Forty Plus Miles

I pulled the trigger, so I might as well aim, firing these bullets called: effort, better than before, positive impact, blessings given eagerly.   I emptied the chamber, the one of my soul, shooting thoughts and emotions, taking aim with deadly accuracy, each round released better than the last.   I pulled the trigger, so I might as well aim, to leave the best of me, hit creation to encourage, hope for their best, strive for their best, to leave all life thriving as it should.   I pulled the trigger, and this time I'm aiming better. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support!   

 Forget failure; follow faith's feats.  A Note About The Piece: The first part is obvious, but to "follow faith's feats" is to remember how Jesus has led you to do amazing things through faith in Him, trust in Him. When this happens it is easier to forget failure and grow as people. This poem was an experiment to write a short poem in all words beginning with F that was meaningful.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

Life calls, and I will listen. I will engage, not merely exist.   Life calls, and I will live, past the to-dos, beyond simply fulfilling responsibilities.   Life calls, and I will answer, with action, with words, with involving myself in what is given, with enjoyment in it, this gift given.   Life calls, and I will be found living, here in this beautiful blessing, grateful for this privilege! Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support!   

            It's been constant, it's been painful, it's been exhausting, a work day I wondered how to overcome. Joints and muscles protested for me to stop as I carried on, but I spoke back. "This will hurt, but you will heal.", and they were silent as we went on.              It's felt humbling, and I'm wondering how to earn income better, live better, amid a pace that keeps demanding more......then a bird arrives. Sitting on a bar of some old worn fence nearby and doesn't leave, for one, two, three minutes as the times increases and the bird stays. "Look at me, look around. Look as I do.", says the bird merely by it's presence, a reminder I consider God-given. "Stop. Rest. Enjoy (even if it's only for a moment)" come the words speaking to my tired self; so I stop. I watch Heaven speak to me here, watch the simple bird of seemingly drab colors amaze....return, then fly away a second time.         ...

Watching waves, as they rise and fall, every moment wondering if this will be the last,   or if it will pass me by.     Watching waves,  d estruction and prosperity within each,  ri sing and falling,  s till I stand,  g aining courage through it,  p eace to overcome,  e ven if overcome,  a s I remain resolute,  w hile watching waves. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support!           

Colors, of life and meaning, moments mixed together, humble here, good also, in the colorful soup.   S tirring perseverance, applying the heat of trials, as the pot of everyday creates bright hope, grace in beautiful contentment being cooked, nourishing our worn spirits, from the colorful soup. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support!                       

Keep working, words I saw, heard deep within, speaking perseverance to me this time.   Keep going, down adventure's path, toward life calling you, leading you to new and hopeful, where meaning is found.   Keep focus, to find passion and purpose, to remember good is still possible, worth is not absent, keep working for the better meant for. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support!                   

I travel through towns the same way a cowboy would,  making way along the miles,  ready and watching,  to make the most of what's given me.  Dangers and blessings possible here,  yet I set course on these roads,  ever encountering the unknown awaiting me, taking the pilgrim's journey,  seeking provisions for my tribe,  with homeward always in mind. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support!   

Up and down we go. Side to side along this track. Here comes the upside down and loops! In great speed and without warning arrives the changes, the noteworthy and sudden changes.   In desperation my soul grips tightly to sanity, a  final attempt made to brace myself for the unexpected. Pushed and pulled all around as life tosses me about. To overcome this track of life becomes the goal.   I lean into the turn rapidly approaching, becoming as steel upon the hill now ascending. Down I go at breakneck speed, these changes fast and sudden as they are!   On and on through the changes we live, we find a way to prosper in the abrupt and unknown. Excitement had in the journey, joy in the course taken.   Living again, stronger again, even in the surprises arriving quickly, of rollercoasters and life. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reas...

  Held close to his heart, Something truly precious, More than what is seen: Dignity in his hands.     A story unknown, Where he’s been or going to, This humble man, With dignity in his hands. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support!           

            Straining; I look through the ugly and unwanted, searching life's gray skies for hope. Surrounded and consumed by the gray and the dismal that is a stormy day…..one that will change in suprising ways.              In the now gloomy valleys of a day defiance rises, and I am daring to believe good is still here, somewhere in this pouring rain among these endless setbacks falling heavy upon me. Here I carry on. Pushing, persisting still in spite of these hardships called storms that challenge me, drenching this soul to the point of ruin. I am not ruined though, only down in these moments and seasons where it's still beautiful, beautiful when it's not. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be ...

           Travels and tales speak of lives lived at every point. Travels and tales are speaking and I am found listening, or at least trying, for this is a foreign language spoken.         City miles tell of hard roads and hard living, long travelled ways taken across many different roads and I am still listening, striving to, for I am hard of hearing; busyness has it's price. My attention that spans yet never stays in these busy days, wandering back and forth in a wandering mind...mine. Here I am straining to listen once more, listen to city miles of hard roads and hard living seen and told in travellers all around; ones met. It's seen in the years lived out, those still driving the "miles" called days of a worn worker met briefly. Here he's working to live somehow, not realizing I see the rough terrain he's taken, witnessing the hardships he’s faced. I see them though not in full, still they are known, these city mil...

            Still, and I am drinking it in. Calm, all but within as the air fills with tension from inside, knowing the moment will soon pass, the moment of quiet. Sitting. Reflecting. Bracing for the transition somehow.             Gone. Sweet stillness runs away and I am left. Noise replaces the serene as activity grabs rest by the hand, then both hands, pulling with great force all while rousing such peace toward anything except that.              Quiet. Somehow this remarkable grace enters the thing called activity and living life. Some way, quiet enters a life: mine. Even in the unrest the transformation is felt, Heaven opens in my soul and Jesus is working, empowering weary and worn ones (like me). This is when life stops running, takes time to say hello to contentment and have a conversation, allowing this beautiful transformation to...

Clouds above, dark and dreadful, thunder and lightning just ahead, still I walk.   Night approaches fast, or so it seems, storms of life are deceptive that way, destructive that way, yet I continue on, step after step through valley's floor.   Walking, one foot, one effort after the other, remembering all the while: these are only storms, and all storms pass, all hardships pass.   I travel these treacherous journeys, make way through dangerous, remembering in such places, such times as these: that there is a day, light returns, and with it hope; and so I walk, until the morning comes, longing for the day, the light, renewal of hope, from a long road taken, realizing it's always been here, witnessed in the miles crossed faithfully. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), plea...

"You're my mountain!", said to me, spoken from upside-down face, in great impact, left in silent surprise, feeling more of a mole hill.   Playful and innocent, these big words from little mouths, received with power, gifted to the dirt mound, the mass now given majesty, mastery over misery, blessed through this new name, no more shame; climb, climb these heights in play dear little one, climb your mountain! I've always loved your adventurous soul son! Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support!   

One, two, counting ways to perfection, planning life in each second, in these ordered steps.   Tool and retool, shaping formless, though only in small actions, freedom in structure and freeform shown; making a new way.   Letting go, little by little, while holding on loosely, in every moment known, experience encountered, in these ordered steps, taken less and less. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

Not shaken, broken or crushed. Not beyond repair, nor restoration.   Not hopeless, not yet. Not too late for the comeback, for we will comeback.   Not this time. Not today. Not in this way or any, for we remain unbroken.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

       Suddenly, rushing winds hit him! Holding on with all his strength, screaming, "Help!!!!!!".    Unaware, his tiny voice carried farther than realized. Against loud winds his desperate pleas reached the drivers of the vehicle. Frightened, they stopped quickly. Listening, it was heard again! Listening. Listening. Nothing. "Maybe the insect on the car?!", they wondered. Here the tiny grasshopper on their vehicle was seen.          Gently he was taken off. Watching him, he spoke, "Thank you!". Nearly dropped they were overcome by surprise. "You're welcome.", the driver replied slowly. Leaping away, they were left in wonder..to the strange exchange known.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. ...

One eye on the door,  sometimes more, staring lifelessly at me. One eye on the door,  sometimes more, probably wondering what I'm there for. One eye on the door,  sometimes more, simply wanting to see, if they'd be safe, or if they should flee. One eye on the door,  sometimes more, where I'm often wondering, "What else is in store, beyond this digital doorbell, what story would it tell?".  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

Common words from some common man, on a common day, remembering words said to me, “You aren’t who you used to be.”; and I’m not.   Uncommon ways to express unexplored terrain, as I strain to write past common ways, remembering the words said to me, “I’m not who I used to be.”, and I write better because I’m not; grateful for common words becoming amazing. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support!                                     

You’ll feel the movement, you’ll make sure it isn’t your own, then you’ll know you’ve met a possum.   You’ll feel it beneath plastic, (sometimes you’ll see it), regardless you will escape.   Keep your head, (even while you’re scared; I promise it’s possible), and take note quickly of what’s around you.   You’ll need to escape, but watch carefully and quickly as you do, otherwise they’ll be in front of you!   Move fast, look faster, listen and focus as well as you can, you’ll find your escape from the dark space, the laid plastic on it’s dirt floor separating you both, and you will be safe. that’s what you do if, you encounter a possum in a crawlspace. Note About This Piece: This poem was inspired by a poetry prompt challenge: Write a "What To Do If..." poem. What was written here is something I've encountered more than once at my full time non-writing job. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good i...

         A little brighter, colors started appearing. A little more variety, attention made front and center.          Left and right appearing, drawn to magnificent displays, valuable exchanges happening. Everywhere bugs gained pollen from beautiful flowers once dull and void now colorful beyond expression.         Conversations happened between bugs and flowers, pollen gathered, transported between plants, a strange secretive world suddenly exposed. A little boy heard their voices (hidden among plants and insects until now). His mom’s sleeve grabbed, tugged, seeking her attention at this amazing discovery pointing furiously toward the new world, suddenly all disappeared into secrecy again; this colorful world. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), pl...

Taking a limited commodity, In this ever fleeting thing, Making the most of this "gold", Even as seconds slip away. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support!

Creased and discolored I know them, many times have I seen them, working hands. Injured maybe, hardened by time and labor, though I see the heart behind them, working hands. Sometimes strong, other times weak, still it's clear, working hands from a working soul are known, known and appreciated; ones I also have. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support!

              I'd look past the cracks (as I usually do), driving back home, reflecting on the sudden shift that happened not four hours ago. I'd consider what happened, my reaction, and how it all changed suddenly.                   Rewind an hour or so back and dinner was cooking, laundry was being finished....then the power went out...and came back on...two or three times before it went out fully for a while. I'd see only the "cracks" in my "windshield"(perspective) and I'd panic. "What do You want me to do here Jesus?", I'd pray, wondering how to salvage this (since I wasn't sure how long the power would be out). I prepare to go into town and leave, having to reroute as the root cause was soon discovered: a telephone pole down over the line. Not long after as I enter town, the problem's taken care of and the power is on....and then there's one of the biggest "hacks" ever revealed by Jesus. "Do this....

             I was nervous. I kept breathing in short breaths. I was watching carefully here with each pass of movement; still no one saw me.               They would look, and search, and investigate each possibility carefully, still, no one found me. I waited on pins and needles, breathing loudly enough to think someone might, but no one ever did; all because of what was outside of me. I hide inside the folds, under the excessively large hood, tucked my feet under. The jacket hid me for a time. I was invisible to everyone around me somehow. I considered the person who it belonged to: my uncle who people told me was a famous magician. His acts said to be stuff of legend and great wonder.                All I knew was this for sure: I was gonna win this hide and seek game with what was outside of me, from those arou...

                He was quiet. It was cold. Thoughts left him, along with motivation. There was silence in the realm. Silence in the realm of creation and he was unsure of himself; then it happened. He began to leave his body and see himself outside of himself. He was still alive, and he could still see in the first person, yet somehow he could simultaneously see himself also.                  The urn was nearby. The old life reduced to ash, and still the legacy of a life once lived still lived. Their presence known. Their influence felt. The deceased friend was able to give one last gift from the other realm: hope through inspiration. He began speaking, he and this now disembodied friend. "Don't be afraid. You're not dead; or in a coma.", said the man. "What is this?", asked his friend Phil. "It's a new way.", his friend replied with a smile. While they were talking Phil was flooded with the old stories...

            He was beginning to understand, beginning to learn how to use it, where and when to. It became clearer, louder, fragments became sentences then conversations; they'd speak and he'd listen.            The "conversations" were in their minds (his and theirs), almost calling to him; intentions to the rest of us, yet purpose to him. Stop what was wrong, aid what was good. He was beginning to understand why he had this strange ability, realizing he wasn't just some other guy, but someone who both wanted and could do good, someone who was beginning to see the impact one could have when using this gift right. This was truly the beginning of something amazing, and he wasn't just a spectator but a participant, one who would do the greatest good through this new ability: to read thoughts and emotions of others such as no other. Sidenote about the piece: This is one of my fiction attempts at trying to make a...

             His name was Purple. He was a dog. We called him Purple because of his color (you guessed it, purple). It was a dark purple, yet still purple. We've never seen another animal like this, especially a dog. We don't know how he got that color either, only that we discovered him that way.            The weird part however wasn't the color of his fur, it was his birthmarks. He had two strange blue bones on his...uhhh...backside. They wouldn't wash off (we tried), and they didn't seem to hurt Purple. We didn't know what to make of these until a visit back home.             We showed up at our hometown to visit family one summer and Purple began picking up a smell. We didn't think much of it until he wouldn't let it go. He kept following, and following, and following....until he came to a vacant spot. At once he began digging and eventually pull...

Some currency, little deposits into a healthy new way. We need change. An action in the right direction, more than mere coins, more than another option, where something is exchanged, Where we begin to breathe. This much is clear: we need change to life; more than just tangible. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support!