Poetry, Short Prose and Walking

Sunday Walk

I am grateful to P. A. Oltrogge for bringing Psalm 27 to my attention this past week. Here is the concluding verse about waiting and courage:

Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.
Psalm 27:14 King James Version

I found Michael Wilson’s post on the use of the Greek word for slave, δοῦλος, helpful. He noted that the word is often translated as servant although it means slave. The distinction is that a servant is hired but a slave is owned. When I think about it I’d rather be owned by Jesus than hired by him for my good works. I am grateful that He bought me.

Filter – Six Sentence Story

Timothy realized that his most trusted operatives were deceiving him. Did the white hats secure that missing laptop after the blackout? Could he cross the border or would they be waiting for him?

It’s not easy to filter truth from disinformation. Too many were going out of their way to advise him that he was not the target.

He knew better.

Denise offers the word “filter” for this week’s Six Sentence Story. This story continues from Zip – Six Sentence Story. The next chapter is Marvel – Six Sentence Story.

GirlieOnTheEdge Denise Farley's six-sentence-stories icon — GirlieOnTheEdge Denise Farley’s six-sentence-stories icon

Float

So whom do you rely upon?
You’re at the Red Sea. Where’s the boat?
How long in water can you float?
That’s when a way was made. At dawn
the charging enemy was gone
except for corpses flushed to shore.
You still have doubts? You’d like one more
experiment to test what’s true?
You see the dead? They’d like that, too,
but they have lost their strength for war.

Ronovan Hester offers the rhyme word “float” to be used in a B line of a décima having rhyme pattern ABBAACCDDC for this week’s Décima Poetry Challenge.

See Exodus 14 for an account of the crossing of the Red Sea.

Ronovan's Decima Poetry Challenge Image — Ronovan’s Decima Poetry Challenge Image

Shades of Gray

Dale offers the challenge “shades of gray” for this week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge. Above are gray clouds coming in during sunset. Below is a leaf on a gray sidewalk.

The first blog I read this morning was Dianne Marshall’s The Marshall Report. It contained links to two videos, both of which I enjoyed.

Sunday Walk 23

David Pawson claimed (Book of Revelation, Part 1, about 8:30) that there are two books of the Bible that Satan particularly doesn’t like: Genesis and Revelation. In Genesis Satan’s deceptive practices are exposed. In Revelation his downfall is prophesied – Jesus wins; Satan loses. In particular the first few chapters of Genesis and the last ones of Revelation cause Satan the most grief.

Pawson also suggested that we read Scripture aloud. I have noticed that when I hear myself reading something aloud, it becomes clearer. At the very least reading something aloud makes it difficult for me to skim over the words. I don’t want to skim over those parts of Genesis and Revelation that annoy Satan the most.

Zip – Six Sentence Story

Bill said that he’d be “back with the zip file”, but that was last Saturday. Timothy searched online, but Bill disappeared from there as well. All Bill’s posts vanished. Even records of the events they attended together vanished.

By the time Timothy figured out what was going on it must have been too late.

The only thing that remained was the word “sorry” gouged with large, rough letters into the plaster of his apartment wall that the maintenance staff seemed anxious to cover up as we entered the room pretending to look for a place to rent.

Denise offers the word “zip” for this week’s Six Sentence Story.

If the story doesn’t make sense, think dystopian future (or present). If that doesn’t help, be grateful that it was short.

Contrast

Repentance cringes at the past
since God detests the rot of it
that reeks of death. The blot of it
warns us beware of each contrast.

We’re thankful though that didn’t last.
We saw in time our wretched ways.
Where would we be if all our days
continued on mechanically
when seeing meant we didn’t see?
Such gratitude’s the source of praise.

Ronovan Hester offers the challenge of using the rhyme word “contrast” in the A line of a décima where the rhyme pattern is ABBAACCDDC.

Losing Darkness

Turn the light out in a cave
and feel the dark come crashing in.
Gratitude. Beyond the grave
such darkness does not get to win.

This is a “dribble” which is a poem of 100 letters (excluding punctuation such as periods, apostrophes, spaces or dashes). The title is not part of the count. See Abigail Gronway’s Happier New New for another example. She challenges us to write one and post a link in the comments of her post.

A Cold Start

Dale offers the theme of “a cold start” for this week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge. I picked some winter scenes from former years.

Sunday Walk 22

Last week following David Pawson’s Practicing the Principles of Prayer when I felt an emotional alarm go off I prayed for guidance. The emotion seemed rationally justified, but was it really?

Then I opened a post by Michael Wilson. Preoccupied by the emotion I wasn’t paying attention to his words until I saw the following quote which I couldn’t ignore:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Galatians 5:22-23 King James Version

My prayer was answered. The emotion vanished as a false alarm.

There are some who would be eager to explain prayer away or, barring that, smother it in New Age sentimentality. I’ve been deceived by both in the past. I wonder how much power they still have over me.