Forty Plus Miles

      To the giants in the land, the ones that stand against us. To the defiant juggernauts that come to destroy and linger until their mission is complete. To the shadowy figures that devour all in their path, not stopping until there's nothing left; I defy you.         I rise, take up arms, and stand in a consuming fire that will not be quenched! Knock me down, step on the neck of my self-worth, and try; but I WILL NOT stay down!          To the giants in the land, the ones within that seek to define an unhealthy identity, that try to keep me in my failures (as though it's all I am, when I'm not); I defy you!          There will be victory, there will be renewal...inside...in Jesus' name; no matter how many times I must rise. I.will.rise! 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 particu...

           One second, one busy moment and there's a shift. In the full frontal assault of a to-do list something is added: contentment with gratitude. One thing done, one thing observed: a beautiful sky. One thing finished, one thing engaged: an awareness it was able to be done, you were able to do it.              This is multiplication of a different kind, where life changes and healthy perspectives are applied to life, and where I look forward to doing math for a better way to live; and here I find myself even looking forward to "working equations" of math when it brings growth in such a powerful 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!

          A place and a time, a story and those involved, and we are stepping into roles we play. From the waking of days to the evening goodbyes there's a calling that invites. Here we meet goals, fulfill responsibilities and roles, roles we play. Here we take time, to pretend and imagine, and we become something better. Men and women, husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, all living out the roles we play.            At work or at play, we all make a way, to fulfill to our best the roles in new ways. At different times, in different amounts we all carry on, looking at how to best live our lives, and the roles we play in them. Always looking at how to be our best at our "craft" whatever that is, and however that looks. Parent or spouse, (perhaps even both), these are the roles we play in life; and we can always change them, for better when not done well, this is the grace given us all, something I'm looking at again as I enter th...

 Better, by believing. Believing best brings blessing. 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. Kindness. Key. 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!

On the stage of the chaotic, wondering what random thing speaks, what these random things are. On the stage of miscellaneous I reflect, wonder what to make of it all, seeking to appreciate the colors, considering if this was to give my brain a break, delve into some possible abstract, and "enjoy the show" , on the stage. 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!

           To the tired and worn. To the wounded in more ways than physically. To the battered and bruised, past what is seen by all. To the insecure, dealing with inadequacies. To the regular working in irregular ways to overcome in all areas of life; and to those who feel misunderstood and without grace.           May you walk this day, knowing you don't walk alone. May you find the grace to believe you are more than enough (in Jesus) to live and thrive as you walk through each day, made to both be blessed, AND be a blessing. May you know rest, healing, and full restoration, embracing even the PART of the journey of living that is failure, remembering it is ONLY part and NOT the WHOLE. May hurts not hold you, and shame not keep you, finding newness of life, IN AND THROUGH Jesus; 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 h...

           Grace on the page, the one that listens. Grace on the way, from a place that is open. No agendas, no points to make; only listening and receiving. Hope; when we're a mess. Peace; to start again. Life in renewal, in each word written, as the page listens. No wrong or right. No hidden hurts that aren't safe to share; only restoration.             This is grace: to not condone wrong or evil, only process and release, when we aren't ourselves and need grace on the writing page. 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!

Mercy makes mountains move. Mercy matters. 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 plunge into the icy depths to get what I seek. Pushing past uncomfortable to find blessing. Working through a moment of tension toward triumph. Here on a busy morning those yellow green treasures of banana peppers fought for through cold waters in a jar remind me: don't be afraid to be uncomfortable, especially when it means completion and growth of soul; whether that completion is for a meal or something more. 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!

To try. To triumph.  To take trials; turning to triumph.  Taking today to triumph, through tenacity, through trials. 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!

 Fight forward! Fight ferociously! 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!

 Greater good grows grace generously.  Greater grace grows gratitude; giving greatest good greatly. 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!

 Hope, here. Hope, huge. 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!

A little of this, some of that, two worlds of flavors combine. The bitter tastes, the sweet bites, all is mixed to make this meal. Here there is tasting, eating each moment life brings, seeing how it all makes a feast that nourishes us. 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: This is my second attempt at turning a Triolet poem (I may still enter the first, don't know yet) into a Non-Fiction piece by simply changing the left justified format (like a list) to a paragraph format. With only eight lines, and the first, fourth and seventh lines repeating, as well as the second and eighth lines, it's tricky...but I wanted to express something in a fun poetic way like this. Be blessed. ) I Walk (Triolet Nonfiction Experiment)            On rainy days I walk slowly, walking still. Under gray skies I make way toward the light; this is hope. In wild weather I look again at past "forecasts". On rainy days I walk slowly, walking still. I ask, "What is good?", and answer. I question, "What else is there?", to appreciate wonder and grace in the unpredictable. On rainy days I walk slowly, walking still. Under gray skies I make way toward the light; this is hope. Sidenote: If any of the ...

         Somewhere I’m driving, loading my “weapons” with “ammo” to ready myself for what’s coming, “weapons” that will pierce the dark I will enter in giving light for somewhere from that flashlight.          Somewhere I’m going to, another place and a way there and back again. Somewhere I’m going from as a darkness is left and new light of intentionality is sought after. Somewhere I’m going between and I no longer want to be between, for the road has worn these “old tires” of passion and so I seek and pray for a healthy change this time.          Somewhere I’m working and writing, praying for a new road to travel that doesn’t require as much travel, as much wear and tear on this “vehicle” that is my soul and body; a new pace is sought from this hungry traveller.           In the middle of the day, somewhere in green and gray I travel a better road through writing. Along country roads an...

          Here in the valleys I'm walking between the mountains, considering how to climb, where I failed before, and how not to. Here in the low places I'm walking through the years in my thoughts, considering where I have failed, where I've succeeded, and how to have less failures. Walking through memories and stories of days called living I am reflecting, reflecting on the years as another passes for me in my forties.            What could be done? What couldn't? How do I respond better in it all even? Years pass by as clouds and bugs in the wild and I am pondering them all, praying over them all. I haven't given up, just looking again at a better how, whether I succeed in each moment of each day or not; perhaps this is how to thrive, to succeed. 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 f...

 Just live, here today.  On busy days, just be.  Yielding to intentional rather than hurried. 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!

         No explanation, just examination, seeking to break stagnation. No elaboration, just writing exceleration, where I process a day, time, a year... pushing past fear of misunderstanding. Here I'm standing, plotting and planning, a new way where creative growth will stay.            No explanation, just restoration, where hope and healthy are building new...even among the rain....here on a creative exploration Tuesday.  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 ten years and counting it all changed. Thinking of where I've been and where I am now. Moving and working, marriage and parenthood. In ten years and counting it all changed. Places and faces, life lived in the changes. Grateful still for the surprising graces. In ten years and counting it all changed. Thinking of where I've been and where I am now. 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 heard it there, somewhere in the early morning before the light of day rose. I heard the chilling sound that frightened me for a moment....then it stopped. I continued my task and went about cleaning dishes.....until I heard it again; and again it stopped me in a terrible fear. I looked around, and then the chilling sound revealed it's unlikely origins: a drain drinking hungrily a sink full of water invisibly until it's "slurping" of the last few moments I heard.              It was there I heard it's eerie sound in the early morning hours and realized something: it was still too early, and I needed more coffee; for I was still too tired on that strange Monday. 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 som...

Riding a dragon, north and south, seeking simply to hold onto focus. Side to side and often without warning. Look! Watch and fight forward; for each inch of the encounter will take ferocity! North and south you'll ride, side to side, and often without warning, down the winding road of one hundred four, riding a dragon that will end you if you let it. 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!