Ignore the pain. I do not miss
The pleasure out there tempting me.
Such blindness! How I failed to see
That there's a whole world more than this
With righteousness that brings pure bliss.
Manipulators walk around
With advertisements safe and sound.
Beware their busted sugar rush
Deceiving while our morals blush.
It sinks like dust on lifeless ground.
Linked to Ronovan Writes Décima Poetry Challenge where the rhyme word “bliss” is to be used in one of the A lines of a décima having rhyme scheme ABBAACCDDC.
The field was wide, but the path was narrow avoiding the mines. We could sense the shadow of death through the destroyed tanks on each side of us, but this was the only way to get there. Others depended on us and we depended on them to make the right decisions.
We made it through the field before sunset. Thanks to those who came before us and to those who came with us, we all did.
During the battle that continued for three more weeks, and long after that, I was not the only one who felt joy that in spite of being broken we were still found worthy to serve.
Linked to Six Sentence Stories where Denise offers the prompt word “field” for these stories of six sentences.
One of my micro-stories, “Door”, was published in Whispers and Echoes‘ Tiny Terrors theme. I am grateful to the editor Sammi Cox for selecting it.
Green is fading from the leaves.
Yellows, reds surround the trees.
They seem to know that winter nears
Approaching it with trust, not fears.
Linked to Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme of “if you go down in the woods today”. These photos were from Friday in Sunset Ridge Woods Forest Preserve.
Also linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. I did nothing this past week with the 3x+1 problem. I don’t know if that is something worth a smile, but it did make me smile. The changing forest preserve was clearly worth a smile. I took so many photos yesterday, I used up the battery on my phone. Perhaps that was a sign that I took enough of them. It amazes me that the trees know winter is coming.
22 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 23 Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, 24 The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: 25 The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: 26 The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. 27 And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them.
The Blessing was written earlier this year (February, 2020) by Chris Brown, Cody Carnes, Kari Jobe and Steven Furtick. See Z & Z’s post for the radio version with lyrics. There are many composite videos of The Blessing formed from a diverse group of individuals from the churches in a region. I have not heard all of them, but I have listened to this one many times.
I am a registered Democrat in Miami Beach, Florida. I voted for the President, Donald Trump, and I predict he will win on November 3rd. Then I predict he, along with the help of others, will drain this swamp.
I am grateful that the Senate confirmed Amy Coney Barrett as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court with a vote of 52 to 48.
“You see how those trees hug the shore. They didn’t wear kid gloves to do that. They grabbed on with everything they had. You’re going to have to deal with Bernard the same way.”
“How many times do I have to tell him to stop drinking? He’s like a misshapen piece of fired pottery that can no longer change.”
“Those trees look unchangeably misshapen to me as well. The problem is not every tree that grabbed the shore was able to hold on long enough for strong roots to develop.
“If Bernard doesn’t change he’ll fall off the shore.”
Linked to Carrot Ranch’s October 8 Flash Fiction Challenge where Charli Mills offers the them of “kid gloves” for these 99-word stories.
There's just one problem with a swing:
Its cyclic motion to and fro
Since we all know how it must go
And without purpose like a fling
Or sorry tune the mindless sing -
Emotional, but nothing new,
No clue of what one ought to do,
No hint of why we're anxious here.
Stay covered up with lust or fear
Or busy back and forth on cue.
Linked to Ronovan Writes Décima Poetry Challenge where the challenge is to use the word “swing” as one of the A rhymes in a décima where the rhyme pattern is ABBAACCDDC.
“Any God Who makes a difference, any God Who really matters, doesn’t need the path of least resistance. He shows His presence best by choosing the weak and broken, putting them in danger and then protecting them Himself should they accept His assignments.”
Waiting in the bomb shelter Jeremy was worried because he knew he was, like the others down there, broken beyond human repair. He worried that he would not accept or even recognize any such assignment should one be offered to him and then shamed when he realized that the honor was passed on to someone else.
Jeremy felt Rachel shivering next to him inside her blanket. He opened his blanket and wrapped it tightly around both of them, holding her close, wondering, after doing so, whether it was possible in this awesome reality they were caught up in to accept and fulfill an assignment without even knowing it.
Linked to Six Sentence Story where Denise offers the prompt word “resistance” to be used in a story of six sentences.
I noticed on YouTube an excerpt from The Return on September 26th of Jonathan Cahn’s call for revival as a prophetic word to America. If you watch it, look for what he does with the pottery, notice the response of thunder and embrace the urgency of his appeal.
What I found impressive was Rabbi Cahn’s concern for lives that should matter, but lives that we have thrown away through our misguided, toxic self-righteousness.
And if you say, ‘black lives matter’, we agree, surely they do, but how do you say, ‘black lives matter’, and say nothing of all the black lives killed in this land before they could even breathe their first breath. How can you be silent before the shed blood of millions of black sons and daughters? How do you not protest all the abortion clinics strategically placed in black neighborhoods for the purpose of destroying black lives? None of these ones can speak the words, ‘black lives matter’, because their lives did not, but if they could, if they could speak, they would ask, ‘Why did our black lives not matter?”
Jonathan Cahn, The Return, September 26, 2020. Starting about 12:30 in the video linked above.
BLM and cross out – graffiti found in the forest preserve near Northbrook, Illinois.