the body should have surrendered it.”
~ Laura Hillenbrand


I feel if more people had dignity they would be less prideful and stop judging others before they judge themselves. ~ Joni

Just because you have an opinion on something doesn’t mean everyone else shares that opinion. Expecting them to is making them as arrogant as you. ~ Joni

 I chose boasting because I’m so sick and tired of everyone’s bloated ego’s that they feel the need to spread THEIR ways to the world.

BOASTING

“The truest human is the one whose conduct proceeds from goodwill and an acute sense of propriety, and whose self control is equal to all emergencies; who does not make the poor man conscious of his poverty, the obscure man of his obscurity, or any man of his inferiority or deformity; who is himself humbled if necessity compels him to humble another; who does not flatter wealth, cringe before power, or boast of his own possessions or achievements; who speaks with frankness but always with sincerity and sympathy; whose deed follows his word; who thinks of the rights and feelings of others rather than his own; and who appears well in any company, a man with whom honor is sacred and virtue safe.”
~ Markesa Yeager

“What do you have that was not given to you? And if it was given, how can you boast as if it were your own?”
~ 1 Corinthians 5: 7

“The maker of the stars would rather die for you than live without you. And that is a fact. So if you need to brag, brag about that.”
~ Max Lucado


Friday, October 04, 2013

The Reflecting Pool

Job 32: 18 For I am full of matter, the spirit within me constraineth me.

This week I feel that I’ve gone and jumped in a reflecting pool. I’m doing a lot of reflecting and thinking things through so bear with me. I know my whining about no internet for three days might make some of you say, “Enough already!” But I hope you see how dependent and addicted to the web my family and I have become. Also realize, my son has outside activities like school, and my man, he works. Me, I blog/write! I would much rather be addicted to the internet than suffer from drug and alcohol abuse. But like I said two weeks ago, we give up one addiction and fill it with another. At least this one isn’t sucking out all my brain cells or is it?

The God imposed fast was like He himself gave me a little push into the reflecting pool, and at some point in your life, I hope you take a dive yourself. Reflection is a way of seeing the truth in matters. When you look in the mirror, you are seeing the truth of what you look like, not a photoshop picture of what you WISH you really looked like. Nope, the image you see reflecting back from the mirror is the real deal.

The reflecting pool allows you to walk up to the edge of the water line, look down and you can see what’s in your soul. Yup I looked at my soul and it took a complete cut off from the wide world of the web for me to see an honest reflection of what MY soul looks like.

I saw ripples of the life I made for myself.
I saw me as a positive influence on others.
I saw me sharing the truth (or what I see as truth) and people getting it.
I also saw me striving to write and taking anything that falls on the page as a baby step towards my writing journey.
I also see everything anyone posts (blog, twitter, facebook) as an attack on me personally, as a human being, especially all the negative posts that people can’t keep themselves from posting. It affects peoples psyche! Even if it is intended to inform, it really comes across as ‘We’re too stupid to already know this stuff’?
I see me in prayer praying for each and every friend that I’m in contact with on facebook. (not so much the twittersphere)
I find peace in knowing I can’t save the world and that it isn’t all on my shoulders to bear.
I know I don’t need to run a popularity marathon to make me feel special. I feel special just being myself.
I am loved for just being me.
I saw my pain washing downstream with all the negative thoughts clinging to it.

My eyes were opened to what is wrong in MY LIFE and definitely see a way in making it right, and it isn’t in random hate-filled post. It isn’t in the outside social media trap, it is within! I’m liking who I am within, and praying for those who need to feel loved and are finding a satisfaction in false love.

Others need to see themselves as part of the very problems they so readily post! By you feeding fires and fanning flames is NOT the way to make a point. Do something about it physically! Words are just babble.

As I will continue to share positive things with substance, I will shun and run from all the negativity and it will force me to do a self-imposed fast of the internet. I will not be a follower.
“The one who follows the crowd will usually get no further than the crowd. The one who walks alone, is likely to find himself in places no one has ever been.” ~Albert Einstein

The message in this post? Take the time to jump in the reflecting pool and really look at yourself and who it is that you present to the world. Maybe what YOU see won’t be what the world sees.

Pss. 40: 8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.

Prov. 16: 18 Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.


Thursday, October 03, 2013

The Flood Waters



Pss. 32: 6 For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.

During the ‘no internet’, the isolation and reflection period, the floodwaters were coming downstream. Yes, the Colorado flood waters.

I live about nine miles out from the Platte River, and all this summer the dryness took it’s toll; grass and weeds were filling the sand where there once was a river flowing. From all angles the riverbed was dry as a bone give or take a vein of water here and there, until recently that is.

Riding over the small bridges that spanned the river, our mouths just hung open in awe of the isolated trickle of water that came through disguised as a river. Before the internet cut off I was watching the Colorado flood waters daily on this here web center. The devastation, the beating of water on houses and cars, and knowing, this will all come our way. Maybe not in the essence that it struck Colorado, but it would move east downstream and wind up in the Platte River.

Adam came home from school last week and had said something about his teacher talking about how dangerous the Platte River was at this time. Toxic material was moving its way through and the river was more like a cesspool of refuse. “Do not go in or near the river and definitely do not touch.” he said!

We shrugged it off in disbelief, but by Friday evening I heard for myself on the news (yeah, no internet caused me to actually watch the news on TV) that the Platte was at flood level and Kearney was under a flood watch. The river cuts right through Kearney.

Sure enough, Sundays church visit (we cross the river) showed us the rushing of water downstream! The river was full, full of sludge and overflowed into nearby lake houses. Just as it sounds the houses have a lake in front of them where people in the houses have little paddle boats and whatnot and actually use the lake. I imagine with the overflow of the Platte into their lake, tests will need to be run on the water to see if it is safe to return to the lake as a playing field.

As I saw the water reaching back into a cornfield, I thought of the cows being let out onto the field and thinking the water was safe, but is it, even for pasture cows? I have no idea; I’m not a farm girl, I’m just a city gal making observations.

What was so weird about the observation was it made me think of Noah and last weeks posts. Yeah, I’m still in my reflecting mode and when these things strike me, I write.

The flood of thoughts washed over me, like I imagine Noah being flooded and asked to prepare for a new world. That’s exactly what I was doing, being flooded and told to prepare. No I don’t believe dinosaurs were on the ark, just as I don’t believe polar bears and penguins were asked to leave the arctic to come on down to climb on board the Ark and the flooding of the land.

When disaster strikes we’re asked to prepare well ahead of time, some do and some choose not to. I know losing the internet is no disaster, far from it, but it does cause a flood of emotion to wash over you causing you time to take a dip in the reflecting pool. I wasn’t prepared to be ‘cut off’ from the internet and that is why I had such a sadness when the thought of non-communication struck me like a sudden onslaught of flood waters.

The thought of not reading my online friends for days was like a sand bur hindering my movement. Although my last post before the interruption of service happened, I had said I was going to retreat, meaning a step back to me, but to them, my three day absence was me retreating, a staying away intentionally. Well EGADS! An intentional staying away of my only friends in life? Why I never!

So I’m back with a flood of messages. Not necessarily ‘writing’ posts, but messages of loving and passion! Writing IS my passion and I love my friends. They are a flood of comfort to my isolated soul!

Pss. 69: 2 I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.