Tuesday Aug 7, 2012 Writing to God

Be Gracious to Me, O God 

I lift my heart to You.

You are my hope and joy,
my all in all,
my everything.
Walk with me
during my daily routine.
Sit with me
as I work on my computer.
Stay with me.
Do not leave.
Be my friend when I’m lonely.
Sing with me.
Dance with me.
Let us hang out together all day.
Lord, be gracious to me.
Watch over my children.
Be gracious to me.
Let me feel Your smile deep in my soul,
and let it be seen by all I greet today.

Today's Devotional Thought

The Reminder of the Mesas 

I thank God 

for the deep greens

and browns of the mesas

peeking over the housetops

in the bright blue sky.

I ask the mesas,

“Are you afraid
 to be out there
standing tall and alone, susceptible
to lightning strikes and fires?”

The mesas reply, “No I’m not afraid.

God is with me and has designed me
to remind His people
that as I watch over them
He does also.

“Besides, fire cleanses me,

destroying diseases,
just as God uses the trials in your life
to build up your resistance against
 those things that would harm you.”

Poetic Bloomings Prompt Look what I Did

Creative Writing Teacher 

When I see her bright red hair

in a crowd or in a store

I go over and greet her

and I’m always surprised at her age,

because I often think of her as that

shy ten-year-old her mother drug

into my creative writing class;

and over the next five years

I watched her get excited

about writing poems and stories,

until I said, “Wow, Sarah,  

you’re writing better poetry than I write.”

And I know even if my own writing

never amounts to anything great,

someday I’ll see her name in print

and I might strain my muscles

from patting myself on the back.

haiku

Feeling so unloved

Longing to feel prized, cherished

Look to God for love

August 3, 2012

Such controversy!

Shouts of anger on both sides

Disagree not hate

August 2, 2012

Torn in guilt and fear

Not knowing what to believe

Jesus, clarify!

Poetic Asides Prompt: Operation

Appendectomies: Buy One Get One Free

The day I had my appendix removed, the nurses

accused the surgeon of running a special.

Such an odd thing—to have many people

in a small town need the same surgery

on the same day. What’s behind the mystery?

Is it that the surgeon’s children prayed

for more money to go to private schools?

Or maybe there’s an appendix germ,

like the flu, that no one knows about.

Or maybe each surgery has its own demon

and the appendix demon had to fulfill a quota

or be doomed to wander in a herd of pigs.

Or maybe there’s a reason why

they invented the word “coincidence.”

But some coincidences are just plain weird.