Five Minute Friday

Stay Connected, Safely?

June 5, 2020 By Annette1 6 Comments

I was up early this morning, far earlier than I wanted to be, and the first thing on my mind, was “what can I write for the word stay”? This is the five-minute-Friday prompt from Miss Kate. I thought about stay-cations, and staying put, safety in shelter, the staying in your place thing that people of colour must often feel. Then my Miss Lizzy thought “oh, the ma’am is awake, perhaps I can get her to pet me”. Mild inspiration struck.

Miss Lizzy came
A caution warned
“She likes to nibble,
Just a bit”.

The first week here
Lizzy, a year-old rescue
almost returned.
Nibbles are bites, not quite forewarned.

One week in
An odd thing happened
Miss Lizzy offered
a surprise.

A bath
I expected a
Screaming, fighting mess
A battle on my hands.

But
Miss Lizzy stopped.
She stood quiet
Docile and compliant.

My fellows I told,
Miss Lizzy stays
A firm hand
Combined with Gentleness.

So now
“Lizzy! NO bites”
Finger tap on forehead
Lizzy listens.

“Lizzy wants pets?”
Tapping a chair
Up Lizzy pops,
It’s much safer up there.

As Lizzy learns,
She teaches us much.
This much is good.
THIS much is too far!

My hubby complains
“This cat is not mine!”
Every cat thus far is
His or the lads.

But my baby girl
Follows me everywhere
Indoors or out
My cat is everywhere.

To me she is connected
Like a toy on a string
Stay connected safely
It is a really good thing.

I wonder as I look
at the world we are in
Can lessons from Lizzy
Be a possible thing?

The world with it’s riots
Protests, hatred and more
Screams THIS TOO MUCH IS TOO FAR
We can’t take anymore!

What will it take?
For connections to stay?
Say this much is good,
With safety for all?

Stay safely connected,
with firm hand combined
With gentleness guiding
Can we now abide?

To be honest, I don’t know. I don’t know what it will take to change the world. There will always be divisions. People like to put labels on things and situations and each other. Once labels are applied, division happens. Sin causes division.

Can people own up to their own sin? Their sin of lumping everyone together? Whether it be police officers, people of colour, individuals with special needs, the elderly, the young etc. How do we own up to the sin we often just can’t see? Seriously, I think it comes down to more people need to see the firm hand of God. A hand that he lovingly combines with gentleness, helping us to stay connected to him. Can we look past our sin to see a person we can connect with?

Angst and Birth

May 29, 2020 By Annette1 8 Comments

The topic for this five minute Friday post centres around the provided word born. Miss Kate puts up a word challenge for us weekly, it’s rather fun to participate, you should join us! 🙂 Anyways, I’ve entitled this post angst and birth as it rather fits my day. 🙂

Angst and Birth

Taxes and the filing
I hate it don’t you see.
Not the easy T4’s but
All the business end that be.

In many ways so sweet
the government delay.
I thought twas til the end of June
Imagine my surpise the other day.

Hubby says NO June 1st
The deadline darling one.
Panic and angst
Came with the setting sun.

My job it is you see
The taxes so to do
I don’t begrudge the needfulness
The money must accrue.

The government needs it
To care for citizens
The need to save a dollar
Makes me want antihistamines!

When all is said in one
Delight fills my soul
It’s almost like how I feel
like being on Parole!

A duty done
Some hairloss felt!
and hopefully nothing I did
Will ever be misspelt.

Please no audits
My little heart cries.
Let me have made no mistakes
Made no inadvertant lies.

So this year
Midst angst and pain
Birth of newness
Fills my windowpanes

The rain falls down
Watering the earth.
Bringing life to my flowers
Giving them birth.

Pinks, yellows,
even some black.
Hopefully in a month
Bare earth will lack.

Angst and Birth

Move Forward?

May 22, 2020 By Annette1 7 Comments

It’s five-minute-Friday and again Miss Kate has given us a word prompt. Today has been a good, but very busy day and I find myself sitting here feeling very tired. I think about how people are wanting to look forward, to when Covid-19 restrictions lift. I listen as I hear of suicides, see depression in action, and tempers flare, and I wonder… are we truly able to move forward?

The Story is Told

The story is told.
A baker, a musician and barber.
Losing their businesses as
The restraints of Covid-19 cause
Economic collapse and despair.

The Story is told
of a young man, 30 years old.
Visiting with tears, telling of
Desperate loneliness and wanting
It all to end.

The story is told
Day trips to parks are available.
But then next day we read
More tests, more positive results.
Caution and masks advised.

The story is told.
Death has occurred. A teen mourns a cousin
but no closure is given.
Friendships threatened
as Emotions erupt.

The story is told
Street Front businesses may open again.
One or two in a store at a time
Frowns and anger
Hurry yet wait.

The story is told
Wait
This story is not yet told
Or perhaps it has been.
Just not fulfilled.

The story is told
The day of the Lord is at hand.
Wrath can not be held back forever.
A time when God says “this is getting old”.
And acts.

The story is told.
Wrath is coming.
But in the midst of it all.
Grace is offered.
Return to me.

The story is told
over and over again.
Grace before wrath.
Do you see it?
Respond.

Move Forward

So how does it happen? The way to move forward in the midst of all these stories? Will this be time filled with regret be remembered or will we be in too much of a rush to move forward that the stories will be forgotten? Time will tell as we move forward.

Things are New Again

May 15, 2020 By Annette1 14 Comments

Okay, so I think my brain glitched today. I could have sworn the word for today was new, but I guess it’s normal! AH WELL, not changing my post now anymore! But it is a normal thing for me to be out working hard in a garden in the springtime. And this year I got to celebrate a new bunny into my herd. Gregory was gifted to me by a bunny friend and he’s young and somewhat lacking in confidence. He showed his fortitude by going down a rather, to him, scary ramp. Gaining confidence until he was zipping up and down like an old pro. 🙂

Things are New Again

Every Year
It Starts again
The green billowing up
Things are new again.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Corinthians 5:17

Blue and white
Abounding Colours
Muddy background, getting covered
Things are new again.

Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Luke 12:27

Raised Beds
Building Again
Homes for vegetables, providing
Growing new food again.

He will also send you rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the food that comes from the land will be rich and plentiful. In that day your cattle will graze in broad meadows. Isaiah 30:23

Lifting, Hauling
Building, crawling creativity
Freedom, and bravery shown in new bunny
Gregory freely roaming.

The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid? Psalm 27:1

Bags of garden dirt near completed gardens

Bit by bit
Completion at hand
The filling in of beds is done
Things are new Again

Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. Col.3:17

This has been a Five Minute Friday post, I urge you to join us focusing in on the word normal with Miss Kate. Write for five minutes, comment on those that have gone on before, and well… you know… be creative! 🙂

Distractions Surround Us

May 1, 2020 By Annette1 8 Comments

I admittedly was talking with my hubby as I was writing this, so I don’t know if I exceeded the five minute mark or not. I suppose my poem fits well eh? Distractions surround us (and for me tonight one of those distractions was my hubby). 🙂 I welcome you though to join us, write on the word distraction. You can find the word prompt over at Miss Kate’s.

Distractions Surround Us

At the end of a busy day,
Not so busy really.
More of a day when distractions
Ran my day.

I wanted to walk this morning
but exhaustion and pain distracted me.
Directing me to a chair
To sit quietly, not moving.

I had plans to deep clean the kitchen,
The fridge is looking bedraggled lately.
Hubby complains nothing can be found,
and pleasing him I want to do.

But reviews call,
because moving seems too much to do.
I revise and think I can plow
through at least 3 or 4.

By days end I discover
Bunnies to sell, kills an hour or two.
Supper to make, a lad to talk to,
a Friend to answer.

And only one review, barely done
by evening come.
Then it’s garbage day.
Will distraction never end?

I talk with my tenant,
She speaks to the same.
Plans made but body disagreeing
Sleep and quietness remain.

But distraction or not,
God is still the same.
Holding us fast,
an anchor he remains.

I note my son
At every meal a pause
Taking the time to remember
His God.

Never distracted, always that thought
Saying his thanks,
Mentioning concerns
Oh… that I might be as focused as he.

I need to be more mindful
and not let
The distractions which surround me
To stop me from remembering what is most important.

God and his plans
They override all of ours
God and his hold on
our lives is secure.

God never gets distracted
Nothing calls him away
Faithful to the end,
No distractions surround him.

Perspective: A Word Study

April 23, 2020 By Annette1 8 Comments

Peering around, what can I see
Reality is there, all around me

Everywhere I look, what I see
I know, could anything else be?

Reference and how it’s framed,
Changes in opinion, mustn’t be blamed.

Seek the truth, not just noticed.
Listen for perspective, even the remotest.

Positions might change, with a bit more fact
A different way of seeing things really isn’t whacked.

Explanations matter, don’t’cha know?
Careful, too fast a change, risk vertigo!

Change your point of view,
You might learn something new!

Take a stand or change your attitude
Watching your perspective can stop a feud.

Interpretation of what you observe,
Wisdom keeps you from being absurd.

Victory is yours indeed,
If you stop and consider what others need.

Eventually, you’ll get it straight,
Changing your perspective is never too late.

I can’t tell you for sure how long it took me to put this poem together, I started it but kept falling asleep. 🙂 So it SEEMED like it took forever!

Over the years I’ve learned the shifting your perspective can be a very valuable thing to do. Having a tenant who has dealt with extreme poverty and what that means in day to day life has been an eye-opener for me. It’s helping me to reshape some of my expectations and my perspectives.

Anyways, this is a Five Minute Friday post provided by Miss Kate, you are welcome to join us! Write your own post, share on Facebook, write in the comments, five minutes. All on the word Perspective.

It’s Just Another Day

April 17, 2020 By Annette1 4 Comments

Promises made
When this is all over
A big party we will have!

Let’s celebrate life,
Even while we remember,
Those we have lost.

Covid has come.
Some losses we have.
People so important, gone.

But a hope is there too
One day this shall end.
Herd immunity achieved.

Losses will still happen
Because the virus will stay.
But no longer threat level.

So breathe it in
That hope.
The hope of another day.

Even if, right now.
all the days look the same
Sorrow feeling the air.

Just around the corner
Maybe a week, maybe a month.
Sheltering in place will end.

And then,
Come on out,
A big party is planned!

Celebrate life,
Share the victory.
We met our goal.

So too, with Easter just passed,
We know what it is to look on in hope.
For a better day is coming.

It’s just another day.

It's Just another day, text over daybreak

In case you missed it, it’s another day. A Friday I look forward too, a chance to free write with a group of men and women, gathered around a singular word. Miss Kate has posted it for us. Come see won’t you? And perhaps, you’ll be inspired to join us? Come on, it’s fun! 🙂

Five Minute Friday

Stay Connected, Safely?