A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

poetry

Sacrifice

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What can I say?  This word sacrifice offered up by Kate this week had my mind going in different directions.  Wanting to honour Christ’s sacrifice which more than one friend simply can’t comprehend.  Wanting to note sacrifices people need to make in their everyday lives.  To considering the best way to make choices.  This poem in the end result. 🙂

Sacrifice, choose this day

Sometimes when you have a goal in mind.
A choice needs to be made.
Do you choose what emotions tell you.
Or follow now your brain?

I’m making choices lately.
Most good but others not.
After almost three months of illness.
I find that I just want out!

I want to go for night walks
Even though the cold makes me cough.
And next day leaves me winded
A good choice? Maybe NOT!

My emotions long for chocolate.
A good pick me up you see.
But chocolate isn’t so good
For really any part of me!

So I ask my Lord for help
And an answer he did give.
He let me nap the eve away
No chocolate slipped through that sieve.

I woke up with the emotion
Much less intense you know.
A much alert body
Have no fears, it won’t unwanted grow!

I heard from a lady
Who wanted sore to quit
But remembered a call God placed
On heart, again on fire lit.

I mention this because
A reminder for me it is.
A call that is placed,
Demands from me a sacrifice.

So choices I make
Emotion or mind.
Following true
The call placed.

Despite how hard
The choice may be.
Choose this day
Whom You will serve.

Sacrifice

Kate has a word for us for five minute Friday … and it is sacrifice.  You can write for five minutes (without worrying on the editing).  Link up and then encourage those who have gone on before.   🙂  Come on, it’s fun!

New Direction

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It’s Five Minute Friday again!  This week the word is Direction, and since I’ve been searching for an “N” post for the blogging through the alphabet challenge, I added the word New to the front of it.  🙂  We have the privilege of moving into a new year, perhaps with it will come a new direction.

New Direction

New Direction

Regardless of where you go,
In what direction you take
The path is always new,
And yet it always the same.

Direction
It’s always new.
Whether it seems the road continues
Or turns a time or two.

Every step you take
Is a new one don’t you see?
It’s step you haven’t taken
Even if it seems alike to thee.

In the course of years I’ve lived
In the course of time it’s passed.
Every new direction,
Is the same as the one before.

One step and then another
Alike as the one before
Heel to toe,
Step, step, step

BUT even though are steps
Are all the same,
The attitude of the heart
Can make the path new.

Or the company one keeps
Changes the tenor of the way.
An unexpected discovery,
Conversation brightens your day.

Sometimes easy,
Other times fraught with challenge.
Directions new,
Methods old.

Check who walks with you.
Follow the direction given.
Brighten your day with discoveries.
And accept the new shown.

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Others in this Series

Family at Christmas

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T’is the season to be jolly

Fa la la la la la la la lah

It’s that time of the year.  People busy finding ways to bring a smile to faces of loved ones.  A present, a song, a game or two.  Laughing, talking, sharing a drink, conversing over a meal, and/or listening to a book while driving long hours.

Why do we do this?  All this socializing and getting together?  Is there a real reason?  For most around, it all seems to be about celebrating Santa, and making a big deal over gift giving, going into debt, and spending time with family.  When I watch TV shows it’s all about love, romance, what you can get or give, and family.

As I think about it, have to admit that family is a HUGE part of Christmas.

family at christmas

Family at Christmas

Family is a huge part of Christmas
From the beginning it was.
A time to celebrate
To remember that God
Gave us part of his family.

Gave willingly
Indeed sent him to earth.
A wee baby boy
When the time was just right.
Gave us part of his family.

Choosing a lady
To be mother to his lad.
A girl who knew
To trust in her dad.
Choosing to follow God the Father.

Telling a man
Trust this girl that you choose
She didn’t do wrong
That’s my boy she carries.
Choosing to believe God the Spirit.

A wee young boy
Carried so far
A census was called
A stable was found.
And God the Son came forth.

Birth happened.
A son was born.
Mom chosen, Dad relieved,
God has seen at every step.
God at work for his family.

Whose is family?
Why it’s you and me.
Perhaps not BY birth.
But adopted as it by birth.
God acted for his family.

Faith in God’s action
Trusting God’s word
Repentance in hearts.
Belief lived out.
God calls us family.

This family,
This family we celebrate every year.
Being part of family is good.
Being part of God’s family is greater.
Celebrate true, God’s family for for us.

Stop in and visit Miss Kate won’t you?  This week the word prompt is birth. 

Darkness Fell

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It’s five minute Friday and Miss Kate has provided the word darkness.  Won’t you come join this encouraging group of people?  Write for five minutes, add a pic and join in!  🙂

Picture of a dark clouds with words Darkness Fell

Darkness Fell

Darkness fell
A shimmering blackness
That filled the sky
The darkness was so intense
That you could barely hear
Your breath leaving your body.

In the stillness
The darkness moved.
So suddenly and swiftly
That you wouldn’t have noticed
If you hadn’t felt the breathe of it.
That very breath that left your body.

This darkness
Leaves a feeling of hopelessness
Of knowing that
It is a part
A part that won’t ever leave
A part that daily fights
To make itself complete in you.

So the darkness sits
Shimmering with need and want.
Knowing if it moves
At just the right time
It will have you.
And hopelessly
You know it to be true.

Yet somehow
in a manner unknown
A flame lightly flickers
Just one, a single flicker
The darkness retreats
Not expecting this flicker.
How did it appear?

This flicker
It’s amazing.
The darkness
that lack of hope
It retreats,
And hope blossoms.

And hope,
even if it can’t see
because the darkness would overwhelm.
Hope blossoms
Filling in spaces
That the darkness has left.

How can it be?
How can darkness retreat?
What is it about that
Flicker of light?
How can light
Bring about hope?

Single candle flame, words darkness fell

Scripture Speaks of Hope

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.  Hebrews 11:1

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.  2 Corinthians 4:18

We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until the present time. Not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved; but hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he can already see? But if we hope for what we do not yet see, we wait for it patiently.  Romans 8:22-25

 “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.”  Isaiah 9:2

Rush … Stop

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Oddly enough, when the word rush comes up, I tend to think of slowing down or of deliberate action.  To rush around just feels so random and directionless because you are going so fast as to get so much done. Join us won’t you in this Five Minute Friday challenge?  What does rush mean to you?  To me it should be coupled with the word Stop.

Rush stop poem

Rush … Stop, a poem

It took just a moment.
A startled realization.
Coming straight toward me.
With deliberation in her step.

Tail up, head lowered.
I just knew trouble was brewing.

If I wasn’t careful
I was going to
What you’d call a
SITUATION on my hands.

I wanted to avoid that
At all costs.

Backing up slowly
I give some more space
Avoiding the teeth,
Those claws so sharp.

One would be amazed
At the need to avoid
A small herbivore
On a bit of a tear.

So adept at the rush!
That sparks such fear.

Such deliberateness of action.
She talks to me clear.
Mind your manners
Stay away from here!

Minding my hands
And saying taught words.
STOP, momma, STOP
It’s me talking here.

I see a halt,
A head cocks to the side

And the rush ends
Just like that.
Momma remembers
I bring the food.

No harm comes
At the sound of my voice.

rush Stop a poem, a bunny face

And so I’m called to mind,
the sound of God’s voice,
whispering in my ear. 
Reminding me of training received.
 
The knowledge I have gained
The trust given.
and the calming
that happens when
I hear that voice.

How very much like
a momma bunny I can be.

🙂

Fullness of Time

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This week’s Five Minute Friday word prompt is Full. Have you ever considered joining us with grabbing 5-10 minutes to write a post on a one word prompt?   I find it very fun, perhaps you might too. Come along with won’t you.  Let us discuss the word full in this poem on the Fullness of time.

Fullness of time

Fullness of Time

In the fullness of time
It shall come.
So the prophets foretold.

And I will put enmity
    between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
    and you will strike his heel.
So it was foretold.
A time would come those enemies meeting.

Judah will hold the royal scepter,
And his descendants will always rule.
Nations will bring him tribute
And bow in obedience before him. 
So it was foretold.
A time when David’s lad will reign.

“Bethlehem Ephrathah,
you are one of the smallest towns in Judah,
but out of you I will bring a ruler for Israel,
whose family line goes back to ancient times.”
So it was foretold.
The lowliest will eventually rule.

But the LORD will still give you proof.
A virgin is pregnant;
she will have a son and will name him Immanuel.
So it was foretold.
Miss Mary a child will bear.

A child is born to us!
A son is given to us!
And he will be our ruler.
He will be called, “Wonderful Counselor,”
“Mighty God,” “Eternal Father,”
“Prince of Peace.”
So it was foretold.
God made flesh dwelling among.

And so it was.
When the world was ready.
Easy road access everywhere.
People gathered.
A census called.
A town of Bethleham chosen.

It was all foretold.
That when all was ready.
In the fullness of time.
A saviour would be born.

Hiding the Unknown

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So the five minute Friday word this week is unknown and the blogging through the alphabet letter is H this week.  When Kate presented the word unknown this idea immediately popped into my head. Hiding the Unknown. How does one see the unknown?  How can one hide the unknown? What does one do when the unknown is discovered? Isn’t that an intriguing thought?   🙂

Hiding the Unknown

Hiding the Unknown

Talking with my lad, we considered the future.
So many unknowns, so many possibilities.
How does one make a decision?
Can one know the correct path to take?

All one can do is consider what is directly there.
Learn yourself and the needs you have.
Then take the path that meets those needs
EVEN IF you don’t know exactly the end result.

Knowing my lad’s brain I brought up
Schrodinger’s Cat.
How there are two endings: Life or Death.
In life, you have success or failure at the end of a given path.

And that the end of a path,
Success or failure isn’t determined in the immediate
All that learning never goes to waste.
Lessons learned always move you forward.

Our conversation moved on
Talking about a gap year between
High-school and college.
The solidifying of faith.

The value of understanding one’s faith
Before moving into a place that
Challenges your faith in so many ways.
Causing many young people to leave their faith behind.

How does one help a young person to
Know the hidden secrets of the kingdom of heaven?
To know the parables they hear, apply to them.
And don’t hide Christ behind a mirror dimmly seen.

How do I help my son not be one who
Seeing does not see
and hearing does not hear and
Does not understand.

Over the next four years
I see continued learning
and searching out
Of teaching and seeing.

Trying to help a lad
Solidify his faith, Hiding the Unknown
As he moves forward into life
As an independent adult.

Hiding the Unknown

The Bible Tells Us This

Then the disciples came and said to [Jesus], “Why do you speak to them in parables?” And he answered them, “To you it has been given to known the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. (Matthew 13:1-17)

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