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Creatively Engaging with My #oneword, Stillness

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CREATIVELY ENGAGING WITH MY #ONEWORD My heart is moved by a noble theme as I recite my verses to the king; Psalm 45:1a In the #oneword2024 Facebook group, Lisa Burgess reminds us to engage creatively with our chosen words. She gives a variety of suggestions to help us. One suggestion was to write poetry in different styles. Since I wrote an acrostic in my last post, I wanted to pursue other poetry styles. In this post, I will share three different kinds of poetry – limerick, haiku, and a blessing/prayer. LIMERICK One of the suggestions was to write a limerick. Now, most limericks I’ve heard are silly or humorous, so to write one about stillness was quite challenging. I would write a few lines and then scrap it. Nothing seemed to sound quite right. Finally, I came up with one that also reflects some of my thoughts about stillness in the post, A New Look at Stillness . When searching for stillness I found That noises and chaos abound What a joy to find Stillness of a kind That
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God Cares When You Are Lonely

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ARE YOU LONELY? The prompt word for Five Minute Friday this week is lonely . I first tried to write a poem, but I saw it would take more than five minutes. So, I decided to save it to share at the end of the post and just write some thoughts that came to mind as I pondered the word. I'm also scattering a few sunset photos from the evening of April 18, 2024, at Redington Shores, Florida.   What does it mean to be lonely? Sometimes being alone is nice, but that is not the same as being lonely. We were not meant to be loners or completely independent, as illustrated in Ecclesiastes 4:-12 :   Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their efforts. For if either falls, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to lift him up. Also, if two lie down together, they can keep warm; but how can one person alone keep warm? And if someone overpowers one person, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not easily broken.   We
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Finding Stillness While on Vacation

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Audio of this post VACATION TIME Every year, we try to make a trip to Florida to visit other family members. Traveling from South Carolina, we mostly like to take backroads. They are in such a contrast to the interstate, which has many lanes and zooming traffic. Though it may take a little longer to reach our destination, we arrive much more relaxed when we travel the country roads. Often, our destination is Redington Shores, Florida, where my husband's siblings gather once a year for a week at the beach. We leave our home a few days early to stop in Jacksonville, FL, to visit my brother and sister-in-law, my aunt, and sometimes a few friends. After Jacksonville, we travel to Brandon, Florida, to visit my other brother and his wife. Finally, we go across Tampa Bay to a condo rented and shared by family members in Redington Shores.  We try to walk every day while at the beach. I love walking barefoot through the sand as we make our way down to the water. We walk along the edge, some
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Christ’s Resurrection Gives Us A Living Hope

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    Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.  1 Peter 1:3-4   Birth and Death, the Beginning and the End -- Or is it? The day I gave birth to my first son was exciting for my husband, myself, and our four daughters. When he was ten years old, he was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy. Years passed, and he did well for a while. Later, he developed congestive heart failure. Then, just five days after his 29th birthday, he died. We were blessed with his life, which was a gift to us for those years. As I think about it, he was only four years younger than Jesus when he died. Jesus was born in Bethlehem many years ago to a virgin named Mary. Joseph, a poor carpenter, was his adoptive father. His birth was a miracle and a big step down for Him. Our C
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For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2b HOLY WEEK COMES TO AN END During that last week, Jesus taught in the temple every morning. Every evening, he went to the Mount of Olives to spend the night. As the hatred of the religious leaders increasingly grew, they plotted to get rid of Him. Since they feared what His followers might do, they waited for an opportune time. They must have been happy when Judas made a deal with them to betray Jesus. Then one of the Twelve, the man called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests   and said, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” So they weighed out thirty pieces of silver for him. And from that time he started looking for a good opportunity to betray him.   Matthew 26:14-16 While eating the Passover meal, Jesus made known to his disciples that one of them would betray him, but they didn’t understand. After finishing
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A Week to Remember

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PALM SUNDAY This week, known as Holy Week in the church calendar, commemorates the week leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus. Yesterday was celebrated as Palm Sunday and called to mind the scene of people throwing coats and branches on the road as Jesus rode into Jerusalem. Some may have wondered why Jesus was riding on a donkey’s colt. This was not how a king came to conquer, but that didn’t deter them from praising him. They shouted: Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!   Mark 11:9-10 Had I been there, I would like to think that I would have joined the joyful celebration. Some Pharisees in the crowd must have gotten tired of hearing the shouts because Luke 19:39 tells us they asked Jesus to rebuke those praising him. Here is what he answered: I tell you, if these become silent, the very stones would cry out. Luke 19:40 Some of these same people may have been the ones who la
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A New Look at Stillness, my #oneword2024

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  EXPLORING STILLNESS What comes to mind when you hear the word  stillness ? Does it bring negative thoughts or positive ones? If you ask a child, they would probably think stillness was a punishment, especially if they are busy playing with a favorite toy. For an adult encumbered with various responsibilities or often feeling overwhelmed, stillness might seem like a welcoming friend. How would you define stillness? Is it the lack of sound or movement? Or, could it also be a stepping back from the daily demands to do something different? My #oneword365 is stillness, and I’m looking for other ways to experience its benefits.   Rhymezone defines stillness as: noun :    calmness without winds noun :  (poetic) tranquil silence noun :    a state of no motion or movement Some synonyms are calmness, serenity, restfulness, tranquility , and peacefulness.   When we see these variations in meanings along with the synonyms, I wonder if we could come up with
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