new blog

folks -- i wanted to direct your attention to a new blog my husband and i have developed for the purpose of tracking our upcoming trip to korea. you can read along here:
http://snapshots-of-life-overseas.blogspot.com/.

please know, i will still be updating Fragile Thoughts, but for those of you who know us as a couple, you may be interested in purusing Snapshots of Life Overseas upon occasion.

we will be starting to update it more frequently after our arrival to South Korea on August 21.

love em.

addicted to the sky

i am a lone lark, circling fields of canola, trying desperately to land without causing a stir.

my wings carry me far from feeling, far from needing anyone, keeping me afloat above a world of hungry people.

i make patterns like an airplane, feeling high on ideals and low about myself.

to need someone; to let myself fall... to cut my wings so i might feel the gentle stroke of a human hand. to be lifted up.

so many are so good at walking the earth -- can't i just stay up here alone, flying haphazardly in circles forever? in the end to die, fall, at the feet of no one?

confused i beg God to cut my wings for me! i am addicted to the sky.

transition...

the awkward balancing act
between
moment and time
between rhythm and rhyme
tenderly stepping down
on a wire rope
tired with hope
daring to scope
new horizons

thunderstorm

the sky's green eye
shifts warily
its heart groans
white jagged lines
crack under pressure
the wind's forceful hand
takes hold of the night
twirls it with passion
lightning strikes a pose
then dances up a storm

in a nutshell

wild rapids
intimate discussions
God appearances
miracle happenings
caribbe wonders
pooltime ponderings
mealtime musings
mountains
rodeos
volleyball tournaments:
"you've been served"
hugs by strangers
love from friends
long bus ride
short in view of eternity
young life camp -- in a nutshell

the next 8 days...

this is us, at camp, 2 years ago.

as of tomorrow, we'll be taking another 40 kids for a week of mountains, music, miracles and memories.

pray for these beautiful children. pray their hearts would unfold in the warm sunshine of God's love, and blossom in his glorious grace.

bless you for caring :)

finish line

moonlight moves the curtains
a muse of a melody floats upward
from our guitars
voices blend
glasses clink, we toast to
blogs and bands
friendship and fun
korea and california
closing this life-chapter
the words are slipping away
i'm straining to memorize the
final sentence
don't want this time to end

'wheel' love

the other day i caught a whiff of love. it sprang from the embrace of a man in his wheelchair, clutching his girlfriend who rode in his lap. they sped down the road unaware of the stares only of the acceptance of the other. i watched in wonder, jealousy, conscious only of my OWN handicaps. my own inability to accept. to love.

love. a white smudge on a grey canvas. a dove bearing peace against a stormy sky. a man in a wheelchair holding on to the woman of his dreams. an elusive concept slowly solidifying before me.

my favourite moments ...

sitting on my backstep after a long run soaking in fresh air

strumming my guitar in harmony with a bird's song

watching sitcoms with my husband, curled up in his farmer's build

getting really dirty then having a long shower

biting into something surprisingly delicious

having my doubts erased

painting a beautiful picture

laughing so hard my stomach wants to scream

resting fully in the fact that my life is a dream...

and heaven is reality

someone

how i long to speak words never before uttered
to compose a poem never before read
to devise a concept never before conceived
to sing a song never before sung
to write a story never before plotted
to plant a flower never before sprouted
to dance a jig never before seen
to wear an expression never before deemed.

yet why do i not long to love those who've never known love?
for this would make me truly someone.

prayer

dear God
i embrace today and
all you lay before me
i stand up tall and
refuse to fall for evil
i'll reach down low and
love the ones you show me
i'll fight for right and
defend the light before men
then i'll lay my head
let my soul be fed
by you alone.
amen.

lonely people

look at all the lonely people. i beg of you Lord: embrace them. that sad wrinkled woman, head bowed, missing her husband. the man eating in a restaurant by himself, hiding behind a newspaper. the teenager scurrying along trying to find some place to fit in. the single mother, tired of being undesired. the crack head boy sitting on a curb trying to remember who he is. my heart breaks aches shakes with sadness over it all. use bruise choose me to fill in the holes that loneliness has created.

mona lisas

character is painted by the brush strokes of rejection.

recently i've become a walking mural.

some weeks are layered in the negative. it takes hope-filled pupils (in both senses of the word) to recognize slants of sunshine in a stormy sky.

yet, despite the impending darkness there are moments no pupil can deny: moments when the sky cracks and Jesus pours down white light so clean and fresh it keeps our spirits from dying.

we are God's canvas. His world is our audience. His trials are the paintbrush. and, if we let him guide the strokes, in the end we'll all be mona lisas.