Loved ones | pictured words

Things I Can Do For Me

Things I Can Do for Me

Teach ESL to awe-inspiring refugee and immigrant women
Hold memories close
Invest in others
Notice loveliness around me
Granddaughter time!
Spend time with those I love

Intercessory prayer

Compose well-written poems and poorly written poems
Appreciate all I can do … and all I can’t, but others can
Nod and smile to you, whoever you are

Delight in little things
Offer God my humble thanksgiving

Frame my day with time with Jesus
Open windows to smell spring’s viburnum and lilac
Roll with it

Music (listen myself, and sing when nobody listens)
ESL volunteer teacher time bookends this acrostic

not the end

SURRENDER

S*U*R*R*E*N*D*E*R

Me, a young girl in
a whirlwind of sudden change.
Strange new surroundings.

Unsure what is real,
or who, in this new-to-me
space, can be trusted:

One who stands rusted;
one too timid to answer;
and you, straw dancer.

They win me over
(especially you), and they
chauffeur me to Oz

because, because, be-
cause, because – because they’re there,
and they care. Deeply.

Green skin. Broom. Smoke. Threats.
And me, tricked. I lost my friends
when I clicked my heels.

But to my surprise,
I see you in these eyes I’ve
always known, at home.

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FLOURISHING

Sow seeds of love –
for their blooms
are beautiful,
and guaranteed
to reseed.

UNTITLED HAIBUN

Incredible image courtesy of Lars_Nissen_Photoart, on Pixabay

He asks what my hardest moments have been, pressing me to purposely reflect on a life that has been primarily appreciation-inducing. I had parents who loved me well and modeled life; relatives who enveloped and affirmed me; friends who have laughed with me, and accepted my limitations; a sister with whom I can celebrate differences and honor common blood; children and grandchildren of limitless love; a husband who gives selflessly and fills my gaps; a Savior who has walked beside me since my earliest days. These thoughts of great blessing bring easy breath and grateful tear. Not that I have not experienced occasional pain. Loss of loved ones. Moves I did not want to make. Divorce. I have not been exempt from affliction. But searing misery has come from a single source: The suffering of those I love.

There is no torment
more incapacitating
than wanton worry.

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