Mary Hood (tqhousecat) at mehflowers linked to MercyMe’s song I Can Only Imagine in her post, Wake Up Dreaming, contrasting it with John Lennon’s Imagine. What a contrast! I can’t even imagine what must have been going through Lennon’s mind when he wrote what he did.
This beautiful song has been around for some time, but it is the first time I’ve heard it. I am grateful to Mary for sharing it. I may never have heard it otherwise.
The water’s face reflects the sky, but this requires light.
It’s not too late to leave the cave before the dusk and night.
Eugenia offers this week the prompt “reflections”.
Celia’s boyfriend, Derek, with two of his friends helping, removed his things from her apartment the morning she met her father, Rafael, at the café. How did her father know Derek could not be trusted? Since the arguments with her mother she had not spoken to either of them. How did her father even know there was a Derek?
Rafael remained in the café for some time after Celia ran off and then decided to walk by the ocean before going home. He was wondering what their next move should be and how he would tell his wife that his meeting with their daughter failed when he heard footsteps running from behind and Celia shouting, “Dad, wait!”
Denise offers the prompt word “walk” for this week’s Six Sentence Stories. Continues from Service – Six Sentence Stories.
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I didn’t think I was the prey
when I went hunting Willful Dream,
but things aren’t always as they seem.
I failed. That’s why I’m here today.
That dream’s a Worm in painful play,
but I was eager for the chase.
Sound Sanity I wouldn’t face.
I knew that it would tell me, “No.
Beware the Hook. It’s sharp. Go slow.”
I tripped and fell, was saved by Grace.
Ronovan Hester offers the rhyme word “chase” to be used in a C line for this week’s Décima Challenge.
I participated in the morning session of the Heart Beats Contributing Authors Poetry Readings. I am grateful to Lisa Tomey for hosting these readings and organizing the Heart Beats anthology.
Dale offers the prompt “giving it the old collage try” for this week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge. Here are two collages from recent photos.
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εγγισατε τω θεω και εγγιει υμιν καθαρισατε χειρας αμαρτωλοι και αγνισατε καρδιας διψυχοι
James 4:8 Textus Receptus with various translations
The King James Version translates the last word, διψυχοι, as “double minded” which suggests to me a feel-good spirituality without repentance. Avoiding repentance is a sign that one hasn’t experienced the joy that such change provides when grounded on forgiveness. No amount of substitute sentiment can compare with that.
I suspect the devil needs only half a heart to drag us all the way down. King David wanted nothing less than a newly created, clean heart when he almost lost it all with Bathsheba.
לב טהור ברא לי אלהים ורוח נכון חדשׁ בקרבי
Psalm 51:10 Masoretic Text with various translation
Being double minded is also like lighting a candle and putting it under a basket. Oneta Hayes tells us what will happen if we do that: the fire goes out.
I playfully watch butterflies
and blossoms yellow, blue.
Forgiveness came with joyful cries
and life turned bright and true.
Eugenia offers this week the prompt “playful”.
There’s nonsense in the stuff I hear.
What once had order, now there’s noise.
The blatant dare of fake destroys
the shield we fashioned stopping fear.
Apocalyptic times are here.
We need full armor for this fight:
the truth, the doing what is right,
the peace and faith, salvation, too,
and God’s own Word. Let hearts renew
and face the darkness with this light.
This week Ronovan Hester offers the rhyme word “noise” to be used in the B line of a décima having rhyme pattern ABBAACCDDC.
I am thinking of Ephesians 6.
Soon after the murder of his daughter, Timothy’s wife died in an accident brought on by the distraction of sorrow. Timothy sold their house and moved to a basement apartment of a building owned by the church to house members of their fellowship needing a place to live. Much of the money Timothy earned he donated to this church and they shielded him in the basement.
Although he didn’t feel at home anywhere without his wife and daughter, this was where he returned after Helen’s dispatch to the tunnel and the successful extraction of the trafficked children from the van.
He would be in that apartment for the next five years until the church, knowing his skills, asked if he could train prospective chaplains in defensive operations in a violent land. After being there a couple of years, one autumn day the group they were defending was attacked, and though they repelled the attackers, Timothy was hit and he found his way home.
Denise offers the word “home” for this week’s Six Sentence Stories. Continued from Gear – Six Sentence Story.
For those curious about where I imagined Timothy was sent by his church see Wes Bentley’s sermon at Calvary Chapel Miami Beach describing Far Reaching Ministries and Sudan. As a warning for those few who might like to watch the sermon, Pastor Bentley’s description of the persecution and terrorism is explicit.
Dale offers the theme of “new life emerging” for this week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge.
The photo above is from 2006. We saw the mulch moving and carefully uncovered the bunnies. I took a photo and we covered them up again. We waited. In a few days they all moved on and we used the flower pot. One year I think I saw a mother rabbit monitor from a distance the young she left in one of our flower pots, but generally I am unaware of so much that is going on.
Poetry, Short Prose and Walking 