Your Dying Spouse 632 - The God Of Second Chances {FMF}

Not up to writing much today, and, looking back, wish that so much had been different.

There is so much that I passed by,

so much I could have given,

had I not believed the lie

that life rewards the driven.

I followed pride with head unbowed

and the road swept past forsaken,

its grace ignored, till God allowed

my fall, and bid my heart awaken.

With face to ground, I beheld

the fragile beautiful flower

and in its radiance was compelled

to count each haughty wasted hour.

Tears dim my aching backward glance;

oh, God, when I'm with you...a second chance?

If there is any kind of memorial for me, please play this, and NOTHING else. It's Patrick Doyles' Memoriae Tuae from Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero.

I am so tired of fighting.

Martis nec gladius, belli nec ignis impiger

vivim monumentum umquam memoriae tuae consumet

"Nor Mars' quick sword nor his fire shall burn

the living record of your memory."

Thanks to Carol Ashby, Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart is back on Kindle, and will be available in paperback soon.

Friends are everything. I couldn't have done it.

Marley, the canine waif from Afghanistan, whom WE helped save, has a Facebook page! Please drop by to see how happy he is today.

Below are my recent releases on Kindle -please excuse their presence in the body of the blog. I haven't the energy to get them up as 'buttons' in the sidebar. You can click on the covers to go to the Amazon links.

Your Dying Spouse 631- The Dimholt Road

For fans of Lord Of The Rings, the Dimholt Road holds special significance; it's the road that the rightful heir to the throne of Men must take to win the allegiance of those who live 'beneath the mountain'; men who abandoned Aragon's ancetor Isildur in battlem and were condemne to a spectral existence for their treachery.

And in fighting for Aragorn, they are redeemed, and freed.

Having been forced of lae to make peace with myself through facing my own heart of darness, I wonder if perhaps the Dimholt Road is the path we all must take, to unerstand and forgive, and to bring a true chance for redemption.

Have you seen it, would you know it,

dare you take the Dimholt road?

Would you forsake iPhone and CrossFit,

bend now to a harder load?

Beneath the mountain live the traitors

who dropped their oaths and ran

abandoning honour, and all that matters

to try to live their own life-plan.

Can you reach them, devout pilgrim

and need you even bother try?

In life's complex interregnum,

are they just like you and I?

Think on your promises made and broken;

for infidels, these are your token.

Music from Annie Lennox, with Into The West, the closing-title song from The Return Of The King.

Thanks to Carol Ashby, Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart is back on Kindle, and will be available in paperback soon.

Friends are everything. I couldn't have done it.

Marley, the canine waif from Afghanistan, whom WE helped save, has a Facebook page! Please drop by to see how happy he is today.

Below are my recent releases on Kindle -please excuse their presence in the body of the blog. I haven't the energy to get them up as 'buttons' in the sidebar. You can click on the covers to go to the Amazon links.

Your Dying Spouse 630 - Ya Gotta Laugh

God will be pleased to know that I agree with Him, that "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine..." (Proverbs 17:22).

Good call, Big Fella!

Life's lately got so serious

with every growing tumour;

let's toss sentimentality under the bus

and replace it with humour.

Like jokes about incontinence

(I was always in a hurry)

or my pain-caused silence

(hey, no words, no worry!).

There's laughter to be found

in my last serious fall;

as I went down I turned around,

and left a face-print in the wall.

We can't choose the life we're given,

but we can choose how we're livin'.

Music from Daniel Boone (no, not that one) with Beautiful Sunday. The Seventies are calling. They want you to drop by.

Thanks to Carol Ashby, Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart is back on Kindle, and will be available in paperback soon.

Friends are everything. I couldn't have done it.

Marley, the canine waif from Afghanistan, whom WE helped save, has a Facebook page! Please drop by to see how happy he is today.

Below are my recent releases on Kindle -please excuse their presence in the body of the blog. I haven't the energy to get them up as 'buttons' in the sidebar. You can click on the covers to go to the Amazon links.

Your Dying Spouse 629 - You Only Keep What You Release {FMF}

There's a cheesy old expression from the 70s (when cheesy was hip!) that goes something like:

If you love something, let it go. If it doesn't come back, it was never yours.

Kind of romantic and freethinking, right? And let's not forget noble and self-sacrificial!

The problem is, it's totally wrong.

Nothing was every yours. At best, you had it on loan from God.

Ownership is the thing that makes dying hard. I think of Barb, the dogs, the house, and my very life as mine, and it feels like they're being taken from me.

But if I willingly let go, surrendering them all to the God whose they are in the first place, I'm not stepping back from love.

I can love all the more, because my heart is not clogged with a desperate greed.

Una salus victis nullam sperare salutem,

or so the Romans said;

to face death with resolution,

see yourself already dead.

Let go of all you cherish

and the dreams you hold so dear,

gird your soul to perish,

the last casting-off of fear.

Perhaps you’ll meet Achilles,

with Hector by his side,

and there will stand Ulysses

with a horse for you to ride.

And ride you will to Heaven, through the shining gate

where waits your nail-scarred Saviour, author of your fate.

This sonnet was originally written as a comment for Jeanne Takenaka's marvellous blog post Hope: A Violent Hope.

If anyone really wanted a condition report, well, things are worse. It hurts too much, it's impossible to take a good breath, and those bumps I can see in the mirror aren't really looking like a six-pack. I remain, however, cheerful of heart in the grim darkness, and hopeful in the face of hopelessness. I'm either a saint, or an idiot. You choose.

There is a God, He has a plan, and I'm not Him.

Music from the Marshall Tucker Band, with Heard It In A Love Song.

Thanks to Carol Ashby, Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart is back on Kindle, and will be available in paperback soon.

Friends are everything. I couldn't have done it.

Marley, the canine waif from Afghanistan, whom WE helped save, has a Facebook page! Please drop by to see how happy he is today.

Below are my recent releases on Kindle -please excuse their presence in the body of the blog. I haven't the energy to get them up as 'buttons' in the sidebar. You can click on the covers to go to the Amazon links.

Your Dying Spouse 628 - The Rapids

Just need a chance to catch my breath, God, that's all I ask.

I think that now I'm in the rapids,

and full of boulders is the shore.

I must ride, and whatever happens

I want to live, now even more.

The water ran so fast behind me

that I thought it could not rise,

but I was wrong, and now every

turn brings some dread surprise.

I have to hold my breath and hope

that some calm water lies ahead

where I can let out mooring rope;

if that's not so, well, then I'm dead.

White-water God, Lord over cancer,

I trust You, and I trust Your answer.

Music from Billy Joel, with Pressure.

Thanks to Carol Ashby, Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart is back on Kindle, and will be available in paperback soon.

Friends are everything. I couldn't have done it.

Marley, the canine waif from Afghanistan, whom WE helped save, has a Facebook page! Please drop by to see how happy he is today.

Below are my recent releases on Kindle -please excuse their presence in the body of the blog. I haven't the energy to get them up as 'buttons' in the sidebar. You can click on the covers to go to the Amazon links.