Poetry Sunday~ Lonely Christmas~

Psalm 34: 2 My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.
***

Lonely Christmas?

Where are you Christmas?
My heart is hanging low.
Like a tattered worn out ribbon;
a frayed old crumpled bow.

Tinsel has lost its luster;
lights have all drawn dim.
I cradle my lonely Christmas.
My tree I just won't trim.

Where do you hide, my Christmas,
this joyous festive season.
Shine your light upon me,
give my life a reason.

Swaggers all set astride,
ready for the day
while all alone I sit and cry,
for love to come my way.

Underneath the velvet stars;
the cratered moon so high.
I wonder what the sheer night holds.
I scan the open sky.

Where is my treasured Christmas,
a Rockwell theme of yore;
family gathered all around,
glistening lights galore.

Want and greed have sold you out,
your nothing but a show.
No longer lighting up my life,
my Christmas holds no glow.

Quotation Saturday

***

I can't think of anything to write about except families. They are a metaphor for every other part of society.
~Anna Quindlen (1953 - )

Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.
~Jane Howard, "Families"

No matter where you live, brothers are brothers and sisters are sisters. The bonds that keep family close are the same no matter where you are.
~Takayuki Ikkaku, Arisa Hosaka and Toshihiro Kawabata, Animal Crossing: Wild World, 2005

Family isn't about whose blood you have. It's about who you care about.
~Trey Parker and Matt Stone, South Park

The ideals which have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth. The trite subjects of human efforts, possessions, outward success, luxury have always seemed to me contemptible.
~Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

I expect to pass through this world but once; any good thing therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.
~Ettiene De Grellet

Live neither in the past nor in the future, but let each day's work absorb your entire energies, and satisfy your widest ambition.
~Sir William Osler (1849 - 1919), to his students

That best portion of a good man's life, His little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love.
~William Wordsworth (1770 - 1850)

Look not mournfully into the past. It comes not back again. Wisely improve the present. It is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy future, without fear.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 - 1882)

Author’s comment:
As I passed through the shadows of the week frozen in pictures and memory are that of a great family get together. My family is back home in Maryland, but I have been welcomed and loved by this family, Steven’s family. They embrace my quirkiness, delight in my smile, and care for me in depths unimaginable. I have to admit, they are forever entrenched in my life. They give my life new meaning and it is through them I retain strength to go on.

What to do Wednesday

That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
1 Corinthians 1:5

Well today is Wednesday, the day before the big feast. But already my week has been full with family and food that I think I might take tomorrow off and have lasagna!

I am soooo kidding! I have to have turkey on Thanksgiving like everyone else. It’s as if the tradition was set in stone many moons ago and anything other than turkey for thanksgiving is just another day, right?

I do digress. I think Thanksgiving is a day to be thankful. Not just for turkey and food, but all things present in your life. A day to give thanks to Our great Lord and Savior for the blessings that He and He alone has given us.

Sure we can go out and buy food, we can enjoy a feast, but isn’t it great to take this one day and focus on The One? Many people will not eat a meal today, many will wander the streets searching garbage bins just for a crumb of food that will hold them over to the next trash bin.

See? As we sit here, tapping on our keys wondering what we’re going to write, there are people with so much less than what we have. So tomorrow and possibly every other day, take the time to THANK your God, your Allah, your Savior, whoever you choose, but thank the very being for making all of this in our world possible!

May you all have a blessed Thanksgiving! “Give thanks, for it is who we are that makes us become who we want to be.” ~joni

I’m thankful….
***

I’m thankful for that one warm ray,
That shines on me to lighten my day.
I’m thankful for the dewy grass
That tickles my toes as I pass.
I’m thankful for the fragrant air,
That wafts on by without a care.
I’m thankful for the torrents of rain
That soaks my skin; releases my pain.
I’m thankful for the budding flower.
That blooms in glory, a scented shower.
I’m thankful for every timeless season,
new bark; new bough with endless reason.
I’m thankful for all the joyful bliss,
that graces my cheek as a gentle kiss.
I’m thankful for being allowed too touch,
that one lost soul whom needs so much.
I’m thankful for every little thing,
that has no worth, but smiles they bring.
I’m thankful for the minuscule,
for that is where my soul can rule.
I’m thankful for all my eyes can see,
breathless beauty from God to me.
I’m thankful for all of this and more,
The love of life, the chance to soar!

Monday Monday...

1Chron. 29: 11 Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all.
***

Well yes, today is Monday.

Had a nice weekend, rich with family and church. Now today is Monday my rest day? ha ha ha, as if. Cleaning, trudging, working, preparing, that’s what’s on today’s agenda. But I couldn’t go on with this week without giving you something to do in your writing life.

Have you been sending out your work? Have you made it a priority? Don’t worry, I’m the procrastinating type too. Maybe next week my vision will be a little clearer as to what on this God’s green earth I’m supposed to do!

Here’s a market or two from Funds for Writer's, (one of my favorite sites) to keep you busy writing AND submitting!

UNTIED SHOELACES OF THE MIND
http://www.untiedshoelacesofthemind.com/sample/

Pays three cents/word up to $30 for short fiction.
Submit genre or literary stories between 100-2,000
words. Our preference is between 500-1,000 word stories,
but we will happily accept longer stories. See online
for defined categories.


OUTSHINE
http://shineanthology.wordpress.com/outshine-submission-guidelines/

In dire need of submissions. A Twitterzine for optimistic,
near future prose poems. They're flash length, and look ahead.
Looking for: prose poems of optimistic, near future SF that
fit within the 'tweet' limits (check out Twitter); i.e.
maximum 140 characters long. Pays $5 each. Limit one submission
per week. Only pays through PayPal.

WHISPERS PUBLISHING CONTEST
http://www.whispershome.com/contests.html

NO ENTRY FEE
Beginning January 1, 2010, Whispers Publishing will host
the "Make it Quick" writing contest. The contest is open
to all writers published and unpublished. Looking for
Erotiquiks which are hot, steamy stories of 2,000 words
or less. These must be complete stories with a hero, heroine,
and a plot. Be creative and don't limit yourself. Any genre
or time period is acceptable, but the story must follow all
of Whispers guidelines and can not include any of the taboos
listed on the submissions page. So whether it's the West you
long to write about or a futuristic world of your own
creating, challenge yourself by tightening your story into
2,000 words or less. Deadline January 31, 2010.

The Grand Prize winner will receive $25, an award
certificate, a contract for publication, and a promotion
package upon publication of the work.

First Place Winner: $15, an award certificate, and a
contract for publication. Second Place Winner: $10, an
award certificate, and a contract for publication.
Third Place Winner: $5 and an award certificate with
consideration for publication at editor's discretion.
Two Honorable Mentions will receive award certificates.

Poetry Sunday~ Give Thanks!

Romans 14: 6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.


Giving Thanks...

For all we are and all we do
we give our thanks each day.
We live, grow, change and mend
I give my thanks and pray.

I thank my mother and father
for all the things they gave.
Within their hand they held my life
but only One could save.

I led the life He wanted for me
although the road was rough.
I never look back with any regret.
the unpaved journey was tough.

The path was laid before we were born
the forks were all in place.
Which we chose was a cosmic bend
that altered time and space.

I found a cross in my walk
as I wandered through each year.
Whimsical times and frenzied mind
He made it all come clear.

The crystal shell lay in shards
glass was torn to pieces.
He put them all together again
My love for Him never ceases!

I thank the Lord for carrying me
through life’s seasoned highway.
I’m mended now because of Him,
No longer are things done my way.

***
It’s His way or No WAY!

***

Quotation Saturday~ Thanksgiving!

Lev. 22:29 And when ye will offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving unto the LORD, offer it at your own will.
***

If the only prayer you ever say in your whole life is "thank you," that would suffice.
~Meister Eckhart

Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be the miracle.
~Phillips Brooks(1835 - 1893)

One single grateful thought raised to heaven is the most perfect prayer.
~G.E.Lessing (1729 - 1781)

Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still.
~Chinese Proverb

You're alive. Do something. The directive in life, the moral imperative was so uncomplicated. It could be expressed in single words, not complete sentences. It sounded like this: Look. Listen. Choose. Act.
~Barbara Hall, A Summons to New Orleans, 2000

In the beginning there was nothing. God said, 'Let there be light!' And there was light. There was still nothing, but you could see it a whole lot better.
~Ellen DeGeneres, (attributed)

Any one who has common sense will remember that the bewilderments of the eyes are of two kinds, and arise from two causes, either from coming out of the light or from going into the light, which is true of the mind's eye, quite as much as of the bodily eye; and he who remembers this when he sees any one whose vision is perplexed and weak, will not be too ready to laugh; he will first ask whether that soul of man has come out of the brighter light, and is unable to see because unaccustomed to the dark, or having turned from darkness to the day is dazzled by excess of light.
~Plato (427 BC - 347 BC), The Republic

Thoughts for Thursday

Proverbs 16: 20 He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good: and whoso trusteth in the LORD, happy is he.
***

How do I write a writing post when so much is going on in my physical world that I feel like my head is in an ice bucket, frozen in silent animation?

The holiday’s are fast approaching and while I will be surrounded by family, I feel alone. Alone because my family is back in Maryland and could use the strength that I brought to the family and instead they are struggling on their own, alone also.

My hectic week will begin on Saturday and probably won’t give me a breath until the following Sunday when I’m sitting in Church thanking God for all of the blessings He has put in my life. Should I sit here and pout? Throw myself a pity party? Nah, that’s not who I am. I like to find the positive and run like the wind through the trees or harvested cornfields, and feel exhilarated for the things about to take place.

The clock is ticking, I’m wondering who this woman is, where is she finding the strength? Oh, yeah, GOD! You see, I should be in a frenzied, panicky mode, but I’m feeling ...what am I feeling, who knows? Weird? Strange? Yup, that’s Joni.

I am just going to take it One Day at a Time like all those anonymous groups say, and see what the Lord puts in front of me to handle. I know He only gives you what you can handle so I’m thinking, “He must think I’m a pretty strong chic to give me all of this!”

This came in the mail last week when I needed to hear/see/feel, “Joni, I’m here.”

***

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness joy.

O Divine Master grant that I
may not so much seek to
be consoled; as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.

{LISTEN UP HERE}
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying, that we, are born to eternal life!!!

These words resound in my life as I face this week. May you carry them with you also.

Amen? AMEN!

Angel always...godspeed...