Forty Plus Miles

           Blue skies emerging in the light of day. Not quite happy, but not quite gray; for a moment I stay. Looking, first with eyes then with thoughts as mine remain in the blue. Slowly I see light, piercing my blue skies. Slowly I see change, welcome change that doesn't destroy but highlights the blue known.             I look again, in my thoughts this time only, considering the absence of gray. Considering the somber blue, darker but brighter than first noticed. I think on this, consider the beauty of blue skies, still looking for the light to shine, the bright colors to enter and stay a while, yet remembering I can see the light still; even in the aftermath of rainy days both literally and mentally.  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 ...

 Note About The Piece Below: this is one of my other attempts to express something powerful in a creative way that catches people's attention. The piece is about making sure to NOT just be busy and stressed, but about taking time for proper mental health care and living. The format is two paragraphs both spelling out TAKE TIME together ( The Acrostic part), and the bottom half is a left justified Hiaku/Acrostic spelling out ONE (expressing One step at a time, or a steady pace versus hurried) finishing the idea's expression. Sharing this to bless someone.                       Take Time (Acrostic/Hiaku Hybrid Experiment)         Take time each time to breathe. Act intentionality in the minutes and seconds. Keep consistently doing this; practice.  Even when it's busy, be persistent.           Take moments to refocus, even in seconds. Include points of rest and renewal; it is ...

         Somewhere between the cold and the warmth it's felt: a shift. Somewhere between our unwelcome and warmly invited seasons there's a knowing: that somehow there's a good to come. There's a faith of some sort (and with it insight), recognizing that the unwelcome "cold" days of our lives make those "warm" inviting and pleasant days that much better, and this is just one way we are prepared to better engage those times and make the most of them.  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 sun hides in the cold. Still, it's there. Warm and shining bright.  The sun hides in the cold. Where warmth is travelling.  It isn't long to pleasant days. The sun hides in the cold. Still, it's there. 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!

        Everything, looking again to remember. Everything that is still here as I walk through another day. Everything that is good, and hopeful, and true; looking at ALL of the picture of life before me, and not just what isn't. 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!

                Colorful skies, though the gray still lingers. Beautiful sights, though it's mingled with unpleasant. Hope shines bright in the light, brings colorful skies in spite of the gray, brings new mercies that speak volumes of restoration and encouragement. Colorful skies that speak hope again to me, in spite of the gray, in spite of the cold, and I'm found listening 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!

           Even here light shines through, somewhere in a valley. Even here, beneath mountains that cast long shadows hope dares shine through; and I see it.   Little by little I see it, as I continue to walk through the lowlands of cold weather and trying days . Little by little I believe it more and more, even when the valleys crossed are within. Even here, I will have hope and be thankful to have made it this far, in Jesus' name. 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!

        Into a winter, bitter and cold. Into the frozen, it doesn't have hold. Sunny and bright, hoping it might, yield some good, praying it would. Into a winter, cold as can be, still I see, good in the frozen that I travel through. Looking to Jesus to lead us anew.  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!

This is persistence.  Just keep going.  You can do this.  Move slow and steady. Just keep going.  It will be rough. Move slow and steady. Be willing to take action. It will be rough. There is reward for persistence. Be willing to take action. Consistency is key here. There is reward for persistence. You can do this.  Consistency is key here.  This is persistence. 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!

          "Exhale here.", this strange thought appears. "Just exhale." , it speaks again somehow to my spirit, and I don't need an explanation because understanding given me is already there (an understanding I believe was given by God); it's an internal type this time. So I "breathe" out inside, while seeking to release unhealthy tension that comes in a day. I "breathe" out inside, letting go of the stress, remembering the good little by little, holding onto the promises of Jesus, while seeking also to remain in His presence. I "breathe" out inside, to let go of destructive thoughts that keep me focusing on what isn't good the best I can, praying as I do, and there's room, inviting Jesus into this more and more.             As the room is made, there's open space here, and I am in unfamiliar territory, for I've been caught in this vicious cycle of keeping "clutter" inside my soul that isn't good. I...

 Note About The Piece Below: Been learning about how to write Pantoum poems recently. It's a poem made of four lines (or "stanzas" as they're called) in groups of four lines. The second and fourth lines of one group become the first and fourth lines of the next until the last group of four lines. Then the final stanza is composed entirely of repeated lines: line one of the final stanza is line two from the previous stanza. Line two of the final stanza is line three from the first stanza. Line three of the final stanza is line four from the previous stanza. Line four of the final stanza is line one from the first stanza. In this way EVERY line is repeated. I share this poem (and it's technicality) to encourage someone that if I can learn to write a poem like this (which is REALLY difficult) you can do that thing that's REALLY difficult. This is something I'm STILL learning, and it's taken me SEVERAL times to get it. So, if you don't get that thing y...

 Another day reflecting, Giving thought to where I've been, Especially as I'm aging. 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!

 Breathe; anxiety annihilates.  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!

          Just a few words, on a cold day, from a busy soul seeking to unclutter. Just a few sentences, in the middle of the hustle, looking for expression through release, making room for something new within. Just a paragraph or two...maybe....jotting down my thoughts and emotions, removing heavy weights that seek to keep me down, and it is here I am learning a way through; from just a few words to process and be productive today.  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, bright and beautiful, rising with the day. A moon, refusing to give way; yet it can't stay. A contrast not lost, hidden from me, for I see. I see a night ending, day rising to break darkness, to shift cycles. I See the passing of a season, slowly, yet there's passing happening; colors, bright and beautiful, rising with the day. A moon, refusing to give way; yet it can't stay. Looking in gratitude for a beginning, a new way.  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!

            Down and through, with what little was known, on some rounded way. Down and into, into some much needed rest and fun, fun with two little children, our son and my "inner child". Here the child in me wakes up and enters the fun, fun with our son.                     Sledding, on a small incline on our property. It isn't much, but it would be enough, enough to enjoy and live in spite of the white powdery snow all around us. Sledding, when our son was apprehensive at first, then wanted to enter this adventure too many times to count. Sledding, when I wished we had a bigger hill nearby, yet was grateful for our "hill", and some time to break from an overabundance of responsibilities; where tending to a constructive way for recreation was eagerly met by a some old disc sled and some snow that was a blessing in this way. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your l...

          Some small thing, budding out and reaching beyond itself. Some tiny movement, from the inside out, breaking barriers and limitations to become more. Beyond the once perceived lack it grows and flourishes, sprouting and blooming unhindered from it's shell hidden in the dark. This small mustard seed of faith, that wasn't buried but planted, being rooted in possibility's soil, prepared for results that far outweigh everyone's expectations.  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 stands at the edge of some driveway somewhere, stands with arms raised in a way that speaks, "Behold; an answer to prayer!", and I look. In spite of the cold, it stands resolute, tall and strong. I hear it's speech speaking to me, this God-given reminder that points to all the bright and beautiful skies that refuse to be silent of hope and grace even here in the cold morning. I listen to the manifesto of sorts, this majestic tree telling of The Host of Heaven's answer, Jesus the Maker of all making me whole again after the gray of clouds and sorrow through it found in yesterday.  It is here I am found again; found in gratitude in spite of the cold walked through in a winter day.  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 you...

 Note About The Piece Below: I have been wondering if an essay could be Acrostic in a paragraph form. The more I thought about it, I then wondered if a Triolet poem could be part of it to make it a truly "Hybrid" piece of writing. This is my second attempt at that. This piece is about finding a healthy pace in life that promotes productivity and eliminates burn out.  Over (Hybrid Triolet / Acrostic Essay)        Pushing past hurried, in mind and action.  Acting on intention rather than reaction.  Continuing forward in manageable moments. Entering life at adjusted pace. A moment at a time. Remembering steady over stressed. One step then another taken. A moment at a time. Refocusing in the hustle.  Resisting the pull to push faster forward. A moment at a time. Remembering steady  over stressed. 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 ...

 Valleys walked. Clouds lingered; still, hope.  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 light rises so does trial; something I'm not forgetting. As day approaches, enters the scene, so to will the tests. Here, on a cold morning I will wake, rise and enter the strange morning, where Light reminds me I can still overcome IN AND THROUGH Him. Thank You Jesus, I'm listening Light.  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 Lights say, "Hope; hope in the darkness. Hope when it's tough" . The Lights say, "Dream, "pause in the chaos of constant and the busy; look again. ".  I hear Heaven's reminder to me, and I look, pray, emptying myself of a cluttered soul on a new day of a new year, as I seek to listen to Jesus calling me to a new rest through the Lights of a new day from a new night of Christmas lights left up and shining in my mind still, that remind me to walk forward in hope 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!