Like A Flowing River

Like a Flowing River

*   *   *

My love is never-ending

My prayers they never cease

Like a flowing river

My God He gives me peace.

My mind is full of His word

My actions do resound

Like a flowing river

To Him my prayer is bound.

My soul is ever present

In all things that I do.

Like a flowing river

Through Him my essence grew.

My heart is steeped in His hands

My weakness evident.

Like a flowing river

He cleanses discontent.

My body begs for mercy

All sin to wash away.

Like a flowing river

I’m new with every day.

Pss. 19: 7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.

 

 

The Valley

Job 21: 33 The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, and every man shall draw after him, as there are innumerable before him.

The Valley

*  *  *

I’m living in a valley

an emptiness in my soul.

A wicked web of deceit

through trust that you stole.

Lies are the breadcrumbs

I’m expected to gobble down.

The valley has an echo;

the hills they wear a frown.

Deep in the valley

too few have come to see.

It’s where I walk hand-in-hand

with my Savior beside me.

Alone I walk the valley

I shall never fear

for it is God who whispers

right in my very ear.

I’m told of all the beauty

that will come to be.

Left behind is the valley

as Heaven welcomes me.

Isa. 7: 19 And they shall come, and shall rest all of them in the desolate valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and upon all thorns, and upon all bushes.

Isa. 22: 5 For it is a day of trouble, and of treading down, and of perplexity by the Lord GOD of hosts in the valley of vision, breaking down the walls, and of crying to the mountains. [7] And it shall come to pass, that thy choicest valleys shall be full of chariots, and the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate.

The Poet Within

Pss. 147: 3 He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.

As a child I had great penmanship. I was always so proud of the neatness I loaned the page. I could doodle with the best of them, until recently that is. I seriously think God put the computer into my life because He knew this day would come.

I can no longer write like I used to and it is a challenge to make out a legible grocery list. I do have hope though, since a friend of mine Leona, wrote her entire novel using the eraser end of a pencil in spite of her disability. I’ve known her many years (online) but did not know she was handicapped in any way. She never let that shape who she is and her book (5 star reviews I might add) is proof, nothing should hinder our dreams.

It is so weird how you can ‘know’ someone for ten years and not really ‘know’ him or her at all. I think that is people’s perception of me. They think they know me but really, don’t know me at all.

People kid around and don’t think I hurt. They torment me unintentionally hurting me, but that is who they see, a strong woman you can josh and tease. I think I’ve set myself up for this but really it is okay; I get a wealthy amount of poetry from it all.

I write a lot of angst-ridden poetry and some will say, I sure hope you’re not feeling that right now. Well, if I wrote it, I’m feeling it! All of my poetry is me! Every emotion, every rhyme, every season, it is ALL me.

Can I ask you a question? If you saw someone in a wheelchair or with a limp leg, would you ask them what is wrong? No? Would you ask them again the next time you saw them after they told you the first time?

Acts 4: 22 For the man was above forty years old, on whom this miracle of healing was shewed.

I hit this stumbling block a few times. I’ve explained I have lower-lumbar-facet-joint-arthritis, but the very next time they see me, it’s like they expected some kind of miracle and I would be all-better. Not that I don’t pray for a miracle and certainly I’ll shout it to the world when it happens, but no, no miracle has happened here.

Can’t you get help, they say? Would a chiropractor be able to do something? Just short of screaming, why aren’t you better yet?

This is the very reason my poetry is my saving grace. My online friends see me as a happy-go-lucky Christian spirited woman. People in my physical realm see me as broken; once being whole and now is broken. I don’t even think Steven and Adam understand wholly what is wrong with me. They see me wobble, they see me writhe in pain, they see me every single day, struggle to do what so-called ‘normal’ people do.

Allow me to answer your questions. I could get help, if I had money. A chiropractor could probably help temporarily, but again, if I had money. And why am I not better? Well you guessed it, because I have no money. I will not be a leech off of the government (and honestly, I don’t even think they could help ME, I’m broken) so my options are few to none.

I thought this second car was my doorway to getting a job (making my very own money!) so I could feel somewhat human. But what can I, disabled, do? I can lose myself in poetry, THAT’S what. I can blog! Please, this is no pity party, I just want to explain why poetry is so close to me; it is what keeps me sane in this insane world!

The last time I checked, arthritis is still a chronic illness. Sure meds could pacify my problem, with money. So there you have it, the poet within is screaming to write! So if you see gut-wrenching pain filled poetry, it means I am in pain. If you see peace-filled poems, I am at peace with my disability.

Poetry is my healer. THAT is what this change is all about; I’m on the road. It’s a long winding road with many twists and turns and while I may feel totally alone and isolated, I have God, my poetry, and myself!

Prov. 16: 24 Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.

Let Freedom Ring

My country tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died!
Land of the Pilgrim's pride!
From every mountain side,
Let freedom ring!

Note: Written by Samuel Francis Smith

Freedom.. a tough swallow.

Today I thank the men and women in every armed service. Today I’m singing ‘let freedom ring’ because my blog, as you can see, has gone through a metamorphosis. It has changed to fit me. It stands as a symbol of MY freedom to write and say what I want on my blog in thoughts or poems.

The blog started off as One Voice ~ Write Right, but ringing in my ears were so many voices pointing out to me over the years that I not only couldn’t write right, my voice was losing it’s steam. An errant apostrophe here and there, a typo or misspelled word, it all got to me in a big way; big enough to scrap the whole idea of Write Right and sing what my heart truly plays and that is the melody of words that a poem lends me.

Poetry has carried me through many hardships, weathered many raging seas in my life and has comforted my spirit on too numerous occasions. I read poetry, write poetry, dissect poetry, learn new things about poetry and will let poetry cradle me on my deathbed.

I have checked all the ‘What Writers need’ links, and they seem to be working fine. I will keep them in place for the writer seeking tools to learn the craft and as soon as my gadget allows me to add sites again, I will. I will be learning right along side you, since my weakness has been pointed out and I seek to remedy the situation.

When I look back over my blog archives, the posts with the most hits are my poetry and life tidbits I throw in. The ‘how-to’ of writing posts seem to be the least posts that people come in here and read. That’s another reason for the change.

This was my very intention when I began this blog, thus the reason for the URL jonismuse, but the name Write Right was a phase that I was going through while mentoring. I am no longer a mentor, I no longer do NaNo because I can write every day without boasting WHAT or HOW MANY WORDS I wrote, and feel the FREEDOM ringing in my ears!

The service men like my father, uncles, and brothers whom all served in an armed service to allow me the freedom to write, speak and say what I want. I thank them all.

While I sit here today knowing that travel to other countries that are not as FREE as our country, might hold a darkened path, I am safe in the comfort of my home. While our government often lets the soldiers down, it is we the people, who lift them up in praise for their selfless service.

I am not at ease with the world and where it is heading but one thing that stands erect and tall is every soldier whether in life or death, they deserve to be honored!

If you served, I thank you! If you’re reading this, I thank you, for allowing me to change and grow. Peace be with you all!

Let freedom ring.

Poetry Sunday ~ The Wanderer

2 Chron. 36: 16 But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy.

Wanderer

***

The leaves are turning yellow,

the sky a flowing gray.

the days are getting shorter

I awake to embrace the day.

My days are all spent longing

for the journey I must take

the one where God calls me home

where I no longer have to ache.

Shallow minds are walking

like zombies in the field.

knowing not the truth in life

or the hurting acts they yield.

My God is not on TV

or in my computer screen,

He doesn’t live in radio

or a picture perfect scene.

He cannot be tossed around

spewed forth on a whim.

Not one to be mocked lightly

He demands all praise to Him.

The Lord my God is cradled

deep within my soul

giving sight to all my world

I’m now all warm and whole.

Job 21: 3 Suffer me that I may speak; and after that I have spoken, mock on.

Quotation Saturday

Pss. 10: 4 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.

~ PRIDE ~

I choose pride today as I see so many prideful people. Ones unwilling to ask for help because of their pride, people so willing to put down everyone and everything else, that they don’t realize their pride is showing. People so PROUD to be an American yet in the next breath they hate everything America does, hates the government, hates the laws, hates, hates, hates, but hates not their PRIDE!

“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, Mere Christianity

“It is better to lose your pride with someone you love rather than to lose that someone you love with your useless pride.”
~ John Ruskin

“It often occurs that pride and selfishness are muddled with strength and independence. They are neither equal nor similar; in fact, they are polar opposites. A coward may be so cowardly that he masks his weakness with some false personification of power. He is afraid to love and to be loved because love tends to strip bare all emotional barricades. Without love, strength and independence are prone to losing every bit of their worth; they become nothing more than a fearful, intimidated, empty tent lost somewhere in the desert of self.”
~ Criss Jami

“One sticks to an opinion because he prides himself on having come to it on his own, and another because he has taken great pains to learn it and is proud to have grasped it: and so both do so out of vanity.”
~ Friedrich Nietzsche

 ~ARROGANCE~

I chose arrogance because pride and arrogance look an awful lot alike.

“Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world.”
~ Arthur Schopenhauer

“It is the certainty that they possess the truth that makes men cruel.”
~ Anatole France

“It may be a species of impudence to think that the way you understand God is the way God is. (60).”
~ Joseph Campbell, Thou Art That: Transforming Religious Metaphor

“Without humor, we’d all be what we’re laughing at. Without arrogance, we’d be humiliated to admit we already are.”
~ Bauvard, Some Inspiration for the Overenthusiastic

“Smartass Disciple: Why do arrogant people like to say complex words?
Master of Stupidity: Ask them straight! You'll get a simple scary version.”
~ Toba Beta, Master of Stupidity

~ HONOR ~

I chose honor because I honor and respect those who know their limits and the defining line between pride and arrogance!

“It is better to be alone than in bad company.”
~ George Washington

“I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to
succeed, but I am bound to live up to what light I have.”
~ Abraham Lincoln

“There is no beauty in sadness. No honor in suffering. No growth in fear. No relief in hate. It’s just a waste of perfectly good happiness.”
~ Katerina Stoykova Klemer

“Simple, genuine goodness is the best capital to found the business of this life upon. It lasts when fame and money fail, and is the only riches we can take out of this world with us.”
~ Louisa May Alcott, Little Men

“Human happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.”
~ George Washington

~ PRAYER ~

I take prayer very deeply and serious. I cannot utter the words, “I’ll pray for you” in lightness. I have to, at that moment, bow my head and pray. Meaning I am intimately drawing God to the person with a prayer need. This is why there is POWER in prayer. I rarely pray for myself, because God fulfills my every need!

“In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart. ”
~ John Bunyan

“Forgive me my nonsense as I also forgive the nonsense of those who think they talk sense.”
~ Robert Frost

“Let us never forget to pray. God lives. He is near. He is real. He is not only aware of us but cares for us. He is our Father. He is accessible to all who will seek Him.”
~ Gordon B. Hinckley, Standing for Something: 10 Neglected Virtues That Will Heal Our Hearts and Homes

“The Simple Path
Silence is Prayer
Prayer is Faith
Faith is Love
Love is Service
The Fruit of Service is Peace”
~ Mother Teresa

“The more you pray, the less you'll panic. The more you worship, the less you worry. You'll feel more patient and less pressured.”
~ Rick Warren, The Purpose of Christmas

Poetry Sunday ~ The Color of Hope

Pss.16: 9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.

The Color of Hope

Would you paint it red

for the fiery passion

that’s lit inside

the essence of your being?

Would the orange of

your light be dashed

with flecks of stone

that ignite your heart?

Would it shine of yellow

like the sun that fills

you with the very light

of your soul?

Would you feather it in green

like the fields of color

that blossom in the

artists hue of spring?

Would it be cloaked in blue

like the depths of the

wavy ocean that’s

a part of your emotional stance?

Would it be disguised

as the indigo of life

warming your very fingertips

that brush the earth.

Or would it be painted violet

to add vibrancy to an already

living palette of bursting

breathing color?

Hope lies in the blush

of a colorful prism

that veils your world

in a bounty of love.

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!!!

 

 

 

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

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.

 

 

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

 

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!!!!

 

 

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.

 

 

 

 

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

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*