The Encouragement To Go

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The Encouragement To Go

Sometimes we need the encouragement to step out and into, away or toward.  Sometimes we need a pull or push. The woo, the whisper. The invitation. A delightful plea.

Somedays we hunger for a call. A voice. Excitement. Permission. To hear the old spoken anew.
Somedays we need a new friend, an old friend too. A collision of yeses. A harmony of go’s.

Sometimes we need the repetition of the familiar played to the accompaniment of strings, not brass. Italics not bold. Gentle, not tough. The solo, not the symphony.

Some seasons we respond to age and wisdom not fleeting fancies or current trends. The rose with the thorn, not a re-constituted hybrid.

And we bend in to hear what may have been said all along. Yet suddenly we listen, and hear, and the invitation to go sinks down to the bottommost place of our soul.

To wander and wonder.
To run and soar.
To find and be found.
To discover and uncover.
To rest but not falter.
To store up but not hoard.
To enjoy and be joyful.

Some days we crave a soul full of poetry. To read and weep. To weep and exhale. To make art and be made by it too. To create and be re-created.

And so we go.
Whether out and beyond. To the new and to notice. Or close by to the familiar. Extending or pretending. Dreaming and imagining.

We go. Out and not in.
To others, not ourselves.
In charity and love.
With art and a song.
Seeking the beauty and beautiful. The grace and the gracious.

But in all of our ways, we long for the encouragement of another to just go.
From the Father, the friends, a poet, a child, another, a mother.
Go with glee. Go in love. Go to serve.
Encouraged, awakened, arisen, alive.
We go.
Together.
Never alone.

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Joining Jennifer and Lyli

The Door

Doors with cut out crosses

The Door

How lovely that you walked across the street
Knocked, so politely at my door
As I went
Walking ’round the block
My dogs and

I
Wasn’t even there
To greet you
But I returned
To knock
I almost skipped
To the front door of your white house
Joyously
I find you there
A little cat and mouse
We played.

How lovely that you live across from me
Poet
Lady Wisdom, friend,
Inspiration
Passion for poetry goes between your house
And mine
Giving  gifts of boxes and origami
Laying them gently into my hand
Your words like honey drop, drip, drop
I lap up every syllable I hear, I understand
You

Don’t stop living two doors down
Life is richer when you come to town

My friend I pray that it will be

A good long while
Before we see
Grief
Come knocking at our

Door.
Swing wide the gates of freedom
Between you and me
And sweet poetry.

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Joining Tweetspeak Poetry today for their poetry writing prompt “Doors and Passageways.”

Stretch Me

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Stretch Me

It would not be a stretch
To say
There is a world of hurt
On the other side of the
Street
The table
The pew
The world
This screen
That page

Or that for centuries
We have mastered the fine art
Of turning away

So I
Stepped off the curb
And ran into a couple of hurting
Women
At church today
Touched the tip of the iceberg

And I swear for all the world
I want to get my Masters in the do-over

People there are organs needed
And prayers needed
And children in the middle
Who are scared to death
Of families split apart
People walking, dragging, seeking
Scared

And I want to go pray myself into a frenzy
Enter a convent
And make up for lost time
Praying

I waited in line today
For prayer
And the prayer
Weighed heavy
He knew my story
Served to bear my burden
Because it was his too
Strength in numbers
We need each other
Body of Christ
I am the root canal
You are the hip replacement

Somedays it is a heck of a lot easier
To hide
And hole up
Hide from the busted
Put a Hello-Kitty Band-Aid on it

But man we are needed our there
Warrior
Women
Warrior
Men

I am blown over by the gentle winds
Of conviction
And mercifully
Yes mercifully

Tomorrow I can wake up
Hit my knees
And get a do-over
Get in line
Again

Pray to be stretched

Pray to be moved to tears
Moved to action
Moved to see
Every hang nail, heart ache
Busted lip and broken leg

Stretched at two a.m. for a sister
Soul in need

Finally awake
At last
Fully alive

Stretching arms to heaven
Like the rattling riggings on the Mary-Elizabeth

Dry bones arise, dry bones awake
Dry bones, rejoice.

The Laws of Physics

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The Laws of Physics

A thimble holds my knowledge of
Science
Physics baffles me, ties me up in knots
Not knowing an atom from Adam’s house cat

But I know the basics
Of power and might
Of David and Goliath
Of small things with enormous will
And
Endless possibilities

Strength, reconstituted
Condensed
Boiled down to the root of the matter
Exponential greatness
Found in the most unlikely places

Go found me
I can turn it on its head
Flip it around, upside down
Add and subtract from the core of what it is

I don’t need a PHD to know
The power
Of
Two
Small
Letters
And
One
Small
Word

Go.

Watch it go. Add a d, and see
Diety.
Double the o then see
Goodness and mercy
Get really crazy and beautiful things appear
Gorgeous, it all started with a g and an o.

Physics spins me in circles
But I know get up and go
Simply step and step again and there you
Go.

Go with me
To a playful place
One Dr. Seuss and others know
The places we’ll go, oh the places we’ll go
You and me and the letters”G-O”.

 

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Feel encouraged today. Place your name behind the word. One comment on the blog yesterday stirred my soul and I saw anew the power of encouragement in “GO”. Go in love, Go to serve, Go empowered by God’s mercy and grace. Go outside. Go tell it, go sing it, go make it, be it. Simply “GO”

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Joining Sandy at Sandra Heska King dot come for Still Saturdays