Your Dying Spouse 270 - The Safe Place {FMF}

We're here again with Kate Motaung and Five Minute Friday, the timed keyword-driven writing challenge. Please drop by, and meet some awesome writers.

The word this week is...SAFE.

OK.

I spent most of my life sleeping with a pistol under my pillow.

I don't do that now; for one thing, my dear wife would be rather freaked out if I did, and for another, my pillow is now a very large and capable Pit Bull. Sylvia, please take a bow (you too, Barb!)!

There are terrors in the night, and I wanted a safe place.

But my nights are really no longer threatened by angry folks carrying AKs and machetes. They're now ruled by pain that just won't end, and eerie dreams that put me back into places I am tempted to describe, but won't, because I don't want you to throw up whist reading this. I'm not kidding.

I want a refuge, a safe place for my heart.

There are people who scorn safety, .the 'extreme adventure athletes' who think that risking their lives just for the sake of doing it is somehow a virtue.

These people are idiots. I know; I used to be one.

I want a safe, warm place where I can rest. I've done enough; more than enough.

And I have one. My home, where I'm cared for by my lovely and loving wife, and a lot of dogs.

But...I think every day of the people for whom this would be an impossible dream.

I have a refuge; but what of the refugee?

Am I more beloved of God than the Syrian Christian, or the Iraqi Shi'a, or the Somali animist who just wants to be anywhere but where they are now?

Emma Lazarus' poem on the Statue of Liberty can't become public policy and more than can An American Tail or Neil Diamond's famous song about immigrants.

And even more, what of our own citizens whom we have ignored? What of the twenty-two veterans who kill themselves every day because PTSD is too hard to live with? What of our senior citizens who are effectively denied medical care because they can't afford the co-pays and deductibles? What of the children trapped in failing schools by a system that is more willing to consider them examples than people?

We can't ignore the terrors without, lest our oasis of liberty become surrounded by a blood-dimmed tide.

We can't ignore the terrors at home, because they will cause the moral ground to open beneath our feet and swallow us.

I don't have any answer except to know that do nothing is not an answer.

And rest assured...God is watching.

As you do this to the least of My children, you do it to Me.

I have another blog, "Starting The Day With Grace". The focus is a grace quote from someone you might not expect (like, say Mick Jagger) and a short commentary. I hope you'll join me.

Marley update... been moved to a sanctuary, and Bay County will revise their 'dangerous dog' codes.

WE MADE A DIFFERENCE!

And marley has a Facebook page! Please drop by to see how happy he is today.

If you can, please do leave a comment. I am trying to answer all, and I am failing, but please know this - I read and treasure each one.

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.