WALK WITH ME

I have been thinking about – and missing – my friend Kathy Allen a lot lately. In truth, I think about her, and Fred, every day, but on some days, more than others. I still have blink moments when I think, “We’ll see them for dinner on Saturday, or next time they’re in town, or I’ll call her later and catch up.” And then it settles in. Kathy is gone, Fred is gone, and there is an empty spot that only good memories can fill.

I can’t look in many rooms in our home that don’t hold a reminder of Kathy. Our friendship began in the ’60s when we worked at what at that time, was known as Ma Bell, the telephone office where we were operators. “Operator, number please?” Back when a human voice connected one person with another via a dial-up telephone. Over the years we exchanged gifts. In the kitchen I see holiday trivets I keep up year around, on the patio a tinwork angel, a wooden angel wall hanging in the hall, Christmas ornaments and nativities on China cabinet shelves, tiny books and big books here and there, handmade pot and dish scrubbers in the kitchen, drawers full of handmade scarves, bracelets… These small reminders bring on a smile along with a catch in my throat.

I wrote the poem below sometime ago with Kathy in mind, and posted it on this site long before her passing. I repost it today because I wish for one more walk and chance to talk with my friend. I have so much to tell her, all of which , of course, she may well already know. As a believer, I know there is only a thin veil between this shadowy and insubstantial thing called life, and the people we have known and loved. Kathy loved yellow roses, but what she loved most were the people in her life, Fred, Mark and Marlene, her sisters and their families, her friends. I miss her.

WALK WITH ME
Let us stroll along today and talk.
Tell me what makes you laugh, as we walk.
I want to listen to what you say.
Share your heart with me today.
I want to know what makes you cry.
May I ease your worry, wipe your tears dry?
Share with me your anger deep inside.
I will help you slay that dragon, and turn the tide.
I am your friend come what may.
Please share your heart with me today.


TRUST

Trust

 

Bring peace and justice
in equal measure.
Give hope to hearts
broken by hate and fear
so we become alike it this:
we are equal,
we are the same.
Trust sets the standard
for how we live,
giving feet to faith,
hands to helping,
bringing joy to hearts.
In all and with all
we see His promise,
taking us from fear to clarity,
from fury to assurance.
Trust opens doors to possibility.
Break the barriers between us
so we see each other
for who we are,
not the color of our skin –
equal, the same.


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Truth be told

More from the April Writer’s Digest challenge, the brain child of Robert Lee Brewer, a WD editor and blogger at Poetic Asides. The first of these is personal, based on the prompt to write an ekphrastic poem, a poem inspired by a work of art – photograph, sculpture, or some other creation. Words of Art is based on a wooden wall hanging given to me by Kathy Allen for my birthday last year.


Kathy Gift 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

WORDS OF ART

“a good friend
knows all of
your stories,
a best friend
helped you write them.”
So reads the wooden wall hanging
given to me by a dear friend
for my seventy-fifth birthday.
On the backside she wrote,
“We’ve made many stories
during our 55 years
(and counting)
of friendship.
Let’s write more!”

Eight months later
she and her husband were gone.
A terrible accident,
one that took two amazing
people and the stories we
– and they –
would write.
They went from this life
to the most profound
adventure of them all.
Yet, I grieve still.
They were and are a part of my heart.
This crafty wooden work of art
carries wisdom and memories in equal measure.
Take no moment for granted.
Treasure those you love.


BEING OTHER

Change is a coin,
a thought,
a mind,
an idea,
a life.

Change suggests
being other
than we are now,
influenced by
opinions,
facts,
experiences,
truths and lies.

Being other
than who you are
right now,
can be better,
or worse,
an improvement,
or cataclysmic devastation.

Who decides if
you will be other
than who you are today?
Society?
Friends?
Enemies?

Surround yourself
with people who
challenge you
yet give you encouragement.
it is the melding of the two
that makes being other,
be you.


COMMUNICATION

If the missive is massive
the meat of the message
may get lost in translation.
Massive experience forms
intellectual confidence…
or does it form massive
pride and disregard for
opposite opinions?
When you communicate,
keep it simple
(not dumbed down)
but understandable,
relatable, perhaps
a touch compassionate.
A few words well said
may make a massive,
life-changing difference
to someone in need
of a voice whispering
in the light.



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The Christmas Gift

Merry ChristmasPenny was a trifle worse for the wear. Not terribly – but lovingly – shabby. Annetta held her close. This would be the last time Penny would be with her. She’d done her job; she’d protected Annetta and absorbed her tears when she was alone and afraid. Now it was time for Penny to be there for someone else, someone more alone and afraid than Annetta had ever been. Annetta still had Mom and Kit. Samantha had no one. Yes, there were grownups around her, including her mother, but they paid Samantha no mind except to order her around or tell her to get lost or… Annetta didn’t want to think what else Samantha had to run from when her mommy was too out of it to protect her.

Annetta’s mom was going to the do the hard thing, the right thing. Today she was going to take Sammy into state protective care. Annetta wasn’t sure what that was, but she knew it had to be better than the life Sammy was living now. Annetta shouldn’t have known about it, but she was an observant little girl, and a bit of a brave one. She had been the one to tell her mom of her worry about Sammy, who often came to school limping, or with bruises or burns. “From falling down,” Sammy would say. “From the stove,” she would say.” Annetta didn’t believe it.

Annetta didn’t know exactly what her mother did, but she knew her job was to protect kids.

She sat Penny on the bathroom sink and retied the bow she’d put in her yarn hair. Daddy had given Penny to Annetta the Christmas before he went to Heaven to be with Jesus. She knew in her heart that Daddy would not be mad at her for giving Penny to Samantha. She placed Penny in the shoe box, kissed her cloth face and tidied the blue gingham dress before putting the lid on the box. She wrapped it carefully and tied red ribbon around it.

“Hurry up in there,” her mom said impatiently from the hallway. “Your breakfast is on the table. You need to get a move on before it gets cold.”

Annetta opened the bathroom door, the wrapped package under her arm.

“What’s that?”

“It’s a gift, a gift for Sammy.”

“Sammy?”

“Samantha, the girl in my class I told you about.”

Her mother got that look she sometimes got when she didn’t know how to answer one of her children’s difficult questions, like, “Can Daddy see us from Heaven?”

“Christmas is tomorrow. I want you to give it to her. She will need Penny more than me.”

“Penny? You’re giving Penny away. But your dad…”

“Mom, Penny is for Sammy.”

“How did you know I would be seeing Samantha today?”

Her mother wouldn’t like what Annetta was going to say, but she couldn’t lie. “I heard you talking to Mrs. Kennedy on the phone. You said there was no other way to protect Sammy but to put her into state custody or foster care until her mother could get better.” Annetta chewed her lip. “What if she doesn’t get better? That’s why I want Sammy to have Penny. She needs someone to love. I have you and Kit; Sammy has no one.”

Annetta felt bad when she saw tears in her mother’s eyes. “Mommy, I didn’t mean to make you cry!”

“Oh, my darling child. These are not sad tears. Samantha is going to a safe place, and I have the best daughter on the planet. I’ll make sure your gift gets to your friend.”

Annetta grinned and skipped off to have her breakfast.

Kit stood in the doorway to his room looking at his mother in befuddlement.

“Mom, she loves Penny! Why would you let her give her away?”

She regarded her son in silence for a moment, thinking deeply about his question before answering.

“Because, Annetta isn’t giving away a doll, she is giving away her love. What better Christmas gift can there be?”


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ADVENT WREATH

Advent

Advent reminds us
that around the Christ candle there is –
Hope.
Peace.
Joy.
Love.
Words to live by
in an often tumultuous world.
Amazing Grace says eloquently
what we most need to know about these words,
especially Love.
We are redeemed, not because of who we are,
but because of who Jesus is,
born in lowly circumstances, Savior and Redeemer.
We cannot earn God’s saving Grace;
it is freely given,
Love personified –
Christ in a manger;
Christ teaching and healing;
Christ on a cruel cross;
Christ dead and buried;
Christ arisen, Triumphant!
The best gift we can give
is to be there for people when they need us.
God’s gift is the gift of Love,
a gift we can share all through the year.


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Peace like a river

A new day

God made the earth by his might, it is said,
he shaped the world by his wisdom,
crafted the skies by his knowledge.

God made all there is, was, or ever will be.
Be sure of his love and presence, guidance and mercy.
He knew, and knows us.
A confusing concept to our way of thinking,
God knowing the outcome of our lives before they’ve begun.
Am I – are you – predestined to be good or bad?
Does it matter?
We are given this day.
What will we do with it?
How will we treat others?
Those are the questions we answer
by the choices we make every day.

Lord, help me make good and right choices.

Whatever you do, whether in speech or action,
do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus;
give thanks to God the Father through him.

Will this thing I’m doing please God?
Will my life choices make God smile?
Anger, fear, frustration, greed–
none of these emotions serve God or human kind.
Are we held captive by the actions
of ego-driven manipulators?
God is in charge, our great hope, believe it;
out of madness God brings courage.
Posing and posturing will not bring resolution;
banding together for peace will turn the tide.

Pray for our world and its leaders.

And whenever you stand up to pray, if you have something against anyone, forgive so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your wrongdoings.

To be forgiven, you must first forgive.
God is a loving God. He is ready to forgive.
Am I?
Can I drop the bag of rocks that is resentment, discontent, and anger
by forgiving my enemy?
Can I untether myself from yesterday?
I can.
I must.
Forgiveness is the gift of grace.

Thank God for His amazing grace and forgiveness.

NOTE: Reflections on Jeremiah 10:12, Colossians 3:17, and Mark 11:25 from (The Daily Life Bible


 

Secrets

Secrets

Giving, loving, laughter
flip like a tarnished token
when resentment and
shattered trust are awoken.

Secrets of silence,
of words not spoken,
lie in veiled whispers,
promises broken.

Choose, you ask, hungering for
words best not spoken.
Have you someone new?
Am I a mere thought, a forgotten token?

This secret passion for truth
in your breast now awoken?
Too late, too late!
The present is withering; it’s broken.


Please Follow, Like, Comment and Share this post. Your feedback is important. Thanks for reading One Roof Publishing. Contact Sharon by e-mail at sharon@oneroofpublish.com.

 

 

 

 

 

Gifts that keep on giving

and (he) said, “Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of the heavens.”

LanieLike little children. What does that mean? Well, children are truthful because they have yet to learn how to lie. They are loving because they have yet to learn how to hate. They are trusting because they have yet to learn suspicion. They are kind because they have yet to learn how to be cruel. We can take a positive lesson from the negative things we have learned along life’s way. In this season of celebration, I choose to let go of all that holds me back, or has the potential to mire me in fear and frustration. I choose to be more truthful, loving, trusting and kind, gifts easily passed along, and they don’t cost a thing.
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Healing in forgiveness

SunriseAnd we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. 1 John 4:16 (KJV)

Forgive and forget. The forget part is hard. We mull over disappointment, wrongs done to us, wrongs we have done to others. We slog through the murky depths of disappointment. Our focus finds its way to yesterday to the point we don’t give attention to the joys and opportunities of today. It isn’t easy to forget, but it is something we must do to make a difference for ourselves and for those around us. Fears keep us from so much. Anger nails us to the floor of discouragement. Let go and let God is not a panacea; it is faith come alive. He does not forget us. We are crafted with as much thought as the earth and sky. We are unique. Formed for a purpose. Given breath and life. Give back in the ways you can and leave behind anything that holds you back. It is healing; it is restorative; it is joyful.

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