A Poem of Both Earth & Sky

 

Linking with the Sunday Muse for Muse #157

“That a pansy is transitive, is its only pang.”  ~Emily Dickinson

Earth can always be broken

stirred and planted

made new

the gardener knows this

and the miracle it holds

 but men still build monuments

cement driveways and parking lots

he only sees what he wants to see

but like the gardener, children see greater things

 spirits and miracles of what can be

an unearthed flower that was once but a buried seed

for the flower is a poem of both earth and of sky

and reaches beyond the doorway of an old man's eyes

it is the true architecture of God.

Note: I wanted to write this in honor of Earth Day and in honor of all the trees that have been cut down.  Where I live there are no codes nor ordinances for building around trees, they just cut them all down and wonder why we are having so many flooding issues.

It is sad on so many levels; the carelessness, the damage,  and the loss!

The Temple Doors are Always Open

Photo Credit

"People see God every day, they just don't recognize him." ~Pearl Bailey

The oldest cathedral that can be found
has no doors nor walls
the windows are stained by God's own brush
and the bell tolls by the song sparrow's call
we need not venture to the alter
for we may kneel right where we stand
for like the smallest of branches
God is always reaching out His loving hands.

©Carrie Van Horn 2020

Strength of the Butterfly

Image Source 

Linking with the Sunday Muse for Muse # 79
You would make my day if you
 come join us!


“Man must rise above the Earth – to the top of the atmosphere and beyond – for only thus will he fully understand the world in which he lives.”
Socrates 

I am the explorer reaching upward

but you are the one with wings

You do not need a space ship

 to reach further beyond your means

I study for a lifetime preparing

For my scheduled flight

You merely take a moment

And then sail the bluest skies.

Bigger

Photo by jae bano on Unsplash

Today I am linking with Toni's wonderful Wed Muse for a  Japanese word prompt. The word is "boketto" and it means to gaze at the distant landscape with an empty mind.  She is asking us to do just that and then let it speak to us.  Here is mine:

The soul can split the sky in two and let the face of God shine through.

 ~Edna St. Vincent Millay

The sky is a big ever-changing canvas

God’s artwork in progress

Reminding me that no matter what I face

There is something bigger

He has planned.

Peace in Pieces

Linking with the Wed Muse # 7 "A Beautiful Mess"

Thank you for another wonderful prompt Toni!

Today Toni is having us explore the Japanese art of Kintsugi and how to make the most of breaks, cracks, mistakes.  Kintsugi is the repairing of a break or a crack with gold. It was created in the 5th century when a shogun broke his favorite tea cup.  He didn't want to throw the cup away but he wanted to continue to use it. 

 She is asking us all to write a poem in any form about the healing in your life - how you have repaired the cracks and breaks, about your scars, how you have triumphed or are trying to persist.  How you let the light shine through the cracks, how you grow stronger. 

If a mistake is not a stepping stone, it is a mistake. ~Eli Siegel

Note:

I could write many things about this, because if mistakes were worth money I would be rich indeed!

If I were a bowl sitting on the table

I would be cracked in countless places

No more soup eating in this one

 Maybe a place to put sweet-n-low

Or ketchup packets

You see

I have a tendency to fall

Not just the slipping on ice kind

I make decisions with my broken heart

Leaving my whole mind out of the equation

Not everyone and everything

Can be alright at the same time

But I would sure try to make it so

It is a behavior that has

Taken away my peace

My money

My health

And others sobriety

Slowly with glue

And a lot of growth

I have healed

Seeing others heal

And they grew

With God’s help

Not mine

There is a peace now

I did not know before

Holding the burden of other’s hurts

Is a heavy and weary place

That only adds to our own pain

Letting go is such a simple thing

Yet so profoundly hard

It is a lesson I have learned slowly

And will be learning for the rest of my life

 piece by piece

Like fragments of broken glass

Being placed back together

One piece at a time

To make me complete again.

Note 2:  I have talked about it many times in my other posts, but I am the mother of a recovery addict alcoholic.    I am so very thankful that he has been clean and sober for going on 5 years in July, but looking back, I know in my heart that I slowed that process.  My trying to help kept him from truly getting the help he needed.  That is something that I will have to live with for the rest of my life.  All I ever wanted was for him to be whole, happy, and live a good life.  By the grace of God that is now so. 

Keep Moving On

Google Images

Linking with the Wednesday Muse # 3 "50 Shades of Rain" brought to us by Toni.
The Japanese actually have 50 different words for rain.  Today we are writing about rain, and or using one of the many wonderful and specific words they have for rain.
  Here is an example of some of these words:
kosame - light rain
enu - misty rain
shun rin - spring rain
uhyou - freezing rain
and the one I have chosen to use: nagame - long rain
Thank you for this wonderful prompt Toni! I learn something cool and new every week!

Also linking with Poets United for Poetry Pantry #446

The soul would have no rainbow had the eyes no tears.
 ~John Vance Cheney


I suppose even God needs a change sometimes
to move the rocks on shifting sands
to turn the heat of summer
to cooling rains
long ago when storms would arise
and thunder struck
my grandfather would say
"all is okay
God is moving furniture"
years later
in the heat of July
and the storms of life
I moved my own
the piano and couch to storage
my clothes to a friends
I suppose even the heart needs a change sometime
a woman's tears can be like a nagame in the July of Japan
seeming to never end

then like lightening
a change happens
and we move onward
for the heart has seasons
that change like summer
into autumn's cooler breeze
we have to move through
each one slowly
stepping through like a child
learning to walk
always moving
for life changes
and so must we
in storms and dry spells
if we are breathing
we shall rise again
and keep moving on.

©Carrie Van Horn 2019

A Mighty Ocean and a Magnificent God

Image Source

~This is a response to a beautiful poetry prompt book given to me by my dear daughter Amber.~
Each page of the prompt book is a different word subject. This one is:
The Ocean

Let God's promises shine on your problems. ~Corrie Ten Boom

“It is bigger than we are” he said to me,

 speaking of the affliction of addiction

 evading our youngest son.

My heart had long since broken in countless pieces,

like grains of sand along the shore.

You see, the love we have

for our children

is a force that grows with time

and their struggles and heartbreak

are a sorrow we also hold just as tight.

Fears and hopes can be mighty things,

like an ocean across the horizon

becoming all we can see

but like a gentle soul once told me,

“God is bigger and He is with us.”

It is an awe-inspiring truth,

that God the maker of the universe

chooses to dwell within us

yet is gentle enough to ask.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Many miracles and sorrows

have happened since that day.

My son is now whole in Christ,

and so are the pieces of my heart.

Whenever I think of what God can do

 I think of the beautiful and mighty ocean,

and when I stand before the sea

It is our beautiful and mighty God

that I truly see.

©Carrie Van Horn 2019

The Evidence of God

Photo Credit

Linking with Imaginary Gardens for The Tuesday Platform.
Also linking with The Sunday Muse for Muse # 21
....and last but not least Poets United for Mid Week Motif ~ Evidence

People see God every day, they just don't recognize him. ~Pearl Bailey

I feel it in the cool mist of rain in the heat of June.

I smell it in the garden air at the hint of spring.

I see it in the amazing glow of the midnight moon,

And in the growth around me of every living thing.

I hear it in the clues of autumn in the rustling of falling leaves,

And I hear it in the cricket’s call and the song of the flying lark.

I touched it in the falling snow that spring will soon not keep.

Yet, it can only be seen with the eyes of an open heart.

The Uncertainty of Rain

The Angelous by Jean-Francois Millet

~This painting hung on the wall of my grandparent's living room all the years of my childhood.  It has always been my favorite painting in it's powerful and beautiful simplicity.~

The uncertainty of rain keeps us strong

holding on to hope with a tiller in the field

but with hard work and prayer you can't go wrong

knowing something greater is our strength and shield

the humility of needing and knowing grace

is a strength that feeds more than one

for hope is a cousin of tried and true faith

and when two kneel together it shall be done.

The Soul's Watering Can

Courtesy Google Images

 

Linking with Poetry Jam for the "Thirst" prompt.

 

To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else.  ~Emily Dickinson

I am wilted and parched in places
 that the sun and man shall never see
 in my heart's garden of utter regrets
 that grow wild on the plenty of complacency.
  Pick the roses step on the orchids
 pull the weeds if you dare,
but please God water the deepest roots
 before my outer foliage becomes bare.



People and plants both must have water to live and in many ways are very much alike.  If you nurture the roots, the outer foliage is always more lovely.  The same is true for a human heart.  If you feed the soul with the fruits of the spirit, then the evidence is always seen on the outside as well.  What goes in has a way of bearing witness on the outside as well.  We can hide many faults within our outer armor, but some things just cannot be hidden.  We can starve the soul for a while but sooner or later the malnourishment is visible for the world to see.  The different is that the garden relies on man to feed its fold, and man relies on God.  Yet there is still another difference; God allows us the choice to accept Him or deny Him.  He is the soul's watering can, but only we can choose to pour it in.

Looking Up

When we are down

we can look up...

 

when we are in the valley

of need we can look up...

 

and when we need guidance from God

we can look up...

 

 

 

 It seems our gaze in life tends to stay at our own steps.  We do not look to God until we need His help.  Maybe our struggles and the trials that come our way are part of God's plan to steer us closer and make us learn to lean upon his sturdy strength, like a redwood tree that reaches towards the heavens. 

I just wanted to take the time to thank you all for your prayers for Jennifer.  She is off life support and was moved into a regular room on Monday.  She will be going home in the next couple of days.

Things are looking up for her.

 

He Laces the Moon

Courtesy Google Images

 

 

Linking with Imaginary Gardens

 

(This was for the Lace Prompt, but I tried to link from my other blog and it would not work so....here we go again...days late and a dollar or two short....:-)...)

 

 

 

"God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees and flowers and clouds and stars." ~Author unknown

 

 

 

 

He laces the moon with winter trees
across a purple sky
bringing forth a cool night breeze
that beckons hopeful eyes.


The majesty of God's own craft
is a beauty beyond compare
a miracle for all to have
and a gift that always shares.


No hands of man can make this art
that God has painted ever true
each brilliant stroke He does impart
creates an original for all to view.

Yes, He laces the moon with winter trees
across a purple sky
etching beauty for all to see
that beckons hopeful eyes.

 

Life Is God's Artistic Masterpiece

Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all.

~Stanley Horowitz

Unleashed

image by Zelko Nedic

The Mag #128

"All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on." ~Havelock Ellis

We hold on to life

like a leash on a prized black lab

not wanting to lose a grip

on what we have and do not have

so we precede in our places 

pulling tighter as we move fast

trying to train the future

to be better than the past

we want to breed a champion

a great legacy to be viewed

yet the harder we hold on

the more freedom we do lose

for the handler of the show

and the true holder of the leash

is gracefully trying to guide us

if we will follow where He leads.

The Mission of The Heart,

Linking with Poetry Jam

"Just as no one can be forced into belief, so no one can be forced into unbelief."

~ Sigmund Freud

Rooted in the heart of every man is a barren place that yearns to be filled,

and like the belly of a hungry child, it cries out for something more.

It is a longing that knows no limitations of culture nor walk of life,

for from the beginning of time, man has searched for a being to worship and adore.

Every religious belief of the Egyptions to the modern day Buddhist and Christian,

is an exhibit of this inherent need.

We were destined to seek and then to find

something greater than ourselves in this life.

This weeks Poetry Jam prompt is another point of view (strange gods).  We are supposed to capture the point of view of what God is or is not through another's eyes.  I decided to focus on the idea of the need for God that all mankind has conveyed throughout the centuries.  We may have diverse beliefs, but one thing remains the same; we all need the guidance of a loving and mighty God.

A Mighty Thread

image: Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison

The Mag #109

"Any fool can count the seeds in an apple. Only God can count all the apples in one seed."

 ~Robert H. Schuller

You can try to hold it all together

with all the might one man can bestow.

Yet, the fabric of life is a garment

that only the hands of God can truly sew.

A Certain Starvation

Photo credit: Bob Adelman, 1965

The Mag #106

"You don't have a soul.  You are a Soul.  You have a body."  ~C.S. Lewis

 

We live in a world full of antidotes and answers

there is a soup for every meal of the week

and a cream for every wrinkle and bulge on your skin

a diet for every body type known to man

we have vaccines for many illnesses that once took lives

and a cure for sleepless nights and many mental disorders

a self help book for every subject you can think of

a clinic around every corner and a church down each block

yet there is still an epidemic running rampant across the country

our souls have been abandoned in the process

and are starving for the nourishment

that only God's truth can provide.

Scientists and Clergy

Poets United Think Tank #85 "Strings"

"String theory, often called the “theory of everything,” is a relatively young science that includes such unusual concepts as superstrings, branes, and extra dimensions. Scientists are hopeful that string theory will unlock one of the biggest mysteries of the universe, namely how gravity and quantum physics fit together."

~Andrew Zimmerman Jones (String Theory for Dummies)

I find this concept fascinating, but mind boggling and probably another hypothesis/theory that may or may not ever be proven.  Science was always a weak subject for me.  It went right over my head faster than a speeding bullet.  I barely passed Chemistry even with tutoring, so my opinion on any scientific theory does not carry much weight.  However, that will not stop me from using the whole notion to convey my own views of what matters in this life.  Please forgive me all you brilliant scientists out there for adding my own string theory to the equation.

I propose this:

We are all connected

old........and.........young

weak.........and.............strong

beautiful..........and.............awkward

brilliant............and...........challenged

spiritual......and.............atheist

friend.......and..........enemy

wealthy.........and............destitute

tender....and.......callous

the blessed.........and...........the suffering

the clothed.........and..............the naked

parent.........................and...............................child

male....................and....................female

scientist...................and.........................clergy

God........................and...........................man.

This is what I would like to call The Heart String Confirmation, because it has already been proven in the laboratory of the heart of man.

Holder of The Sails,

Linking with Poetry Jam

So much depends on

the strength of the sails

the force of the winds

the size of the waves

 the courage of the man in the boat

and the reliance he has on

The One truly holding the sails

 God.

Beyond Our Recognition

Red Spot II, Wallisy Kandinsky

The Mag #102

"I think miracles exist in part as gifts and in part as clues that there is something beyond the flat world we see."

~ Peggy Noonnan



Sometimes we wander through this life distracted by all the mundane,
losing sight of what truly matters, like viewing abstract art we cannot explain.
Gods beautiful artwork is all around us, and miracles could lay at our feet,
yet, we stumble over the obvious not recognizing what could be seen.