Author: Elizabeth W. Marshall
A Small Piece of Fluff
“If the person you are talking to doesn’t appear to be listening; be patient. It may simply be that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear.” — Winnie The Pooh
And I think its like the log in my eye. How I might want to take it out before I worry about the speck in yours.
Do I listen in love to those in the shadow of my day? The things that are said, and unsaid? The unexpressed
feelings that are stuck in their hearts that need the balm of an attentive ear to coax them out. Like a hurt dog needs to be lovelingly coaxed out of the bobbed wire fence. Hurting he bites, and won’t accept the loving hand that’s trying to help. Leaving the bitten hand hurting. Knowing he needs to get out of the fence to stop the pain,the hand continues to help in love..
Stuck in the selfish, worried about being heard myself am I listening to the mummblings and groans and pleads of the hearts in my home, in my world.
“Don’t pick on people, jump on their failure, criticize their faults – unless of course you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbors face and be oblivious to the ugly smeer on your own”. Matthew 7 – The Message
Picking the fluff out of my ear so that I can hear clearly and respond lovingly this Valentine’s Day.
Seeking the patience that Pooh recommends, his fluffly old wise- bear self.
And praying this part of the prayer from my wedding twenty three years ago to The Patient One:
“Bless this loving wife. Give her a tenderness that will make her great through a deep and understanding faith in thee. Give her that inner beauty that never fades and abiding joy in him who has chosen her out of all the world, and may they never take each other’s love for granted. Now make such assignments to them on the scroll of thy will as shall bless them and develop them as thy faithful servants as they walk with thee. Give them enough tears to keep them tender;enough hurts to keep them humane, enough failure to keep their hands clenched tightly in Thine, and enough joy and success as shall assure them you are walking with them.”
LOVE IS PATIENT. LOVE IS KIND. And all God’s people say amen. AMEN.
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A Word or Two
A poem by Mary Oliver – “I Want to Write Something so Simply”
I want to write something
so simply
about love
about pain
that even
as you are reading
you feel it
and as you read
you keep feeling it
and though it be my story
it will be common,
though it be singular
it will be known to you
so that by the end
you think —
no, you will realize–
that it was all the while
yourself arranging the words,
that it was all the time
words that you yourself,
out of your own heart
had been saying.
Posting later today.
wishing His Grace and His Mercy for the morning,
wynnegraceappears
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Curve Ball
What joy I find in staring at this framed piece in my home. Gazing on it makes me happy. A nod to the light hearted, happy, carefree, the free-spirited side of life.
That big bouncing ball is life. Life is a ball. That orange orb of fun. Right in front of dog for the taking.
On the water floating, suspended by gravity, weightless, no tension. Held up by water, a life giver and life sustainer.
But what of those days when the ball is deflated and flat or slowly losing its ability to stay afloat.
When the pitch and toss on the waves bring unsteadiness. The ebb and flow bring trouble.
The unusually high tides cover us up, dry land is hard to find, terra firma for steadying the feet is in short supply. The dead low life tides leave too much exposed, abandoning life which needs a covering of water to stay alive.
Or a curve ball is thrown bringing surprise, uncertainty, unsettled emotion and the pain of “what just happened here”
What braces the heart in the dark shadows, the stormy places riddled with hurt.
C.H. Spurgeon says this in “Streams in the Desert” — “How can we have rain without the clouds? Our troubles have always brought us blessings, and they always will. They are the dark chariots of bright grace…. Our God may drench us with grief, but He will refresh us with mercy. Our Lord’s love-letters often come to us in black-edged envelopes.”
So today I take my ball and jump in the river of living water. John 7:38 — “Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in me this way, just as the Scripture says.”
And I more than just stay afloat. I find Life from the Giver of Life.
Isaiah 12:3 -” Joyfully you’ll pull up buckets of water from the wells of salvation.”
Life is a ball, curves and all.
Isaiah 43:2 — “When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you. when you’re in rough waters, you will not go down. When you’re between a rock and a hard place, it won’t be a dead end.”
Drawing deep from the well of His Love.
elizabeth w. marshall 