Daffodil Daze

Sunny Meander

Good Friday

Let's Worship All the Earth

Anonymous

"Everybody is Somebody's Idea of Weird"

Guess what?  I hate to have to break it to you but you're weird!  But then again so am I.  Let's face it.  We're all weird!  I'm not even sure when I read this the first time but it just stuck with me.  

At the Cross

Where My Savior Died

Lee Strobel

The Case For Christ

Want to know what a Chicago Tribune reporter has to say about Christ?  Then you need to read this book.  He puts his investigative skills to use in uncovering the real story behind who Christ really was.  

Let Freedom Ring

Why?  What?  How?  When?  Where?

Meander Memory

A Dawes Perspective

Erin Lamb

I Thought I Knew What Love Was

I find it awesome that I get to meet so many fellow writers and authors in person.  The thing is that we are all real people and it's been a neat experience to just hang out and get to know each other in the real world as opposed to just reading their writings.  Erin is a very talented person and the synergy you create when you meet with other creative types will only help you out in the long run.

Chain Gang Woes

Epic Ore Drama

The ore department
is your department!

Did you say that
the ore department
is our department?

Really never thought
of the ore department
as my department.

No the ore department
is your department.

Well...
Really?
Don't know about that!

@JoSH Poetic Popcorn Poetry

Sometimes in life you have to deal with departments that really are not ethical to begin with.  Everything they do is according to the bizzaro world that they live in but when brought to light in the normal world they are looked at askance.  Thank goodness I don't have to deal with this department anymore.  

Elevator Musings

Up and Down

Going up
falling in
Going down
love.

Going up
meeting
Going down
a stranger.

Going up
bold
Going down
and shy.

Going up
hmmm...
Going down
don't know.

@JoSH Poetic Popcorn Poetry

Sometimes you meet interesting attractive people in elevators:  There's just something about a guy in a suit and tie.  Elevators at college, the workplace, or public garages.  You just never know.  Most people that fall in love were once strangers to begin with.  Duh!  Right?

Katrina Mayer

"Time spent amongst trees is never wasted time."

What is it about a tree that is so enthralling?  So majestic?  So peaceful?  Nature has a way of affecting us to the very core of our souls.  The very leaves in nature are special in their patterns.  Have you heard of the golden ratio?  This phenomenon happens throughout nature.  Check it out!

Darryl Elliott

The Vows of a Father 

The crisp September air managed to seep its way through the quarter of an inch window gap that was left previous nights before. I could still see the morning dew hesitantly scaling down the center of the frosted glass window, like a father anxiously waiting for his child to descend a playground slide. Judging by the way the sunrays were dancing across the pastured green landscaping, I knew that the time when I say, “I do” was drawing closer. In the corner of the third guest bedroom that I slept in stood a mahogany, Victorian mirror wrapped in cob webs and noticeable carvings of names of those whose bedroom it slumbered in throughout the generations. What better way to rehearse my vows but to use the same mirror that my grandfather passed to my father. Little did I know about the other generational gifts that my grandfather passed on.

            On the well draped California king mattress consumed by a red and soft yellow floral pattern comforter lay my rented, gray satin stained Vera Wang tuxedo with a soft pink tie and black patent leather dress shoes to match. Located inside the left side of the jacket, my vows rested, waiting to be whipped out and recited for an emotionally hungry crowd. With my vows in my right hand, I took a deep breath and called for my father to be by my side. As a child, my father would help me express my feelings and emotions through literature instead of sports and other physical activities. With just a stroke of a pen or pencil, I could create a world with no wars, sickness, or pain, but I was incapable of sharing my feelings for another person. My father told me that when the time was right, he was going to share with me one of his pieces that he wrote in efforts to inspire me to tap into my emotional side.

            “Mr. Elliott, Mr. Elliott,” I announced to my dad, “I’m ready for my father to give me the big speech on women.”

            Before my dad walked in the room, his overpowering musk of Cool Water filled the hallway and forcefully made its way into the room like an intruder.

            “Son”, my father prodded while gracefully walking across the wooden threshold, “I don’t have a big speech about women or all the answers on how to make your wife happy, but what I do have is a piece of history that will help you navigate through your thoughts while you’re preparing your vows.” A smile danced on the edges of my mouth in excitement after hearing the words pour out of my father’s mouth like a running fountain of wisdom. My dad reached into his back pocket and pulled out a folded, discolored piece of yellow construction paper with gibberish written on the front it.

            “Dad, what is that?” I questioned, “What am I supposed to do with a piece of scrap paper”?

My father whispered in my ear, “It isn’t what you do with it, it’s what you learn from it that matters.” My dad unfolded the tarnished construction paper to reveal its contents. The title read, My Vows. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I shook my head in disbelief that he was going to share the words that he spoke to my mother on their wedding day. I remained apprehensive of the thought that my father and I connecting on this emotional level, but I certainly was not going to goof up the moment by questioning his motives. I needed to see the words that lay on the paper. My mind felt like a volcanic explosion of curiosity and eagerness. Before my father could utter a word, I noticed a stream of tears flowing down his face like a melting pop-sickle.

Struggling to speak, my dad’s shaky voice began, “Son, growing up I also had a hard time expressing myself face to face with people. Your grandfather taught me to write my feelings down in a journal to better my skills as a writer and to also develop my ability with interacting with others. I passed the same methods down to you.”

Overwhelmed with affection, I confessed that through my father’s inspirations on literature, I saw an increase in my grade every semester in my English course. Before my father told me about his childhood, I would have never guessed that what he instilled in me would carry over into my success of literacy papers and other English assignments. My father glanced at his silver Fossil watch and proclaimed that I had about thirty-five minutes until show-time. Without hesitation, my dad bolted towards the door like a burst of energy only to leave his vows next to me.

“Dad,” I blurted, “you left something.”

“I want you to keep it and read it for inspiration”, my father addressed.

“I have a better idea,” I proclaimed, “let’s read it together.”

Sometimes in life you just happen upon other writers and exchange ideas and express appreciation for each others work.  What do you think?  Should you go it alone or should you help each other out?  What do you think makes the most sense?

Not Seeing the Forest

For the Trees

Beverly LaHaye

The New Spirit-Controlled Woman

Calling All Women!

This is a great book to read if you want some insight into your personality and temperament styles.  The four basic temperaments include melancholy, sanguine, choleric, and phlegmatic.  Why don't you read this book and decide for yourself, who it is you really are?

Parker J Palmer

Let Your Life Speak

Are you working in a dead end job that you hate?  Then you might want to read this book.  Sometimes our jobs choose us and not the other way around.  And when you think of the amount of time that is spent at work then you want it to be meaningful.