Forty Plus Miles

 At the beginning it was spontaneous. At the start it was messy; and yet still beautiful. There was hope found for those who would look. At the beginning it was spontaneous. In the new there was growth. There were barriers broken down. At the beginning it was spontaneous. At the start it was messy; and yet still beautiful. 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!

          Again and again and again, trying to overcome. A fire that seems to empower. One resistance, then another, as forward progress continues unhindered. No obstacle stops the fire leading the soul on; this is Finnish Sisu....at least that's what I'm told...yet I'm still seeking to understand 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!

Never stop trying to do better. Ongoing is the process; Where well comes with practice. 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!

Write; here. Breaking blocks. Writing 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!

 Running and tripping, then dusting off; trying again.  Running and stumbling, over and over;  getting back up and running again. Up and down, up and down, higher and higher each time; then flight! Up and down and side to side, steadying himself, flying with some turbulence, while flying with big and small wing, flying through open skies.  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 piece was written for a prompt to write an ode about the first things you remember you were grateful for, written in the first person perspective. I'll leave it up to you to discover what I was grateful for. The Blocks The blocks, those question marked memories, the sounds of fun and adventure I'd remember; do you? Some far off kingdom calling for our help, finding it in the least likely of heroes, and we'd answer the call, you and I. Up and over we'd jump, down and through we'd travel, time and time again, over and over again, losing over and over again until we won. Do you remember? We'd explore the worlds, look for how to stop a reptile, then we'd make our heroic effort. The blocks brought us back, where quests were welcomed again, where we'd seek to gain victory over evil committed, stop a villain for all time, in that time, when the blocks gave us "power-ups", and a victory.... eventually. Do you remember...

 Breathe better big. Breathe big better. Believe boldly; boldly believing 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!

        Where wolves howl, the Lion roars louder. Where oppression speaks, works; redemption rises with justice to put right what is wrong. Where chaos and unrest stalk the landscapes of humanity, hope and restoration meet them armed for battle. This is where growth happens, life breathes and meaning will take root and not be restricted 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!

         Seen was the void, felt the absence, hair today and gone tomorrow. The kind-hearted beard brought waves of welcome change; a big difference from a big bearded man. Seen was the hair, the grandson, and with him his kind heart as big as his grandfather's beard he wore. 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 all who wander are lost.", words of water to adventurous souls, to the tired seeking solace. Looking, listening, to this new world that's nothing more than vapors; yet unmistakeably potent. Walking, engaging, in this place of peace, this reboot for the soul, one that hard pressed lives long for. Scouring shadows and light, stories and such hidden places for healing, finding grace in such beautiful fiction, hope in the welcome shift, where escapism becomes beautiful beyond a curse. 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!

            How many times had it worked? How many times had it not? Looking over the unlikely and pondering good and possible; questioning whether it's been there. For a moment within I pause to consider the reliable wrapped in a package of ugly and uninviting. In the busy I am still able consider this (by the grace of God) as I look once more and find gratefulness even here.               How many times had it seemed different and wasn't? How many times had the bigger and better not been so? Reflecting on the one that might have been passed by most, that had been even passed by by me at times, these unlikely machines that provided aid to people in need, people like me. These unattractive old washing machines that proved more reliable than newer and bigger ones. These worn mechanics that said, "I'm still here; I can help you.", and I took their invitation. These unlikely and surprising blessings and lesson: the best ...

Be brave, believing better. Be bold, battling berating. Believe big, better, bravely. Be brave, believing better. Believe best beyond belligerence. Believe bravely beyond barriers. Be brave, believing better. Be bold, battling berating. 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 valleys would keep me if I let them. The mountains would hold me down, if I listened....but I will not listen. They say "Climb!", and I do, listening for each new instruction to scale these mountains of new ways and new expressions. The top stretches far above my faith, faith that greater and better are possible; still I climb. "See the new footholds.", I hear, creative footholds of another style in these words waxing poetic. The muscles weaken. The mind scatters. The heart begins to fall..... still there is fresh God-given insight that restores my mind. "Remember what you learned before. Remember you can do it again." , calls the Hosts of Heaven in much needed encouragement; and I climb.           Speaking in new verse, ushering words of some foreign tongue I am becoming fluent in: the many styles of poetry I'm learning to speak with a pen and a prayer; and I climb the mountains of poetry styles I'm learning again, no matt...

          Flying, and he wondered how, then he'd begin to descend, and he'd just fly; stretching out his wings as the wind lifted him. Flying free. Flying fully. Not beating his wings harder, just letting the winds that stopped him at first carry him, these once thought setbacks now setups raising him higher as he lived in contentment and not control; this new bird learning to fly. 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!

Dear young man, I see you breathing and moving in the day; You who are still young with your heart elsewhere, thinking and looking. You are made for more, more than existing; listen, your “greater” speaks. 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!

Sidenote: I hesitate to try and explain this (not wanting to take away from how this would impact someone), but feel it necessary. When I wrote this, I thought about an anthem or theme I desired in my life. I personified the greatest virtue of all (love), and wrote it as a short dialogue speaking with that virtue. May love be loud in and through us.  Live Loud Live loud; live loud love, live 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!

         In a quiet moment I write; this is grace. In a still time I rhyme...a little. In a strange transition I listen, closer in the void, where inspiration has gone quiet.          Here I pause, just listen and pray, in a quiet moment, between busy times and attempted writing rhymes.  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 are no experts in our world today; only those with expertise. To be an expert implies that you have mastered something, yet we are all asking questions and learning something better. To have expertise though means you have God-given understanding, experience, and in some cases even training with one or more areas in life, both work and home.          If you stumble along the way, (and we all do), it's okay; we are all learning still. Yet, you still have expertise in something. Let this encourage you today; especially if you are struggling to learn a thing well, whatever that is. 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 : this is inspired by Psalm 42 .              Talk to yourself, when you've forgotten what is good in your day, in life. Speak to your soul, when hope isn't visible, grace isn't in that place in your life. Preach to your struggle, your "fallen on the floor" moment, reminding yourself of what's true, where salvation really is. Talk to yourself, declaring what is true, right, hopeful and empowering. Don't ignore what isn't right, pretend you aren't walking through a dark time (or times) within and without; still, talk to yourself. Remind you it'll be alright.  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 the discovery, the transformation, the progress toward something good, and here I'll write. A small amount of words seen in a poem, that were the poem, and this busy and tired soul of mine rejoiced for the relief of a new way: numbered poems. From forty four to one they were written. A poem with exact word counts, and I'd make it count; every.single.word.         The time busy. The need to process and a hunger to create that would be fulfilled through a small amount of words. Here, in the short time I'd write. For now, the poem would be four words only, and with it progress: Four words, moving forwards. This is the new way, new poems, where I make it count, progressing Forwards (which happens to be the title of the four word poem above). 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 ...

                    Just one paragraph on a busy day.  Under pressure of heavy to-do lists I remain; Still, I take one step, do one more thing. Taking time to build healthy habits that heal. 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!

 Be brave; believe. Believe better. Believe. 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, pictures! Sight restored. Surgically healed.  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!