Forty Plus Miles

We'd walk, we'd run, from none, to one, to some, going and knocking, fun yet shocking, the strange places and faces. Candy and crazy, so fast it was hazy, costumes and times, expressing through rhymes, such Halloween times, these memories with one, of parents and son. Note About The Piece Above: A publication was wanting a Halloween-themed poem, so I wrote this one. It's just a piece reflecting on different times we've (my family and I) went trick or treating. Whether you agree with the holiday or not, there's something to be said for the value of Escapism (where you escape from reality) it brings to help us dream and come back stronger to a world that can often take more than it gives. It's okay to dream, so long as we don't let that hinder us from growing in real life in healthy and constructive ways; this is the balance that changes EVERYTHING in remarkable ways! Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (...

Writing, writing; working words. Speaking, sounding, structuring syntax. Expressing emotions. Inputting ideas. Releasing ruin. Note About The Piece Above: The experiment is using many words that start with the same letter while simply writing through the busy and rushed pace (the "ruin" mentioned above) to release the pressure of an extremely hurried pace lately; a "release" if you will.  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 saw a kangaroo today, it hopped and jumped and wanted to play. I saw a cheetah run today, increasing in speed along the way; then saw some happy dog wanting to play. 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!

The child still plays, enjoying fun time, fixed is his gaze. In joyous spirit he stays, making much of new toys, the child still plays. New games that are learned, new times of great joys, fixed is his gaze. Boredom of old the child did raze, inventing different types of ways, the child still plays. All who witness it praise, seeing all the new toys, fixed is his gaze. Through the elaborate maze, of fun in discovery, the child still plays, fixed is his gaze. 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 spoke to fire, as it sought to consume me. I spoke to fire, with authority and conviction given. I spoke to fire, refusing to yield to the destruction. I spoke to fire, and will again, even if in the encounter I am consumed. 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!

Words spoken in actions, spoken loudly without words, those that are audible, strong is the dialogue received, that of a quiet strength. Listen well you timid souls, encouragement is here! Inspiration in your fear, hope for the downcast in spirit, found in a quiet strength! 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!

           Lies, shame, disguised as truth that are heard in memories; constantly speaking, these devious words that masquerade as acceptable and "normal". Familiar, from once familiar places, faces where it was dismissed as "nothing", this stealth-like approach, though there was something, something truly sinister.            Inside voices play in my soul, and I find I am retaliating at long last where I'm winning back every loss. Here I'm rising up and advancing forward against these bullies of old, speaking back in defiance to the inside voices still heard in me from long ago. Here I'm boldly speaking truth and believing it, replacing those torturous voices, ones that don't know who they've messed with. 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 els...

            Somewhere along far reaching roads I'm travelling, I haven't seen a soul for miles, and there are no road signs anywhere I can see. It's been quiet, and I don't know how to respond to that but pray, pray and simply be myself.             It's been quiet, far too quiet.... yet still I travel forward with a prayerful mindset. When all seems quiet and stagnant in the journey of creating anything it can break a person, yet this is where we must continue forward, where I must continue forward, remembering WHY we are creating; for me it's to make a healthy impact with every word written (even if sometimes that means simply finding a healthy outlet to process and grow in each word expressed). 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 cou...

From a busy week, Remembering we've made it this far,  Into another busy day, Determined to finish strong,  As busy tries to break peace,  Yet I'm grateful we've made it to Friday. 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!

  Lasting longevity; living love loud. 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! Note About This Piece: Lasting life (or longevity) is known when we live love loud. When experimenting with this poem, these God-given surprising words (and this truth) came to me. 

       Blank, a world of possibilities armed with this array of avenues, of ways to create a new picture with each new session called days.         Bright and dull, these two contrasts remaining in cooperation, collaboration, to make a masterpiece and an impact through this wonder to behold. Here, in this new creation and new approach. Here, where this "painting" of life changes with more than one "color" seen, those of optimism and pessimism, creating something remarkable: a bold and creative approach that impacts living in the best way for the best possible good. 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!  

  Matter (A Poetic Experiment) Manic, making moves meanwhile; making Monday matter. 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!

Whispers heard, words are speaking, growing louder, becoming clearer , from the chaos of a thousand ideas, a thousand words, emerge to be known. Writer's voice, or something more? They long for a listener, ambassador for them, speaking their silent words, silent to all, loud to me, of all people me, a mystery too great, to be this recipient, this mouthpiece for them, to talking verses, wanting to be heard. 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! 

Hammering, striking the once useless, forging purpose in the undefined, giving shape and form to the unseen, grand visions of potential now manifest, becoming the way, the greatest good possible, in these beautiful tools being revealed, all while hammering, what I once thought was nothing. 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! 

Practice. Persistence. Perfection.  Pushing past pressure,  pursuing purpose penned plainly past pushback, perfectly. Note About The Piece Above: the "pressure" mentioned is the struggle when creating doesn't come easy (and it doesn't always), and yet you wanna create. The "perfection" is simply making it the best it can be, NOT better than others, but YOUR BEST.  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! 

With a pen, I'll pour out my heart, empty me, clear clutter for new growth in me. With a pen, I'll recreate, build a healthier me, a healed me. With a journal, I'll write my soul, my sorrows down, to leave them there, serving only to remind how far I've come, what's been overcome, and that it can. With a moment, I'll use these tools, make a new way, in this new light, new slate of twenty four hours; make these steps firm Lord. 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! 

Forties. A challenge and a blessing, never realizing I'd survive, or how I'd make it through this time, and still I have. Aged. Not old just worn, some say this of vintage wines, and I'll say this of me, of this getting older part of life, one that brings about highs and lows of being alive, this uphill hike I am making still. Slower, though I'm steady, remembering this is how I'll win this race, the one called life, so I continue, greeting the road before me, welcoming the wrestle that awaits, the aging that happens to us all, refusing to be owned by forties, yet making peace with it all the same. 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! 

Tossed into the void, thrown first, then aimed in each effort made. Precision gained with maximum effect. Light scatters the hidden, reveals life and hope, joy in the impact made, when throwing stars. Bright and beautiful, a path now uncovered, a faith born and growing: that all will be well again, better than before, when throwing stars of conviction into the destruction, into the lies and falsehoods we once believed. 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! 

Strength given in weakness. Magnificence of this unusual transaction, the Divine shown in the finite creation! Here is where wonder and awe are displayed in full! Powerful is the redemption found in life, found in the least sought after places, in the most unexpected of all creation, at the most surprising of times! The broken get it. The worn and jaded receive it. The least of these are given it, given and used completely. Powerful is the Provider of all Good, the God who alone holds the weary and weak, who alone gives second chances to the wayward! Powerful are the provisions given, the potency found in the saving, found in the Redeemer of all! Great God of all, You alone make us powerful, make me powerful, and I couldn’t be without You! 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 al...

Note About The Piece Below: In the industry I work in (Pest Control), we've had a running joke of sorts we'd sometimes say when an employee was acting strange. We'd say (jokingly): " Stop drinking the chemical.". This was written and submitted to a magazine with an audience in this industry. It was also written BOTH to raise awareness of safety AND as sort of a satirical "spooky" story for the Halloween season. Just sharing it for the two above reasons I wrote it. Have fun, and stay safe.                                                       An Unusual Work Day        "In the heat of the day, my energy gave way. I reached for a container and began to drink. As I quickly drank and swallowed, then the taste hit me, and the effects soon after. In my exhaustion I looked again and realized it was the chemical bottle (it was low to no ...

           The unknown, the question of good possible; then it changed. Shining bright for all to see: hope of good, and possible, and certain! Through the wild unknown, the change, as storm after storm approaches, hits the travelling souls through life... then it shines. Protection speaks loudly, clearly, bright from the Maker of all, Jesus. Colors of grace, and beauty, love shining bright for all to see!            Another wild day upon the seas of living, another gray sky from a dark storm....and then it changes. Shining bright for all to see: hope that we're not alone, appearing after a prayer. Not as bright, yet still bright.              I remember, from the wild "seas" of living, the long and busy days, the promise upon troubled skies within our souls and without, shining upon troubled waters and troubled souls. Bright, brighter still, consistently shining is the reminder, one that neve...

Four times of words, doubled to speak repeatedly. 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! 

Three by three, expressing self again. 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! 

Tired brains and weary hearts, bodies beaten by time and life, one by one they arise, slowly yet they rise. Life begins it's conversations, spoken to these still half asleep, where pleading eyes await our arrival, eager for us to engage the waking world. Stumbling in sleepy stupor, desperately continuing on, with tired brains in every attempt to be, regardless of the exhaustion that holds us still. 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 here, looking 'round at it all, possibility ready for the taking, amid this vast expanse of the same, of the parking lot. How long; a question wondered, anxious are these eyes that seek change, this heart that fears it has been forgotten, ever expecting better to pull up, here in the parking lot. A stop on the way, found wandering the concrete landscape before them. to live the goal, reach abundant, get past enough, beyond this place, of the parking lot of 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 reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

The margins of life, somewhere between left and right, writing life once more, here in the middle. Straining to listen as life speaks, to pour out what's given me, speaking once again, through this pen to life's page. The margins of life, somewhere in between strong and struggling, to find this beautiful rhythm of creation, singing along to the music I'm meant for: that of creating and living, in the margins of 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 reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

Community. Together we live, Thrive in connection, We need you. Unique for a reason. Purpose in the difference. Simply be as you’re meant to be. We need you. A you as no other, Made this way for better, For good of all, For good of you. We need you. 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! 

As a child with a new toy am I, discovering the skills and words that meet here, this transaction most strange. Thoughts and emotions left to wander, wander within me as they blur, blur then focus to become ideas and concepts. Lifeless to life upon this arena of creation. Conversations heard as they speak among themselves. My soul hears them and delights. Words upon the page living and being, who I am fleshed out, made manifest on paper. 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! 

          For a moment I hear it, calling from the stillness and I answer the call. Breaking the chains of busy I step into the welcome serenity. Between two metal posts holding open attached metal arms I enter. Standing in the gap of a tree line overlooking a flat field I am looking over it all. Standing....here in the place secured for me, the metal arms and posts make an unspoken agreement to grant peace to my worn soul. Standing....drinking in rest and a quiet beauty that refreshes. Standing....grateful for some calm and renewal, here in the still atmosphere all around. 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! 

     In heavy days I'll look back toward lighter ones, easier ones, if only to glance and acknowledge their existence. In long daylight hours I'll acknowledge and reflect on what was good, remembering why it is so, to refresh this burdened soul when it life isn't good.       In heavy days I'll look into the light of such hopeful times, focus on these better moments, and keep walking 'til these clouds start to pass 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! 

 Note About The Piece Below: One day while learning to write Hiakus, I began wondering if they'd work in fiction form; if one could tell a story that way (in an attempt to create something easier while still done well, a "hack" for writing if you will). This is one of two attempts to write such an ambitious piece....something I may try again.                      Words That Talk To Us         Words that talk to us, listening as they speak plain, giving instruction, "Help an old lady. Give smiles to tired souls.", and a child does. 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! 

Note About The Piece Below: One day not long ago a part of my grief journey hit me hard. Sometimes it's easy to think I'm done with that, then I get a "trigger" (something that hits me emotionally). This piece was written about that in a paragraph format AND a left justified, like a list, format; this is why I call it "hybrid")                                     I Think On        I think on old roads and long drives. I consider travels and moments. Memories and revelations linger in these thoughts. An unpacked suitcase. Years worth of grief and hurt are emptied; slowly over time, yet emptied all the same.        I think on old roads and long drives. I reflect on today, on a past that suckerpunched me today, on what to do with that. Unpacked hang-ups and misshapen instructions for a healthy way forward; still I unpack slowly over time, emptied all the same....

          Upon the blank paper of life I am penciled in; no ink just words, ready to make the best possible from these scribbles and erase marks of living better. Here our days and efforts are written out to adjust in the changes, ones that leave room for a greater good where I write best with ink. 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! 

       "There!" cries excitement and wonder, pointing with joy and awe that can't be contained. "Over there; see it?!", says such childlike innocence to me and I listen; the gift of fun and awe in his young heart as we try to catch fireflies, my son and I.        "There!", he exclaims as we run to the appearing light switching off upon our arrival, disappointment replacing his brief hope....until we catch one. This hide and seek changes as his little heart grows, jumping up and down, ready to burst from the joy of catching wonder. Here he takes in awe and amazement with each observation, these glances of little lives with little lights, saying our well wishes and goodbyes soon after giving blessings to the little firefly in his release.          Minutes later and we are ready to play again, another game of hide and seek with fireflies, to know awe and joy once more. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a ...

             It wasn’t anything extraordinary or noteworthy, this average Saturday on a weekend. The skies were gray and it wasn’t all that calm as winds blew through in occasional gusts that left all of life uneasy. Here there and everywhere this lonely life was looking for the awe-inspiring and meaningful, seeking some kind of adventure from the mundane with each distance crossed.               From place to place and face to face he went, searching and listening to old stories told to him both by the people and various items discovered. He’d see, then meet, then learn. Every home and table held a new tale to be revealed in this journey for something better. The yard sales slowly transformed the uninspired leading this broken soul to a moment that would change everything!                Among the tales told of memories and use of each object to be sold it stood out. It was ol...

                 " Warts and all", the phrase I saw in my head when coming across some older fiction story I wrote. Those "ugly" parts we wanna hide, I wanted to hide (especially when seeing how embarrassing bad the story I came across was (listed below first).                  As I thought about it more and more though  I kept getting this impression God was wanting me to share it to encourage others, (this and one other story I wrote that wasn't great), to encourage someone that even if anything good and constructive you attempt to create isn't good at first , remember, you're still attempting SOMETHING (and you aren't alone, I'm currently learnING this to); showing myself "warts and all" .  Fiction Story 1.) Tough Tasks        I was at a dead end, but I had to try, so I did. I looked and theorized until it came ...

         Through the unwelcome and uncomfortable we keep going, keep walking with remembrance of a greater grace ahead. There will be wisdom in these “fiery trials”, there will be relief that we never forget is temporary. This will motivate us, move us faster toward good waiting for us, where a sharpening toward precision and usefulness will be evident. This is what fire teaches. 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! 

       Castles crumble as dreams fall apart and we are seen building, building as though no ruin has taken place, forging something from the seemingly useless.         Here our hopes collapse and our visions fade, yet even here we dare to let such faith grow, faith in a greater good.          As our castles lay broken we pick up the pieces of a hope failed, begin building again, recognizing the way before that didn't work while seeing the way laid plain in front of us, excited at the new clarity given even when only a little at a time. 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! 

           Blisters on the feet of my soul. Walking, still walking this long road through shadows and gray skies upon uneven terrain met with each step taken.             Pain reminding me of the cost to hope for better, one I'll take seeking it in each progression made, where I'm found walking in perseverance, even with "blisters" on the feet of my soul. Walking through each day of living 'till providence and I meet, finish our journey called life where the road taken will be worth it, the "blisters" within faced to be free. 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! 

Lightning and thunder, rain that is heavy, danger is present, I enter the chaos still. Unfolding, this great theater of celestial violence. Awakening, an unrivalled desire to tame this beast: the trials of life. To chase the storm that seeks to undo me. To overcome these great challenges. To rise again and thrive, truly thrive in the living of life. Again I will take my place among the chaos, once more entering into the great unknown, in it will I live, live as I chase the storm. 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!