Tuesday, December 21, 2010

A Baby

Hushed conversations
Whispered suspicions
Quiet excitement
Almost daring to believe
Growing hopes
Querying, wondering
Waiting impatiently
Starting to believe
Asking, confirming
Really!?
Are you sure?!
It definitely looks that way!
Elation 
Hardly able to believe it
Such news: 
A new baby! 
Another miracle 
An unexpected and delicious one 
God is good
We are blessed.

~CLM 
December 2010

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Roads

|The|

__________
----roads----
__________

up here

< go >  

{c 
    u
     r
    v
  i
n
   g}           

          p/   
    u/


|and|  

\d
   \o
       \w
           \n

.......

through
.......


   all
  those
 beautiful
  green
     trees
    ||
    ||
    ||


sw
  a
    y
i  
    n
g


|in

the|

:::breeze:::

~CLM

(I wrote this up in Massachusetts in the middle of the night [or pretty close, for those of my literal friends])

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Good Thought!!

"I'm not afraid of failure; I'm afraid of succeeding at things that don't matter." - William Carey

 Many thanks to Rebeka for sharing this by putting this in her chat status. :)

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Paths

I do not know
What lies ahead;
The paths
Which I
May be called
To tread upon--


L
O
N
G,




lonely




w
  i
      n
d
  i
n   g ?


short


cRaZyYY!! 

Sh
      arp?


Where do I turn
When I run out of me?
When I no longer have
Ideas,
Plans
When I am 

cOnfuSed?

and

Certain!
[Un...?]

When the road ahead 
looks exactly
Like what lies behind
And I want to see
When
If
It changes
And how
And why.
Where does it lead, 
This path I tread?
Why is the direction

celanur

Foggy

Mysterious 

Unknown?

I want to see!
But then 
The Answer comes:
I must learn to trust
The One who
KNOWS
and cares
for me.
  
~CLM, October 2010


Every Once in Awhile

Every once in awhile,
Behind this smile,
There resides a little sigh.
You may wonder, "Why?"

Sometimes this mind
Gets stuck behind
In all this mess
Of worldliness.

Sometimes these eyes no longer see
The beauty He made for me.

Sometimes this heart, confused,
Remembers not the love infused.
By my Savior, my King--
And His praises cease to ring
Within my heart.

Oh! Let them not depart.
Never cease to fight
For what you know is right.
Though the night seems long
And you have forgotten your song--

Remember Him
And every whim
Of doubt--
Throw out!

He is the rock:
Let your trust lock
And your heart be filled
With His love, revealed.
Remember, when your heart despairs:
Your hope is found in prayer.

~CLM, October 2010

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Some Favorite Quotes of Mine

I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined, not by our circumstances, but by our disposition. --Martha Washington

You are the same today that you will be in five years except for two things: The people your meet and the books you read. --Mac McMillan

A good listener is not only popular everywhere he goes, but after awhile he gets to know something.--Wilson Mizner.

A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you. --Elbert Hubbard

Be yourself; everyone else is already taken. --Oscar Wilde

Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: "What! You too? I thought I was the only one. —-C.S. Lewis

Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people. --Eleanor Roosevelt

People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.

If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.

The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.

For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.
--Mother Teresa

Monday, July 19, 2010

The Song of the Bee

Buzz! buzz! buzz!
This is the song of the bee.
His legs are of yellow;
A jolly, good fellow,
And yet what a great worker is he.

In days that are sunny
He’s getting his honey,
In days that are cloudy
He’s making his wax:
On pinks and on lilies,
And gay daffodillies,
And columbine blossoms,
He levies a tax!

Buzz! buzz! buzz!
The sweet-smelling clover,
He, humming, hangs over;
The scent of the roses
Makes fragrant his wings:
He never gets lazy;
From thistle and daisy,
And weeds of the meadow,
Some treasure he brings.

Buzz! buzz! buzz!
From morning’s first light
Till the coming of night,
He’s singing and toiling
The summer day through.
Oh! We may get weary,
And think work is dreary;
‘Tis harder by far
To have nothing to do.


Our family can say this poem together from memory. :)

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Random Quotes from Books

"So please, Oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in it's place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall."
--Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl

"Knowledge will not always take the place of simple observation."
--The Elephant and his son, Arnold Lobel

"Sometimes the feeling is more important than the word."
--Nobody Stole the Pie, Sonia Levitin

"I assure you that you can pick up more information when you are listening than when you are talking."
--Trumpet of the Swan, E. B. White

"Some people talk in a whisper,
And some people talk in a drawl;
And some people talk-and-talk-and-talk-
and-talk-and-talk
And never say anything at all."
--Thoughts on the Talkers, Walter R. Brooks

"Front yards are boring.
Backyards tell stories."
--Backyards, James Stevenson

"Grown ups sure do a lot of pretending and call it politeness."
--Miss Charity Comes to Stay, Alberta Wilson Constant

"I speak quietly,
I do not sing,
I whisper, for beauty
is a fragile thing."
--Marigolds, Charlotte Zolotow

"Really, sometimes life just knocks me out!"
--The Alfred Summer, Jan Slepian

"I have no time to grow old... I am too busy for that.
It is very idle to grow old."
--The Golden Key, George MacDonald

"I am a bear of Very Little Brain, and long words Bother me."
--Winnie-the-Pooh, A.A. Milne

"And half the fun of nearly everything, you know, is thinking about it beforehand, or afterward."
--Uncle Wiggily's Story Book, Howard R. Garis

"The world is so you have something to stand on."
--A Hole is to Dig, Ruth Krauss

"Without a doubt, there is such a thing as too much order."
--The Crocodile in the Bathroom, Arnold Lobel

"It is helpful to know the proper way to behave, so one can decide whether or not to be proper."
--Ella Enchanted, Gail Carson Levine

"Safety is all well and good: I prefer freedom."
--The Trumpet of the Swan, E.B. White

(All of these quotes are from, "What the Door Mouse Said" and were collected by Amy Gash)

Monday, March 8, 2010

Words

Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. --C. S. Lewis

Monday, February 8, 2010

The Blue Bowl

By Blanche Bane Kuder

All day I did the little things,
The little things that do not show;
I brought the kindling for the fire
I set the candles in a row,
I filled a bowl with marigolds,
The shallow bowl you love the best-
And made the house a pleasant place
Where weariness might take its rest.


The hours sped on, my eager feet
Could not keep pace with my desire.
So much to do, so little time!
I could not let my body tire;
Yet, when the coming of the night
Blotted the garden from my sight,
And on the narrow, graveled walks
Between the guarding flower stalks
I heard your step: I was not through


You came into the quiet room
That glowed enchanted with the bloom
Of yellow flame. I saw your face,
Illumined by the firelit space,
Slowly grow still and comforted-
"It's good to be at home," you said.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Elegy for Rose

By Carissa Mann


Sweet smelling,
Gorgeous,
Enchanting
I reach
And pluck
Ouch!


Now in water
In the center
Of our table
Petals the color of
Peaches and cream.
Wow.


Eating pancakes,
I notice
A change-
The rose is blushing!
Red petals tinged
With purple.


My friend
And I
Sip mint tea.
“Oh! How lovely.
A purple rose.”
I spy a hint of darkness.


Dusting the oak table,
I glance up
Rose is
Brown.
I pick up the petals
That have fallen.


Our table
Is bare,
Colorless.
Only memories
Of beauty
Remain.

Nature

By Carissa Mann

Outside my back door,
You surround me–
Grass pressed under my feet,
Birdsong on the air,
Perfume of wildflowers dancing,
A stream giggles past,
My hand rests on tree bark.


Outside the van window,
I see you again–
Sun slipping away,
Trees rushing past,
Birds in a line,
Pink and gold clouds,
Lengthening shadows.


Everywhere I look,
I discover you–
Hiding in a city park,
Sheltering me in a forest,
Sleeping in a campground,
Hurrying on a river,
Once again, you greet me.