A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

poetry

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.


A Spot of Respite

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This word respite hit me today, because lately I feel like I just want to run away from the busyness of life.  Sometimes I feel like I’m always working with nothing I can do for fun.  And then hubby decides to take a day off work when I have some running around to do.  His keeping me company gives me a spot of respite than I so desperately needed.   As I ponder that I realize that God seeks to be the provider of respite as well. He’s given me a hubby for a reason, but he’s more than my hubby and has a deeper well from which his people can draw. 

a spot of respite

A Spot of Respite

A spot of respite
my request
too much
too busy
a bit of rest

There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his.

Some breathing space
is required
breathing down my neck
not giving space
to move

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Every once in a while
on a regular interval
some help required
so that not all the
load is mine alone.

but those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
    and they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint.

To take an hiatus
is a skill to learn
some folks never
acquire it
to their loss.

Be still before the Lord
and wait patiently for him;

A cessation of activities
is on the books!
To rest, to pause
to take a moment
so to be recharged.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,
and he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.

a repose to take
a meditation to fulfill
as one waits
and listens
before continuing on.

Return to your rest, my soul,
    for the Lord has been good to you.

For you, Lord, have delivered me from death,
    my eyes from tears,
    my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before the Lord
    in the land of the living.

Spoil, in different ways

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So it took me a while to figure out what to do with the word Spoil, the word of the week from Miss Kate.  I deliberately didn’t read the post of others as I needed to just let it ruminate for a spell. Finally, Spoil, in different ways jumped off the page and here you go.   

I had a bit of a rough day at work with too many moments of crisis occurring.  This caused me to work a longer day than I anticipated and to come home tired with very sore feet.  I’m battling a spot of plantar fasciitis right now.  I know it will clear up in time, but for now, it’s a bit of a pain.  Never-the-less, sometimes the pain makes me spoil for a fight!  But that’s just ONE way to look at the word spoil, let’s take a look shall we? 

Spoil, in different ways

Spoil, in different ways

Five minute comes around
I wonder how if words be found?
to match the prompt that’s what due
can thoughts of spoil
provide the clue?

To write this poem I must think
no no, there’s no time to drink
Five minutes is all the time given
so many words will be riven….

Spoil
rhymes with boil,
oil, roil, foil,
as well as recoil, gargoyle,
and turmoil. Any of those
rhymes could a poem make…

Let’s look at though
Spoil in different ways

Spoiling can ruin a capable
person by giving them all
they want, but not what they need.

Spoilage can ruin veggies, fruit,
meat, milk, eggs and more. Sometimes the
whole thing, and other times,
just an affected area.

Spoilers can ruin the ending
of a show or book if one
isn’t careful when reading reviews.

Spoilsports can run a game through
ill-temper, cheating, or bad behaviour,
whether board, singles or team.

It can be said that one is
spoiling for a fight, a fight can
relieve tensions or be the
start of something harder.

What say words will accrue
about spoil say you?
A poem or prose
something to expose?

man showing rotten avocado with pink glitter
Photo by Ivan Babydov on Pexels.com

Thoughts continued

I sat here for a while after writing this and got to thinking.  What might spoil our Christian faith?  We know that Christ holds onto to us tightly.  And once we are his, we are his forever.  So  what might shake a person’s faith?   

A sorta friend of mine lost her son unexpectedly.  We were talking the other day and she mentioned it took her three years to return to the Lord.  So a spot of spoilage, that once worked through and around, didn’t spoil her entire faith. 

A niece mentioned that her folks didn’t like her being friends with a couple of people because of their lack of faith.  But she mentioned how much she liked them because “they got her” and she felt like herself with them.  So could those friends prove to be spoilers like her folks think they would be?  

Company kept, life events, and worldly thinking…. can they spoil a faith for good, or for ill?  So much of the world influences us in what we say and do, how much of that is spoilage?   

how do we consume?

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so it’s 10 p.m. and the five minute Friday word prompt is up.  Consume.   I’m watching code black which is an emergency room drama tv series.   They just finished a two show story on hemorrhagic fever.  There was much that left me snorting with the unbelievability of some of the story line.  As I work that through a poem starts to come to me.  Let’s see where it goes hmm?  How do we consume?

how do we consume

how do we consume

seeing, the images flow
soundlessly passing by
the visual cortex
of the brain
being absorbed

hearing, words fly by
being heard but
are they really?
listening an active
moving discerning verb.

what stories do we
hear without really listening
what do we see without
noticing what is going on?

how does one discern when
we aren’t even sure
how we consume
what passes in our lives?

when reading, watching,
observing, listening,
seeing,
not paying attention,
or being strictly observant

when do we stop,
notice, pay attention,
realize that the going
in will somehow come out?

how do we consume,
knowingly or
unknowingly?

does discernment
play a part?
or is it laziness?
entertainment or a time
to think and learn, or
to share a pastime with
loved ones?

how does that relate
to our lives of belief?

how does our faith influence
how we consume the things
that occur in our lives?

does the word we live by
shine a light into all the
influencing corners of our lives?

prayer, reading,
memorization,
studying with self and
others,
fellowship,

sanctifying, justifying,
unifying,
life, liberty,
discernment, and
truth

sometimes hidden,
sometimes right out in the open.

are you ready in
how you consume?

The Waste We Produce

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So I’ve had a pretty good week at work.  There’s been some drama between some of the staff. But work overall has been good.   I like that customers are getting to know me and often give me a friendly greeting as I give them one!  It’s a good job with some (usually) minor frustrations.  One of the things that drives me crazy at work is the sheer amount of the waste we produce. 

And so I took some steps to help deal with that.  Asking about taking things to the food bank or to our local community kitchen.  That worked well but didn’t really deal with the HUGE waste from departments I wasn’t part of.  But about five months or so ago a program started called Second Harvest. This is a program that helps community kitchens and foodbanks claim some of the waste from grocery stores.   So I’d have to say that 90% of our waste gets used now!  Isn’t that cool?

The waste we produce

The Waste We Produce

The Waste we produce it’s clear to see
Dented cans, dropped goods,
items past due,
shipped without labels,
or short dated, or
damaged when received.

What do to so with all
these items? Toss them in
the garbage the only recourse?

Oh look, help arrives
a person despising waste
having to earn trust,
can bunnies be fed?j

Oh, they can!
and is it possible that
the foodbank can use?

Oh, this girl can deliver it?
No added expense?
oh… dry goods be saved!

Second Harvest, allows stores
to save money as weight of goods
feeds families.

Waste from customers returning
items that can’t again be sold.
Waste from customers putting unwanted
items in places not suited.
Jam in the freezer?
Cheese with the cereal?
Meat with green onions?
Oh dear, oh my!

It’s amazing sometimes the waste
that customers make, and it causes me to
wonder, why not just bring the unwanted
with you to cash? We’ll happily return it
for you, no questions asked!

But then I have to stop and think
about the waste in my own life, and
how I like to try to hide the mistake in
judgement made.

You know, like when I lose time
doom scrolling instead
of taking time to talk with the Lord.
Or when I eat mindlessly,
instead of engaging in something better,
or just going to bed! 🙂

So instead of bringing that failure
to the one who can help me change,
I pretend it didn’t happen,
or hide it away, as if once
hidden no one will notice. That
HE himself won’t notice.

I… fool no one.
Customers… fool no one.

Hiding bad decisions just is…
… part of the waste we produce
don’t you find?

Let’s stop being producers
of the waste!


Come Sail Away

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So for some reason, when I saw the word prompt of Far this week, this song come sail away, come sail away with me popped into my head.  As I was writing the words down I thought hmm…. I should look them up to see if they are correct.  Well, let’s just say I was COMPLETELY wrong beyond the basic words and some of the overall ideas.  🙂  Nevertheless… Come sail away with me… Let’s see how far we can go! 

Come sail away

Come Sail Away

Come sail with me, come sail away with me.
How far away, how far away we could be.
Come sail away come sail away with me….
We’ll head out now, just o’er the deep blue sea.

The waters deep, and the birds are flying high,
The grass is green I think I aught’a fly
Up into the deep blue glistening sky
up where the elephants and zebras roam
perhaps that where I’ll call my home…

NOW I TOLD YOU I was SO VERY WRONG.

….

I wonder sometimes how far
an imagination can take a person.

When I was in my twenties I was
convinced that God had a book in me he
wanted to bring out. I thought it would
be a work of fiction, but….

Over the years I’ve learned that perhaps
a work of fiction is not quite in the
cards for me. Figuring out how to describe
human emotions and people interactions
is sometimes a bit of a struggle since
in real life people often confound me.

But poetry…
I am more and more trying to figure
out a way to use poetry as
a way to influence the world.

There I can just talk
and change syntax
or word phrasing or how the word
simply appears on the page,
or throw in a new word or three….
and occasionally point people to the
maker of words.

So what say though,
how far might you sail
if you could follow a dream?

dream text on green leaves
Photo by Karyme França on Pexels.com

God Speaks

John 1:1-5

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Matthew 19:23-26

23 And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” 26 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”