faith

Come Thou Long-expected

December 13, 2024 By Annette1 3 Comments

You know what? I am SO GLAD I double-check what this last word prompt of the year would be. I’ve been contemplating the word loud most of the day. As I sat here tonight it was like.. Loud… what the heck kind of word is that for the end of the year? But then I saw the word was actually Long, and I immediately thought of the song Come thou Long-expected Jesus… and words started coming to me.

Come Thou Long-expected

Come thou
long-expected Jesus
born to set thy people free.
These words echo through my mind
as I contemplate a simple word.

Come
It’s a word of action you know?
Like people don’t just drop in
at the grocery store. They come with
intent. Something to do (work) or
something to get (food, supplies).
Often seen is a list in hand.

Thou
It’s an old word you know?
Thou. it’s the archaic or dialect form of you
Makes sense for a song from the past
our church history showing forth.
but it’s used for people you know?
thou beastie isn’t oft heard,
but thou person, yes indeedy

Long-expected
Do you hear it?
the mournfulness, the longing
this strong desire for more
And what is that more?

Jesus.
God saves. Our saviour.
God’s son! The one we waited for.
The one the whole world groaned
for in expectation.
The one that in some ways
we are still waiting for.
One day he will return.
The old becomes new again
Won’t that be a sight, and a surprise?

people at theater — Photo by Monica Silvestre on Pexels.com

Oh my lands…. the words I had running through my brain were SO different than what came out of my fingertips! I was going to talk about the length of the year, and the anticipation this time of the year holds, and how it’s a fitting end. Instead…. I waxed poetic differently. 🙂 I find it so funny/odd when that happens, it’s like my fingertips have a mind of their own. But that’s the Long-expected I came up with!

My Jim is at a DND meeting tonight. They meet once a month for a time of male-bonding. Tomorrow we hopefully finish the tree, and possibly some website work (for me), and I dunno what else before heading out for a night out. He’s preaching in a church about 2 hours away so we’ve booked a night at a place near where we have to be. Means a not as early start on Sunday. It also means time away where we can just chat and hang out together for a bit. The kids will mind the cats and bunnies for us and hopefully get the laundry done! 🙂 Time will tell eh?

Ah, he’s home! He’ll be going to bed soon which means soon I’ll start snoozing in my chair until I wake up enough to go to bed. I’ll finish up here so as to avoid all that! 🙂 Cheers!

Stuff Invades

December 7, 2024 By Annette1 8 Comments

This week’s five minute Friday word prompt focuses on the word Stuff. I came up with this poem Stuff Invades as I’ve been tidying the house. I’ve been mentally and physically stressed this week and cleaning up stuff helps to settle my brain (as will a good night’s sleep) as I’ve kept myself fairly busy today. let’s dig in shall we?

Stuff Invades

stuff invades our lives
filling all the empty spaces
sometimes so much so that
where there should be holes
we can’t find any

do we need to do the
marie kondo approach
removing items,
seeking after that which
makes us happy?

perhaps we should remove
anything we haven’t used
for six months, or a year,
because obviously if we haven’t
used it that long, do we need it?

yet i have to wonder,
if we take either approach
how much good will be left
with or how much bad will
we have?

for instance, if we only keep
that which makes us happy, will dishes
and cutlery remain, or a
hubby’s treasures, or a son’s joys,
if i am the one making decisions?

or what about tools that are needed
but only rarely used,
or treasures of the past, rarely
viewed because they are treasures,
kept safe for special times.

so if stuff is what is seen,
maybe it is easier to deal with
what is seen, but the deeper issue
within might be tougher to solve,
it’s easier to hide.

why the stuff?

perhaps there’s an unsettled
need within to hold tight to what you
have lest it be taken away by the uncaring,
or a need to hold to memories of family
since time passes quickly.

or it’s just a matter of living,
one lives life well and over time stuff
shows up and gets added into the
overall flow of how you live because
you have the space.

should we examine our stuff?
for sure we should! i have a friend
who helps people get rid of their
stuff as they age. it can be
such a hard process to let go.

i’ve watched as parents on both
sides go through this process
each with their own mindset about
the how’s, where’s, and why’s, both
different in their viewings on their stuff

what to do

so, what do we do when those
holes appear again? what will we
fill them with or should we even
try? Should we let that emptiness sit
and somehow let them be filled with more?

not more stuff but more contentment
and satisfaction, and desire to be
one with God himself? forgiveness,
mercy, seeking to be more than
what we currently are.

What Will You Give in Trade?

November 30, 2024 By Annette1 8 Comments

What will you give in trade is my response to Miss Kate’s five minute Friday word prompt. This is one of those posts that started off one way and then took a turn. I like the turn but am not completely sure the theology is spot on, but at this time of night….. I don’t have the brain to rewrite. 🙂

What would you give in trade text with picture of guinea pig

What will you give in trade?

What will you give in trade?
Will it be for better or worse?
Is the trade one that will make
me feel good in the end, or that you
just wanted to rip me off?

Some people don’t quite understand
the value of an item and thereby offer
less than what a thing is worth.

I often have mice, rabbits, and
now guinea pigs available for new homes,
and I’ve done a number of good trades
over the years.

Maple syrup, hay, nestbox builds,
other rabbits, and such like.
Those are trades I accepted.

There have been many others I’ve
turned down like pots, pans,
old water bottles, and ratty cages.

What is the cost?

It makes me wonder about the cost paid right?
A little baby born into squalid conditions
A manger, critters around,
not the best room around for sure.

Parents were poor, from a small town,
travelled by donkey, and on foot.

Grew up having to travel around
avoiding much danger, and then
his dad settled down into a
wood-working business.

At 12 he learned more about
being about his father’s business,
not his carpenter father mind, but
in the process his mama was worried sick.

At 30 some years things got a bit tough
with false accusations, and agenda set by
men in charge. It did not, for all earthly
intents and purposes turn out well,

except for one little detail.
Three days later there was an
empty tomb. an unbelievable thing,
you see
A trade happened.

A trade that bridged a gap,
that covered the cost of grievous wrong.
Was the trade equitable?
Does it make sense
for God’s lad to die for something
I am guilty of?

Even though it was the only option,
such as when a firm price is set
on an item for sale like a casserole
dish, highball glass or more.

It is God’s mercy in action,
his sovereign plan, of redemption,
a trade/pay-off that benefits us
and rebuilds relationship.

A firm price, no trade really,
redemption set, and so the
price is fully paid. Are you
willing to make things with
the sovereign one of the universe?

Fight Fight with all your Might

November 22, 2024 By Annette1 7 Comments

Miss Kate provided us with the word fight as our five minute Friday word prompt. I thought this would be a super easy word to come up with a post. And it was! Fight fight with all your might sprang into my head so fast. The words came a bit slower and I’m admittedly not really happy with it all, but I’ll let it sit as is eh? It’s part of how the five minute Friday community works. Write for five minutes with no editing! So you are kinda stuck with what I wrote eh? :

Fight Fight with all your might!

Fight, Fight, with all your might
before you know it will be night.
When the trials and terrors
of the day come out,
playing with thoughts and emotions.

Nightmares roiling around in a brain,
setting one to sleeping in a middle
of a waking dream, where one can
sorta change things but those changes
often take the dream deeper and scarier.

So in the light of day one stops and considers
what things during the day did one choose
not to fight, or could cause the
roiling around deep within? What hidden
monsters did one allow within?

Where did the fight fight with all your might
run short of the mark? Did I listen to a story
or TV show that lurked within leaving unanswered
thoughts and emotions? Or argue with someone at work?
Maybe forgot something vital? or didn’t sleep enough?

Sometimes I wonder, if those nights are just
a sign that I haven’t been spending enough
time with the One who knows me best.
And yes, hubby counts, but looking deeper into
who my creator is.

Perhaps nightmares/living dreams are
just a symptom of a deeper lostness.
of a need to cultivate a relationship
with someone a great deal more important.
A wake-up call perhaps?

Weight, it’s a battle

October 25, 2024 By Annette1 2 Comments

Did you know this truth? Weight, it’s a battle, a constant daily battle that takes time to adjust to. 🙂 It does. Society says one thing, doctors say other, and yet one’s body has it’s own thing to say as well. One’s heart and mind as well. Let’s explore that idea a bit eh?

Weight, it’s a battle

Weight, it’s a battle
not always seen but more
often felt deep within.

You see weight isn’t just
a physical thing, though
at times it very much is!

Too fat, too thin,
too boney, too well padded
even when it might be just right.

Doctors and websites and
various pundits will say a
person of this height should be “X”.

Without considering body type,
family history, work requirements
and mental health.

All these things bear weight you know?
Like sometimes even if the healthiest
weight isn’t attainable, the mental is.

And sometimes mental weight is what
makes the physical loss (or gain)
nigh on impossible.

So how do we bear the weight of
family, history, life, and more?
What makes that weight bearable?

For me… family matters. My physical
family and my spiritual one, reminding
me that I am more than what I seem.

What helps you to bear the weight,
that weight we gain from simply being,
people active in life?

Flee From What You Fear

October 14, 2024 By Annette1 6 Comments

walk not into temptation, flee from what you fear. Turn away from temptation, make sure you stay clear.

I Don’t know if these are the actual words to a song but they are a lyric that immediately popped up in my head when I saw the word flee. Ergo… I think I’ll fly with that thought in mind! Fits with Kate’s word prompt for the week anyways. 🙂

Flee From What You Fear

This week my boss brought
a temptation into work, a
temptation that I found myself
sorely lacking in will power to refuse.
Tim Horton’s Maple Cream Donut.
Oh… I haven’t had one in so long since
I decided I wasn’t going to buy sweets anymore.

But that Maple Creme donut stared me
in the face and dared me to eat it.
A small voice said… You’d better not
but the dare out screamed it that quiet voice.
So down the hatch it went,
and it was good.

I told my boss later
You brought temptation to work
and sadly I failed the test
not that I’m complaining!
She laughed, I laughed and
the day continued on.

But later on, regret
slipped in. One temptation easily
led to another so a couple of
timbits, which normally I have NO
issues avoiding went down the hatch to
and suddenly my calorie count for the day
flew right out the window!

GAH!
Disappointed in myself.

Makes me think though how
easily this happens all the time
in life right?
Maybe not so easily as eating
or avoiding a donut, but in the daily
actions we take for good or ill.

Do those actions we take showcase
the Lord God, as we are supposed to
be bringing him glory right?
Is my bad attitude, lack of fortitude
during a day of pain, or quiet muttering
under my breath showcasing his goodness
or just my narcissistic tendencies
(that honestly we all have, some just
more than others).

How often do the actions I take
benefit me in the moment and not
consider the bigger implications or
the long term side effects?
How often do I cause God the Father
to shake his head at me in shame?

Daily I need to consider this statement
“flee from what you fear”.
I counselled a young girl once,
if you see that you are getting angry and it’s causing
you to want to hit someone, run away!
The bible tells us flee from temptation!

I should rightly fear the Lord God, to
be afraid of bringing shame to his name.
That should make me more cognizant
of the actions I am taking and how
they look to him and the eyes of those
around me and live in a manner pleasing to him!

Is Two Enough?

October 9, 2024 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

So I had this whole post, Is Two Enough? , written and then somehow my page got frozen and I couldn’t edit a thing. So it’s been rather annoying. I’m attempting to recreate the post by jumping back and forth from one post to another! AND YES! I am definitely getting to this a bit late!

Miss Kate chose the number Two as the word prompt this week. In my mind it’s a bit of an odd choice, but it did stimulate a number of ideas in my mind. So let’s see where I got with this one eh?

Is Two Enough?

Thinking of the word two, I
consider my most recent review,
Two Together, which is almost completed.
Two friends, quite different from each other,
who discover joy taking an adventure together.
Perhaps, I could rehash it and make this post
about those choices in friendship, but

It takes two to make a family grow,
most of them time, it just takes
the two, but occasionally help is needed,
and so doctors, nurses, specialists, etc
all play a role, helping families expand, and
other times even lawyers, judges
and social workers play a role, and again,

Two become one as a marriage
grows, deepening as good relationships
do over time. Till eventually you can’t
imagine the one person without the other.
A couple becoming more through time,
harder to break together than apart, still

Is Two Enough?
They say that three is better than two,
after all a three strand cord is hard to break.
And God himself is three, the triune God,
And since God is perfect, and very much sovereign,
one can see that perhaps, at times,
two is most definitely not enough.

And marriages, based in God, are much stronger,
seeing God as their source and guide.
The firmer that couple stands on God,
the more surety (in the time of uncertainty),
that marriage has to stand, to hold fast,
to beat the odds (so to speak).
Two plus one, gives us that unbreakable
three cord strand. A good thing yes?

So is two enough?
Sometimes!
And well, sometimes not so much.
Take the help when you need eh? 🙂

closeup of women holding letters by the sea — Photo by PNW Production on Pexels.com

God Speaks

Ecclesiastes 4:12

And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

John 1:1, 14

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

faith

Come Thou Long-expected

Come Thou Long-expected

Stuff Invades