Do I Fear?

Pss. 143:7 Hear me speedily, O LORD: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit

Do I Fear...

I don’t live in fear but yesterday I felt a twinge before posting my poem post to facebook. I expected no reply and got no reply. Eighty friends and only three LIKES? Boy that makes me feel like all the writing I do is worthwhile. I haven’t posted on my FB wall since Christmas Eve and I’m all the better for it; I’ve written for the first twelve days of the New Year. I feel liberated, alone, but free from the restrictions FB places on me as a human being.

“Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.” 

~Robert Frost

As the sun rises in a flaming ball of fire and clouds brush over to hide it in the shadows I’m reminded that that is how life is. Sometimes you’re standing in the spotlight of the world with all eyes on you and then it happens, a mist falls over your face veiling you and placing you in the darkness of the shadows.

Do you cower in fear or reflect on what is taking place? I choose reflection. Only because in the shadows the reflection becomes more clear for you to see. The only thing I fear in life is the Wrath of God. As I’ve said in previous posts, I don’t feel ready to grab even the first rung of the ladder into Heaven.

As I watch others prance around in confidence or blindly traipse as if there is nothing to be concerned with, after all they’re guaranteed the walk up the ladder because they believe. I’ve said it before, I’m not so sure that just believing is the route to heaven.

“To let God make us, instead of painfully trying to make ourselves; to follow the path that his love shows us, instead of through conceit or cowardice or mockery choosing another; to trust Him for our strength and fitness as the flowers do, simply giving ourselves back to Him in grateful service,—this is to keep the laws that give us the freedom of the city in which there is no longer any night of bewilderment or ignorance or uncertainty.”
~ Sarah Orne Jewett, A Country Doctor

I found this author (thanks Bob) and practically fell in love. I’m in search of her writings because she sounds so much like me I had to do a double take. Her quote above is dead on. We can not make ourselves, only God can do that. And too often I see people trying too hard (conceit?) to make themselves something they’re not.

“Trust Him for our strength and fitness like the flowers do…” Very well put Ms. Jewett.

Flowers do not feed themselves with dogma, doctrine or debates. They are fed with earth, Light and rain. A Rose does not compete with the Lily; they have acquired their own beauty in their own right/rite. They don’t need to be the best and most popular in the garden, they just need to be…ALIVE. And THAT my friends is what I’m striving for; to simply give back to God the beauty He has shown me, nothing more, nothing less. I will walk the path He has placed in front of me and be grateful for every step I’m allowed.

May God bless you on your journey.

"I learned the hard way that I cannot always count on others to respect my feelings, even if I respect theirs. Being a good person doesn't guarantee that others will be good people. You only have control over yourself and how you choose to be as a person. As for others, you can only choose to accept them or walk away."
— Unknown Author

 

 

Poetry Sunday ~ Fiery Pit

Isa. 13: 8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.

Fiery Pit

Alone in the fiery pit

No one near to see

Flames licking at my side

The walls that smother me.

Heavy eyes raised to glance

The yellow, orange and blue

Holding me within its grasp

Feet cling to the floor of glue.

I cannot move; no hands reach out

I’m caught in the raging flare

The sound is all but deafening

In its race to singe my hair.

Is this a dream I can’t wake from

The abyss alarmingly real

My limbs are numb as the blaze erupts

There’s nothing for me to feel.

Why do people pass right by

Not hearing the harrowing screams;

Is a smile enough to make them think

All’s normal or so it seems?

Alone am I in the fiery pit

While people are blind to the pain

They’ll live the fantasy that all is well

As I dance in the fan-flamed rain.

Move on you sleeping nation

Your hypocrisy is wearing thin.

Pretending to care and moving on

As I peel my melting skin.

 

 

Getting My Point Across!

Grammar Slammer!

While I am on a blogging roll, I thought I’d add this to the mix, getting my point across.

When we speak to a person, we have the luxury of eye contact, arm gesturing, head bobbing, smirks, smiles or grins. In the writing world we don’t have that luxury to help us get the point across unless the board has emoticon smileys all over the place as you can express yourself through them. Sometimes people OVER use them which makes me think they’re on a caffeine high of some sort, or just over excited, sitting behind the keyboard itching for human contact.

In the written world of words, like a hand held, real live paper-filled book with words, how is one to get the emotion across to the reader? I’m going to say punctuation. Because we don’t have emoticons in the publishing world, are you going to get your point across to your reader without that smiley emoticon? I sure hope so.

You’re standing on your own two feet, smiley abandons you and all you have is your words. When we write, there is no gestures, or timbres of a voice that the reader can pick up, so we fully rely on proper punctuation.

First there is the missed period. Sure it can mean you’re pregnant but in your writing it could mean a total misunderstanding of your words. The period is going to tell your reader that your thought is complete, and that you’re going to string together another thought. If writers forget the period, they have a run-on long sentence, (a big no-no in the writing world) or that the writer has an incomplete thought.

Example:
Sally and Joe went out to eat humans are a funny species eating all the time they also went window- shopping down the avenue for clothes they enjoyed each others company.

Sally and Joe went out to eat. Humans are a funny species, eating all the time. They also went window-shopping down the avenue for clothes. They enjoyed each others company.

Did you know that the second-most familiar punctuation mark is the comma; it is also the most misused punctuation mark. It’s used to indicate a minor but necessary pause, and its proper use is simply invaluable to good writing. The omission or misuse can cause worlds of confusion to your reader.

John ate furiously grandma for dinner was so relaxed.

A world of confusion ensues.

John ate furiously. Grandma, for dinner, was so relaxed.

I like this example:

When I’m eating people avoid me

People avoid me when I am eating. (sloppy eater)

Avoid me when I am eating people. (cannibal)

Do you see it? COMMA: people! Are you grasping all that punctuation can do for you? Sometimes in my writing even with the proper punctuation, I am totally misunderstood. Someone will say to me, “you sounded upset.” (angry, ungrateful, etc.) And I’m thinking, really? My words on a page have no sound, so how did you read that into my words.

I realized that not only with punctuation, misplaced words can lead the reader down a wrong assumption path.

Example:

He works long drawn out days. I have no car to rely on while he works. I’m in a sea of change and my routine is rocked. Minimum wage won’t pay the massive amount of bills.

That sounds bitter? Ungrateful? Pained?

REDO:

I’m so grateful for the long days of work. Minimum wage is better than nothing at all, in this day and age. If the Lord wants me to have an additional car, He’ll bless me with one. We’ll manage like we always do.

To the eye, certain words omitted means there is something the writer isn’t saying. But add a few words like: GRATEFUL, BETTER, ADDITIONAL, BLESS, MANAGE and the person might understand your true emotion.

Sure turns it around making the statement sound more upbeat, doesn’t it? Enjoy your writing, but most of all don’t miss those periods or comma usage, it could mean a difference in life or worse, death.


Book Bites:

Write Right by Jan Venolia

(I couldn’t resist)


Grammatically Correct by Anne Stillman

Journaling

Don't try to be different. Just be good. To be good is different enough. ~ Arthur Freed
***

Keeping a journal is a good way to keep your fingers active, your brain functioning and also it is a wellspring of ideas for writers. Sometimes as I’m writing in my journal I think, now there’s a good blog post, then I start writing my 500 words for the day for my blog and maybe even get a few more ideas as the journaling continues.

Remember that journaling isn’t for the public to read. It’s your private thoughts on paper. It’s the machinations of a day-to-day mom, writer, or worker but either way, your journaling is the secret you that nobody needs to read.

Maybe some of you write in your journal so that other people CAN read your thoughts on your day to day activities, but me, as a writer my journal holds my deepest thoughts and through my deepest thoughts come ideas for a story, usually a short story.

My safe haven is my journal. It is a place I go to, connect with my inner being, sometimes I’m even caught talking to God, and I don’t come out of the ‘zone’ until I feel it is a safe place to go.

I’m not one who likes to carry bitterness around with me; always the pleasant happy-go- lucky person, (and sometimes talkative!) that when it comes time when I feel that bitterness and resentment, confusion, or torment are surfacing in me, I, like a robot, automatically head to my journal, get it all out and find myself relieved of all the tension that was trying to build in the first place.

I’ve said this numerous times, and on many occasions have I relayed this information to you, my reader, writing is an emotional healer. You may be sitting there chuckling at the idea but I’m telling you, if you have a journal, release all the pent up feelings that you are harboring, you will find yourself with a leg to stand on, you will find a part of healing that guess what, you don’t have to pay some Psych doctor for.

Not that I have anything against psych doctors. They can be a great help to the not so sane of the world in need of their services. But for me, there are things that I’d tell my journal that I would never tell another living soul. I’d rather have someone pay ME for my insane thoughts than to give a doctor my thoughts and pay him for me to give him them? There’s something wrong with that idea to me.

I’m a writer, so all my insanities will fall onto the paper like fine drips of blood from a paper cut. My words will roll down the page and color the white sheet in crimson marked with pain and torment, but in the end the white LIGHT of the page will shine through and everyone will grasp the inner me that they thought was such crazy mundane triviality. And the reader will love the tale as if it has seeped into their veins.

It’s what writer’s do. Now Write Right!!! 

***

Your life may be the only Bible some people read. ~Author Unknown

Poetry Sunday ~ Tears

Tears
All rights reserved: copyright © Joni Zipp

Like icy clouds that form in the sky,
drops of pain creep from my eye.

Weightless they form a fluid stream;

life has forced a layered seam.

Tears are like capsules, of liquid release.

Hidden by lids they secretly cease.

The eye a doorway of repressed emotion

that drops a brew of poisoned potion.

Salty tears run evermore

softly sounds pound the floor.

Dripping echoes of seated pain;

seeping slowly a fluid rain.

The tear is weightless in its stand.

Lapping forth like waves on sand.

Going alone down the wrinkled aisle,

seeking to ride the sorrowful mile.

What will stop this rippling river?

Depths of joy I must deliver.

I raise my eyes to the skies above,

my tears become His kiss of love.

All rights reserved: copyright © Joni Zipp