A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

Poetry

A fact of life

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Miss Kate threw out the word prompt Lonely today.  Loneliness is often a fact of life, one that people need to deal with sometimes on a daily basis.  Too often individuals fail to see the one who can get them through bouts of loneliness.  This poem speaks to that.    I’ve spoken on this word in the past with the poem, If only the lonely. 

loneliness, a fact of life. Image of sad lady looking out a window

A fact of life

loneliness is a fact
of life, sometimes filling a day
And sometimes disappearing
into the woodwork not to be
seen for the immediate future.

Being alone, lost in a crowd,
a workplace, a school, is not
the same as loneliness.

Loneliness, in my mind’s eye,
is a feeling
within of having no
one, not a single person
available who gives a rip
about your existence.

A feeling that persists
despite knowing that the
truth (that people really
do care) is not the same
as feeling.

One can feel lonely at a family
gathering, filled with laughter
and reminiscing.
Lonely, singing before a crowd
that sings along with you.
it’s an emptiness sitting
staunchly within

creating anger, desperation,
tears, sadness, and
and sense that nothing
really ever matters.

Fighting against loneliness
I’ve learned, there is only one
cure.
turning to one who is bigger
than myself/

(not my hubby and he
no longer is since he’s lost
almost a whole person now)

though the hubby helps
so much more than he knows
but he’s not bigger than
me, no person is.
but he often shows me
the spirit that is bigger
than me in his actions, care
and concern.

Who is bigger than me?
Is there really one who is
bigger than anyone I know?
yeah, he walked the earth,
He created all that is around me,
despite science trying to
tell me different.

God the father minding me,
The son holding it all together,
the spirit bringing
things to mind.
This God, this one being
is greater than all
and holds the loneliness,
the separateness at bay, and
reminds me that some
separateness it to be expected
because I might LIVE in this world,
but I don’t belong to it.

God speaks to me and you

1 John 5:19

We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

1 John 2:15-17

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

 

Put a Limit to Your Actions

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“Put a limit to your actions put a limit to your words” rang through my mind as I pondered the word Limit, a word prompt provided by Miss Kate.  I don’t know if they are lines to a poem I read or a song?  But they were so immediate I figured they had to be something.  The thing is… can I turn those lines into something worth reading?   What would God have me write today?

put a limit to your actions

Put a limit to your actions

Those lines

Put a limit to your actions
Put a limit to your words
by doing so you know
you’re living by the WORD

These words run through my mind
making me think perhaps
it was a song learned back
in Sunday School. Alas
the rest of the song is lost
to the travails of time.

Last night I had a blast
selling some of my homeschool
material. I started the evening by
killing two birds with one stone.
I gave away candy! I know, it’s silly.
But for everyone setting up a table
of goods I said “Want a treat?” Almost
everyone smiled and took one.
The second stone REMOVED that candy
temptation from my life which means “I”
won’t be able to munch on it. Woot woot!

I chatted with lots of people,
and gave away stuffies
to young children with big smiles.
And through it all
made back a trifling of what
I’ve spent over the years.

Connections made

How does this connect with the line
Put a limit to your actions?
Well you see
I made children smile.
I brought moments of joy.
Time was taken to move forward
with goals of passing forward
what I’ve received and limiting
the intake of the unnecessary.
I’ve stopped hanging on the
past with things I don’t need to keep.

God calls us to change.
Weird huh?
He accepts us as we are, and yet
says “hey, I see better for you,
let’s help you embrace that.”

To do so means I have to stop
some actions (limiting them),
and I have to move forward with
some new actions.
Over time I learn even more
new actions I have to limit,
and figure out
new habits to embrace.

And by doing so I guess I’ll
live out those last line
of Living by the WORD.

How can it be so complicated?

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So I’m normally not up this late on a Thursday night.  It’s getting on 1045 already but I forgot to put my bedsheets in the dryer and so have to wait for them to be done.  I’m trying hard to stay awake!  No napping in my ever so comfy chair!!  I decided to see if Kate had posted the Five Minute Friday word prompt and she did!   The word is complicate.  How can it be so complicated is what comes to mind.  Let’s see where God takes this word eh?

How can it be so complicated? text with road signs

How can it be so complicated?

Sometimes I wonder how
life can be so complicated?

Grudges held,
People betray,
Feeling hurt,
Words are said that perhaps
shouldn’t have been.

I grew up knowing
somehow, in the haze
that is my life,
that people aren’t
so easy to know and love at times.

At the same time as people
can be awfully hard to understand
Laughter, conversation,
Jokes, and hugs, and positive connection
also dots the landscape
that is the plight of humanity.

It seems the extremes are right there
showcasing the complications that
make up any given person’s day.

I had reason to ponder that
today and came to the conclusion
that despite my questions on
How can it be so complicated
It’s part of how God molds us
into his image.

He uses these strains in
relationships to remind of us
what is means to love each other
even when people infuriate us, or
hurt us, or simply confuse us by
their life decisions.

God regularly uses the
“hard things” of life to
deepen our understanding of
who he is and whose we are and
what that means in the
nitty-gritty of life.

BUT you know what?
We have to be open to it you know?
Open to change and
being something more
despite the inner turmoil
that change can bring.

It’s a good thing to be
something more don’t you think?
It helps us to better
cope with the complications
of living a human life. 🙂

See What Time it is Already?

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When I went to work this morning I had no idea what I would do for my Five Minute Friday post.  Kate’s word Already didn’t really resonate with me.  But at the end of my work shift a colleague provided me with just the perfect thought.  See What Time it is Already?  It’s an excellent way to end a shift you know? 

See What time it is already? text with image of girl with clock smiling

See what time it is already?

Annette, the call came
from behind back.
Look, see what time
it is already?

Oh Great!
Time has flown
It’s 1 p.m. time
to go home!

Need a ride?
Hubs comes to get?
Nah, I got my board
Thanks anyways, ‘Net.

Short shifts on busy days
Greeting all
Happy Easter Weekend
receiving much in return.

Smiles and laughter,
little girl grins
Moms with weary smiles
A Dad wrangling twins.

Normally a store where
seniors abound, but
on holidays weekends with
strangers resounds!

“Can you help me?”
“Do you know where _____?”
Answering obvious questions
from strangers unaware.

A happy busy workplace
Short shifts are a blast
on holidays weekends
As it’s all work and smiles.

And that holds over
’til the following week
when it’s back to the same old
Stocking shelves and being helpful.

shallow focus of clear hourglass
Photo by Jordan Benton on Pexels.com

Pondering more

Seeing as it’s Easter weekend I’m taking the time to ponder this thought a bit more.   Do we as Christians see what time it is already?   God’s told us clearly in his word that we are forgiven in Christ.  He’s told us that we can’t know when Christ is returning.  So we need to live within that. 

To live as forgiven people.  People who are aware we don’t deserve forgiveness (ergo we can’t take it for granted) and yet here we are… fully forgiven.  And we have to stay here, being useful, because it’s not yet time.   The time is coming, but until we actually see Christ again we know that can’t say to each other “See What time it is already?”.    We just can’t.   And until then we need to try to help others see the time is right for them to turn to the Lord.  To live in a way that helps the hurting stop hurting quite so much. 

So in a way we can say to each other See What time it is already?  Because now it also our time.  As much as the world wants to claim it is theirs, and the time is only for them, the world is wrong.  We aren’t lost and alone.  We are strangers for sure, living in a world that is often senseless, but our duty, and our love is clear.  Love the lost.  Care for the fallen.  Show hospitality and concern for those around us.   This is what God calls us to, and it’s our time to follow through.

Who Can I Blame?

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So, here it is, a week before Good Friday.  I was asked this week if I wanted to work on Good Friday.  I stopped to think about it because you know, it’s Good Friday and I’m a believer.  Church is a must is not?  But over the years, I’ve become convinced that I don’t have to attend services on special days to show I’m a good Christian.   That’s not me saying it’s not isn’t good to attend services on special days, only that it is not mandatory.   And it’s hard sometimes right?   Right now it’s a struggle to financially make ends meet. 

Is that a good excuse to not attend Good Friday services?  Not really.  It’s part of the puzzle though.   I asked hubbers what he thought I should do and he was good either way.  He understood the bind, then extended the grace to see what I could figure.   So when I saw the the word Blame I thought of how some would blame me for choosing finances over attending services, and would I accept that?  Helping further make me feel alienated from God?   Or would I see something different?  A remembering of truth?  Therefore, somehow, God led me to this poem “who can I blame?”

Text: Who can I blame. Image: finger pointing in blame at man

Who Can I Blame?

Who can I blame
myself or another
how can I make myself look good
in the eyes of this other?

Should I look good or
shall I accept fault?
What happens if the latter
My worries are fraught.

Is blame always negative,
that leads to some shame?
Or can it be a positive
What shall I name?

One took the fault for us
a time long now past
celebrated on Easter
same this year as last.

Believers remembered a
blame wrongly took
Can we persuade others
to come take a look?

See the darkness of Friday
of blame tightly held
Releasing three days later
darkness to light meld.

A father’s plan
a beloved son blamed
so the rest of this family
never be shamed.

I dedicate my love to you

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Kate has given us the word prompt “dedicate”.  It’s not the easiest word to ponder when working a busy shift at work.  One wonders how to fit it into one’s life you know?   To what would I dedicate my life to?  How does my dedication to anything show?  Do I have anything in my life I want to be dedicated to?  I ponder all this stuff while shuffling groceries to the shelves, uplifting my colleagues, and being nice to the customers we get in. This song kept popping into my head, which, because as so often happens, I got the words wrong!   I dedicate my love to you… (instead of celebrate my love)  Ah well… we’ll work with it! 

I Dedicate My Love to You

Tonight, as I sit,
halfway falling asleep
I thought of things I’d like
to change.

I’m admittedly struggling
in many ways in my life
right now.
I’m tired, sore, and a bit
fed up with a lot of things,
and back to living a life
filled with doubts about so much.

So thinking about dedicating a
life, particularly, my life to something has
me filled with some
serious uncertainty.

I dedicate my love to you.
A hubby who loves me
even when I’m most unlovely.
The depth of his love for
me overwhelms me at times and
I often feel unworthy of it, and
yet his love reminds me of God.

I dedicate my love to you.
A son, struggling with issues of
faith, giving up on God, not
seeing a point in pursuing
someone invisible to him, a son who
can’t see the beauty in the unexpected
happenings of God in action.
Hard-working, gentle spirited,
a solidly good man in many ways.
Yet I fear daily for his very soul.

I dedicate my love to you.
Creator of the universe, the
one who holds my breath in his hands,
who sees my doubt and fears and yet,
inexplicably loves me, and
I will never understand why
as I see the depravity of my very soul
every single day.
And yet his plan is to save me for
all eternity to celebrate his glory.

None of it makes sense to me
right now.
Sometimes, life makes no sense
since tiredness and duty overwhelms
all other thoughts.
And yet, in my heart under all the
uncertainty of living, this dedication remains.
A solid footing in the quagmire of
frequent despair.

A dedication that means
I am loved.
Despite my unloveliness
I am loved.
Dedication then,
a good thing yes?

I dedicate my love to you. text with image of weight lifter.

Do we create or reduce suffering?

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So I needed a full day to think about what to write about.  I thought of the expression “suffer the little children to come unto me” but it didn’t really fit my mindset completely.  Though part of what I came up with fits the overall thought.    But I got to thinking about those that suffer and I had to ask the question.  Do we create or reduce suffering? 

do we create or reduce suffering?

Do we create or reduce suffering?

Doom scrolling
I get to hear the good
and well….
sometimes the evil.

Innocents imprisoned for long
years until shown they ARE innocent indeed.
Bad principals hurting the
efforts of teachers trying hard.
Animal rights activists
hurting the very animals they claim to defend
just because it makes the farmer look bad.

Suffering happens
on a daily basis
to people not prepared or
even desirous of such events.

I also find those who
make things easier for others,
who reduce suffering.
Like a teacher boldly going to
Tiktok during covid to help her
students laugh through skits
helping them learn through an isolating time.

Men and women willing to engage
college students (and others) in
Hard conversations to encourage
depth of thought and perhaps in the end
less children hurt, murdered, or groomed.

Dairy, goat, and sheep farmers
working hard to meet the objections
of the AR folks who speak before
they think about observations made.

Broadening horizons.
Seeking to meet needs
Being bold in providing answers
so that perhaps,
just perhaps,
innocents suffering
will be lessened.