Andrew has been offered an interim position
As pastor
The english pastor at a chinese church
A simple step
That will bring many changes
Four and a half years of waiting
Coming to an end
May You be seen clearly in this
Friday, July 31, 2015
Faith
Faith is an interesting concept
Make choices based on the heart prodding
Rather than common sense or dollar signs
A tug of the heart
A release of the mental organizer
A smile from deep within
Because this is the way Your Spirit works
Even though the mind doesn't understand
Lord, You assure the heart
Thursday, July 30, 2015
Today
Surgery was done
Recovery in the hospital is past
Healing continues
Family still visits
Life moving toward normal
Plans for travel can begin
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Lakeshore
Lakeshore
Of childhood now
Changed somewhat and yet--home
Long walk with great water beside me
Seeming endlessness
As seen from the cliffs above
No distant land in view
The might and peace of water
Monday, July 27, 2015
Watching Whitby Wake
Sitting in the corner of Timmie's writing
Watching the light intensify outside the windows
As the volume of sound grows inside
Sleepy people
Coming in for their coffee
A liquid shot of energy
Changes
A new morning
In another place
Staying with Dad for the week
But looking for wifi
So a temporary change to life
--Good morning Timmie
--Thanks for the internet connection
--And the early morning tea
Sunday, July 26, 2015
Saturday, July 25, 2015
From Pressure to Release
Lord, I haven't felt such pressure in a longtime
Anxiety while sleeping
Yet I have placed it all in Your capable hands
These changes in me, Lord
--Where are they leading?
I now write poetry as a matter of course
Yet two full months ago I hadn't begun
And now I want to write songs and stories
--And then present them all to the world
Singer
Songwriter
Storyteller
Preacher
Lord, that's an interesting mix of talents
And yet I am as simple as a
Song or a
Flower--
I am not demanded to be a warrior
Battling on the frontline
For the fighting will be done by You
I must simply keep truth as my shield
So that truth will shine through my work
Putting a full spotlight on You
Friday, July 24, 2015
In Solitude
Clear the brain
Time alone to clear the brain
Walk where the sparrows twitter
The deer appear quietly as phantoms
And the blue jays squawk
Surrounded by the green of trees
Blue of sky
Heat of sun and
Bursts of flowers
In solitude
Stifled
Why can simply being with someone
Be stifling?
Time together
Is time without creative work
Is this simply the personality of me
Or the characteristic of togetherness?
Solitude
Gives the space for creativity
To flourish
Thursday, July 23, 2015
At The Well
A walk outside the town
Brought me to the well where a stranger sat
Calling out he asked me for water
Despite the fact that his people don't speak to my people
Exceptions are noticed
Friends raise their eyebrows
Goals are questioned
He spoke of living water
I rejoiced at the thought of never coming to the well again
Jesus
Knew I needed
Living water overflowing
My world had shrunk over time
Nobody welcomed me
Only me and yet suddenly
Person to person my
Questions were answered
Reality altered
Suddenly I wanted everyone
To know this life giving truth
Unknown to them was life overflowing
Value beyond the ordinary of the village
Why keep this to myself?
eXcitement sent me back to tell everyone
You can have living water too!
Zero to life in one conversation
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
The Drifter
How does one reach out and touch
The drifter?
The rubber duck floating in the water
Has no internal direction
Pushed by the wind
Propelled by the current
Knocked by the rock
Captured by the hawk
It lands only where external forces
Maneuver it
But a live duck
Will move against the current
Swim
Dive
Fly
The sky will fill with ducks
Following the schedule of life
But the drifter
The little rubber duck
Is earthbound
With no connection to another
Friday, July 17, 2015
Wild in the City
Deer grazing gracefully in the open field
Heron wading in the river poised to capture breakfast
Alert
Racoon scampering through yards cleaning up birdseed
Three wild turkeys strutting across to the trees
Free
Chipmunk scurries straight across the road
Hawk perched above the field harassed by a red winged blackbird
Alert
Monarch butterfly bobbing among the scented milkweed
Goldfinch flitting for food even before the abundant thistle seed arrives
Free
Thursday, July 16, 2015
Stories
Two stories are sitting in my files
Ten others await the work of putting them on paper
Two day camps from the past
Require ten stories written out
Can I also learn to write each story as a song?
Return to the work again
Move it beyond an outline
Into the written word
Waiting to be released when spoken
Ready for translation with a living audience
Ready to travel among Your people
A long road
Am I really that slow?
But the work remains to be done
If it is to travel
A.M.
A new day has begun
Change has come with it
Chill has entered through the window left open
To release the July heat
What will this new day bring?
Doubt or dancing
Eager to know if he will be invited to be pastor again
So many questions for the future
Yet life continues today
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
Freedom Fifty-Five
Freedom 55
He had called for it publicly
He had talked for it frequently
But when he actually got it
Unhappiness became an almost constant companion
Why?
Because the circumstances were the end of a job
Rather than the leaving of a job
Freedom 55
Became the code word for unemployment
Rather than retirement
And yet so many details would have allowed it
To be retirement
But four and a half years later
Freedom 55
Was still unemployment in his mind
And therefore in his attitude
But now the possibility of work
Is glimmering before him
But until this winking possibility
Becomes an actual job offer
The unhappiness is close by everyday
Waiting for any trigger
But we wait
And while we wait You encourage us
Everyday
Thank You
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
An Early Morning Prayer
An ABC in which to contain my life
Before it explodes into disarray
Coming downstairs for a time to write
Day after day by early light
Ending my sleep with a pencil in hand
Free to explore my thoughts
Grief or elation paper will accept
Hope from experience remembered
Inner
Joy
Knows
Love
Memories
Need expression and an
Opportunity to see
Patterns . . . that reveal God as an active character
Questions and narratives
Reveal my
Story
Tangled up with Jesus'
Up to the window my eyes travel to
View the tree, the sunrise, the storm--my thoughts
Whenever the words onto paper pause
Xray elements of my delight, frustration, curiosity
You, Lord, are central in each stage--Ay to
Zed my heart is drawn back to You
Monday, July 13, 2015
Belonging
A little girl was born many years ago
Being the tiny one in a circle of three she
Completed the family so that Husband and Wife became
Daddy and Mommy
Eventually--21 months later--the
Family grew again with twin girls born
Girls in abundance now
House was full and Mommy and Daddy were busy
Independance became the oldest girl's role
Joining her on her adventures was her imagination
Kept at home but feeling like an outsider
Looking in without a sense of belonging
Mommy and Daddy gave her a home and love
Nobody had much time for anything beyond the essentials
Only one was now a trio
Playing was done in a world for one even while it was
Quite interesting to watch the two
Revolving at the centre
Sister at the edges discovered
That school was a new place to be
Unexpected atmosphere with her own desk
Visiting other children
When not helping the teacher
eXciting new place to be
Yes--the world had expanded
Zany or zealous she could belong
Sunday, July 12, 2015
Patterns
Patterns
Influence us
Birth order, habits, food
They shape who we are and how we
Relate
Patterns
Oldest, youngest
Sense of belonging set
In the early momens of home
Repeat
Patterns
Astonished they
Determine direction
Lead out, lead in or find balance
Within
Saturday, July 11, 2015
Friday, July 10, 2015
Fear
Crippled
Sense of dread grows
Hope approaches
Opportunity to live now
Flattened
Today
Face it again
Lord says to each, "Fear not'
Yet doubt rises flexing power
Choose now
Crushed life
If fear allowed
Power of joy and hope
Spread with unexpected strength if
Denied
Thursday, July 9, 2015
Actions
Learning to be a missionary
Learning to be a poet
Learning to understand and speak Karen
Learning to write mysteries
I'm old enough to say goodbye to my child as she marries
But there's still always something interesting to learn
Walking up Meadowlily hill
Walking to the garden
Walking downtown to go to the library
Walking to church
I've survived cancer once & have no desire to see it return
So there always somewhere else to walk
Singing as I walk early in the morning
Singing as I drive out on the highway on my way out of town
Singing as I handle projection at church
Singing as part of a Bible study
I'm often quiet about my life and joys
But there's always a reason to sing.
Reading to know my Lord--Jesus Christ
Reading to enjoy the encouragement of a mystery solved
Reading to hear the thoughts of others
Reading to laugh and be alive in the moment
I'm eager for life to be lived in the now
But there's always something new to read
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Tea Time
Tea
warms
my
hands.
Tea settles
life into contentment,
clears muddle,
leads
to insight, reflection, speculation, deliberation
and conversation
with
God because
tea pauses
me.
Tea Time
Time to pause and gather my thoughts
Every day of life is different but I know
All settles to a focal point during
Tea time
I boil the water, heat the tea pot and let it brew
My busyness disappears when the tea is poured
Exhale stress, inhale contentment: life
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
Found Food
Free food for the gathering
Out in the woods or
Under the clear wide sky
Now is the season to harvest
Down near the river wild mustard greens,
Finding beside the road wild black berries;
On the lookout for wild grape leaves--
Out of the middle east come recipes for such.
Do not let the city blind us to what is out our front door.
Monday, July 6, 2015
Our Cats
A canine in disguise was Amber
Who'd follow us to the post office
Tail held high
A banner in the sky
A Siamese squawk had Smudge
With her silky tortoiseshell coat
Whether hunting in the country
Or spinning circles in the road
A brother and sister team were Amber and Smudge
Who worked together on the hunt each night
To bring us presents
Of mice and weasel
Saturday, July 4, 2015
Quiver
Changes
Barrenness ends
New life began in me
Thirteen years turned amazingly
Around
Daughter
Single arrow
Ready to shoot
To take her place in this wide world
Go now
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
Early
There once was a woman looking for time
To get out for a long walk each day
She had often hit a wall of silence before her
But through the frustration she discovered early
"I shall try it," she thought
And so today after poetry
She will try it--
And will walk to Meadowlily early
The task of writing before her
The hope of putting down encouragement
The joy of living set onto paper through smiles
The inward thoughts composed early
Today is simply the beginning
Moving toward expressions
That land on paper
After being worked through the feet early
The link between walking and digging deep
Eludes examination
Yet it finds reality tred out through feet
One step at a time--early
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