A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

Poem

What Will Come Next

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Miss Kate has given us the word prompt Next this week. The Five Minute Friday community is a group of people that gather weekly to write on a one word prompt. We offer encouragement to each other. It would be lovely to have you join us. Think on it won’t you? This is my poem, what will come next.

what will come next

Good Friday
A yearly occurrence
a time to remember
to reflect on what
God, the creator of my very soul
Did for me
and
For the whole of mankind.

A son
A dearly loved son
The only son that came directly
From him.
That Son.

Given
For a people
Determined to ignore him.
To find another one
to love and follow.

Except there are some
A chosen few
A chosen people who
With soft hearts
Seek
and seek find
Finding more they ever imagined they would find

Sometimes
Sometimes as they seek
they wonder what’s next
What will happen
When new truth is discovered?

As God reveals his glory
to those who seek
How will life be changed?
What is next?
What new souls is
this seeker going to help
hearts soften?

It’s amazing this journey
This looking deeper
into the heart of love.
The changes wrought in a soul.

Do you ever wonder what’s next?
If not
Just ask.

Lord, Make Me an Offering

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Miss Kate’s word this week for us is offer. Five minutes of free write on a single word. Always fun to see where it takes people. Why don’t you join in? The more the merrier!

Lord, Make Me an Offering

Lord, Make me an offering

Lord, Make Me an Offering
It’s what I am to be.
An offering of sacrifice
Of pleasing YOU not me.

Sometimes that offering,
Is making a favourite meal
To welcome home a hard-working man
It brings a smile or two.

I have to admit,
It’s often hard to look beyond myself
Self-desire and innate pride
Make it hard to give.

I have to stop and think
What model do I give
To a lad looking to see
What service HE may give.

Folding clothes,
Washing floors,
and finding chores to give
To teach a lad

It’s not a give for getting role
It’s not a receive so as to get
But an attitude of obedience
A just because it is.

How do I convey the difference
to a lad who just sorta sees
To how that obedience to HIM
Is more pleasing to me?

A hard struggle
but one worth the war
To open eyes, to soften hearts
Bringing glory to the Lord.

Counting It Up

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Measure, that’s the Five Minute Friday word Prompt this week. hmm… where will this word take me? Explore with me….

Measure… length, yard, yarn, sewing, fit, allowance, mean, volume, liquid, ounce, grams, weight… hmm….

So… remember my slow progression post? GAH.. my lad is holding me too it! So, let’s talk about that shall we! 🙂

Counting it Up

Counting it Up

So mom, how did you do today?
Why?
How did you do mom?
Show me.
but…why?
Well depends, do you want a treat?
YES! Yes I do!
So, tell me…how did you do?

Grudgingly I stop,
I figure it out,
Using the helpful My Fitness Pal app.
Oh look
Today 267 calories remain.

Good job mom,
Look mom. Smarties.
YAY! I love Smarties!

You see the other day
Dad was craving chocolate.
He likes to have three or four
Bits and pieces at night when home from work.
We had none left.
So Dollarama here we come.
I could not resist.
Some for me, some for the lad
And chips for our student.

But I asked the lad,
Hide them.
or I will eat them all.

Every other day,
He comes, he asks.
And slowly
I learn
Count them all.
Be mindful of a lifestyle change.
Learn to moderate.

I refuse still
to Diet.
But like my lad
I will learn control.
To see beyond the immediate
and look to the future
To what I should be.

And in the process
Make my lad happier
That I will be more of the me
He wants me to be.

So measure I will
Counting it up
And not lose 20 minutes
Every day of a healthier me
Cause he’s done the math
And wants so much more for me. 🙂



Building in Bunnies

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I’ve been pondering this word build since late last night.  So many different directions this word can go in.  I thought about doing a post mixing all my thoughts together but that just doesn’t seem the way to go.   Ergo I’ll go in the direction my heart most leans today. 

building in bunnies, a tale in mentoring

Monday past
I had a chance a boy to meet
His mom ‘longside
“Remember me”? The query came.

“Lincoln was the bunnies name. A black and white”
Ah.. memories flood back the bunny show!
How I love to watch the kids
To encourage their efforts, much it means.

A chance to help To encourage a lad
Raising bunnies Wasn’t all that bad.
It’s fun to see the bunnies grow

But even better to watch that interest grow
To Build knowledge, to answer questions
An interest to show and wait for
that quick grin, the nod of understanding.

To mentor A youngster with bunnies it means
Less death, less hurt, Less difficulty.
For all concerned, bunny and lad alike.

Yesterday a bunny rehomed
Off with a younger brother of that self-same boy.
So many questions asked, so many more to answer.
And me… just an email away.

And today, a reaching out down
A young rabbit down,
The question of why

So questions were asked
What causes this thing, help me to know
What steps I need to take
To protect the rest that I own

Mentoring happens from both sides you see
There is always someone who
Knows more or better yet has gone through it before
And so grins of delight are felt
As two parties grow.

Building in bunnies,
like with anything else
is a two-way street
Mentoring and learning goes a long way.

Where Are You?

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I asked my son this morning what the word where meant to him, that it was the word prompt from Miss Kate.   His response?   Where are you?

I figure it’s as good a place to start as anywhere right?

Where are You, a poem

Where are you?
This phrase runs through my mind
as I ponder the word Where.
My son bids me think
Where are you?

Where am I you might ask
I could simply say
Sitting in my comfy chair with
My laptop in front as SUITS
Plays on the TV making me laugh.

Where am I?
Could also show me checking my phone
wondering if my sweetheart is messaging me
Chatting as the mill runs. Staying in contact.
Sharing highlights of our day.
Today I told him of a clock radio
and shared a discovery we made.

Where am I?
My heart it frets as bit
as it always done when our youngest
is away. Wondering if he’ll be shivering
in a tent or as warm as he think he’ll be.
FTX with the Army Cadets.
Excitement folds his brain.
While I am happy to see him go,
my mama’s heart…well…You know. 🙂

Where am I?
Right here
Right now
But…. elsewhere.

Will the Faithful Stand?

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Miss Kate puts together a writing challenge for a group of people called the Five Minute Friday community.  We have a facebook group too!    This week the word is Convenient, and I invite you to come join us.

Will the Faithful Stand
Photo by Kendal James on Unsplash

Pondering the word convenient thoughts run through my mind.
At how this world LOVES the convenient.

Fast food galore.
Drive throughs.
Easy chairs in the theatre.
Ready made meals.
Microwaves and Insta-Pots.

Convenience surrounds us
Sometimes I wonder if all this convenience
is truly advantageous to us?

Is it acceptable or beneficial
for us to have everything so easily at hand?

This week I have seen on facebook
the easy attack on prime ministers, presidents
and smiling teenage boys.

In a day of easy convenience
It’s become agreeable and acceptable
to jump on the bandwagon
To not do the leg work.

Having a life of convenience
Has the unfortunate result of
also making us lazy.

Not wanting to take the time to make
homemade mac and cheese
Or a lasnagna made from scratch
or spend the time laughing with a loved one
when making a quick stir fry.

When did convenience get in the way
Of us truly living and thinking
through our lives.

Has it all come down to the quick fix?
Quick emotions
Fast meals
The helpful short-cuts
So distracted we can’t even take the time
To talk and think
To really acknowledge what is most important?

These beneficial and time-saving
Ways filter down into
How we live out our faith

With five minute devotionals
Quick read prayer books
Where’s the deep thought into
a Bible passage?

The willingness to do the
hardwork to show God’s Glory to the
world at large?

Can we handle the backlash?
Do we understand the need for a long view approach?
Can we in this immediate gratification society
understand the need for patience and fortitude?

I don’t know in this convenience driven
Fast food culture.
Will the faithful stand?

Who is my influence?

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Boldly going where no one has gone before.
or not

As I think about the word influence, nothing comes to me beyond a vague wondering… what influences me? What shapes my words and actions. How do I put into words this vague fogginess of wondering?

Who is my influence? What makes an influence in my life?

Coming up unawares
I didn’t really notice until
I was mid-way through my 20’s
and I heard my mother’s words coming out of my mouth.
It shocked me.
Startling me into silence.
I hadn’t intended to ever sound like my mother.

Don’t misunderstand
My love for my mom runs fierce.
But teen years arguments and yelling
filled the spaces between us.
And yet, her words and her wisdom
keep flooding through my voice.
But memories sometimes
Fill my heart with pain.

I work best all on my own
I’ve known this to be true
Handed down from my father
Independently minded, not dealing well
with the pressures of others.
Along with a tisk and harumph
when things weren’t done right.

Shades of my father
pour through when I talk with my lad.
Sometimes he’s as lost as I was at his age
when a tisk and harumph
Make there way, but…
Unlike his mother my lad is bold and persistent
What Mom, why that noise?
And so my boy and I learn to
Actually WORK together,
talking, laughing, learning.

A blow to the gut
A whack upside the head
A pile and laughter and choking
So alone I feel
the butt of all jokes.
This influences me, even today some
(gasp) 50 years later.
Reminds me often, that life
Isn’t fair but it is manageable.

A cord runs through
One that helps me continually
To seek a different perspective.
A cord that holds me
And reminds me repeatedly
Because memories of anger and shouting
Hold me away sometimes
Yelling at God WHY why did you make me this way.

And he calls
and he holds and
he ALWAYS reminds.
Seek me, find me.
Part of the proof
That you are mine
And Never shall I let you Go
And never shall you be ever alone.

Influence like that
Runs deep.
Influence like that
Lets me love a boy child something fierce
Lets me hold a hubby close
Lets me remember family is ever important.

Influence, ah… surprises.



Won’t you join us in the five minute Friday writing community?  We are a fun group and Miss Kate is our leader.   This week the word is Influence.Â