Christmas Reading (Tell His Story)

 People like to talk about Christmas movies... but what do you read at Christmastime?

Something new, or a personal tradition?

For me it's William Barrett's The Left Hand Of God, a story of redemption and risk set in post-WW2 China.

Every year.

What about you?

Sylvia, unfortunately, can't read. Not that it bothers her when there's ice cream to be had.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Who Could Have Seen It Coming?

 Who could truly have foreseen 

what lay beyond that stable birth,

the dawning day of Heaven's dream,

the saving of a fallen Earth?

Who could have looked at the child,

so fragile then in Mary's arms,

and seen a Saviour meek and mild

and stalwart in the face of harms

that rose in anger from Abyss

to reclaim what they thought their own,

and could not be resolved to this,

that their fate had now been sown

by that Babe, now fast asleep,

the Hero who would light the deep.

The Five Minute Friday prompt this week is LONG.

It was a really lengthy trip,

following that shining star,

and friends said they'd lost their grip,

but Magi said, Well, here we are

to see the whole wide world's new king

sleeping in a manger

and unaware of anything 

that could be a danger,

but the Wise Men realized

that Herod was off his nut,

thinking Baby's death be prized,

so they went and cut

and ran home by another route

to avoid a royal dispute.

Music from the Goo Goo Dolls, with Better Days

Had Sylvia been among the Magi, she would have brought ice cream.

Christmas Songs (Tell His Story)

 Up on the housetop reindeer pause,

oh, dear God, it's Santa Claus

in an overloaded sleigh with runners bowed,

he's exceeded our roof's maximum load.

Ho, ho, ho, there the rafters go!

Ho, ho, ho, look out below!

Down through each story, quick, quick, quick,

and into the basement goes Good Saint Nick!

And it gets worse.

Jolly Old Jack Nicklaus,

we know you came to play,

and we're sure you will not go

make even one bo-gay!

Masters time is coming soon,

so you badass man,

send the Young Turks to the moon

when you kick them in the can.

More ice cream for Sylvia, hearing these.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Stand

 When the night's the darkest black

and you're nearing journey's end,

don't look forward, don't look back,

and for pity's sake don't bend,

for will is all that you have left

to get you through the awful now.

Think not on life's warp and weft,

and do not wonder how

you're going to face a worse tomorrow,

if tomorrow deigns to come

In any case you've got to borrow

strength when you at last have none,

and stand erect before death's door

when you don't know what you're standing for.

The Five Minute Friday prompt this week is STUFF.

The keyword for this week is STUFF,

another post, another song,

but I have really had enough,

and I don't know how to go on.

The nights are long, no counting sheep 

because the bones sullenly ache

far too much for any sleep,

and I think there must be some mistake 

that was made by angel-scribe

in setting out what is my life;

perhaps the cherub did imbibe

a spirit that cut like a knife

and feeling sick as sick can be

thought to take it out on me.

Sylvia will stand with me.

How Do You Approach Advent? (Tell His Story)

 What does Advent mean to you?

It's the run-up to Christmas...and to Good Friday...

...and to the Resurrection, and our deliverance from damnation.

Have to admit, I have trouble wrapping my thoughts around the whole thing. I'd love to separate out the Holy Night, and the manger, and that quiet intimacy under the stars the angels placed.

But I see to the end, and that no longer works, and Advent is left as the beginning of a Mystery, great and terrible and glorious.

How can a Child be born to die,

the only Son of God,

the apple of His golden eye,

for a world so flawed?

How could dear Mary bear the truth,

and not dissolve in tears?

In what form did God offer proof 

that could calm her fears?

And did strong Joseph come to know 

that he would not be there

to help his wife absorb the blow...

did he think it unfair,

or, as he held the newborn Son,

did he say, "Thy will be done"?

Is this how it should be?

What is it for you?

For Sylvia it's ice cream.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Soy To The World

 

I'm glad I'm not a turkey 

to grace your festive table,

or be turned into jerky 

to gnaw on when you're able.

Better far nuggets of soy

and benefits that they can bring,

and the proof that boy, oh, boy,

you can get used to anything.

So let us pour the gravy 

(yes, it is soy too);

so's ham (pigs shout, God save me!)

and we'll quaff when we are through 

tankards of the best soy beer;

aren't you glad you spent Thanksgiving here?

The Five Minute Friday prompt this week is TRADE.

I've gone ahead and done the trade

of soy meat for the genuine,

and my wife says this has made

me something of a Frankenstein,

proselytizing far and wide

to anyone within my hearing

of a rising lethal tide

in a way that's not endearing,

shouting of the coming day

when the cows and chickens rise

to conquer and to make us pay

for our arrogant surmise

that retribution would not come,

thinking animals were dumb.

Sylvia will be not countenance soy ice cream.

Immigrant Song (Tell His Story)

 

Be thankful for the days God gave,

be thankful for your food.

Be thankful for the hope you save,

be thankful for the good 

things that mark your earthly life,

a job, a car, a home.

Be thankful for a lack of strife,

and that you need not roam

across the sea and burning land

escaping dull privation,

and in your thanks please understand 

that we are yet a nation

that always offered something more,

a lamp beside a Golden Door.

Sylvia's thankful for Chihuahua friends, and ice cream.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

The Reality

 

I try to keep a sense of humour about cancer, but there is a reality.

This life is like a tightrope 

that I dance upon,

a balance of meaning and hope,

and if I slip I'm gone.

The boundaries are hard and close,

oxygen and a chair.

Not the thing I would have chose,

but it's real and I'm there,

trying not to cast my eyes

into the blank abyss,

and truly the only prize

is ensuring I don't miss

the next most shaky step I take,

fall to despair on which I'll break.

The Five Minute Friday prompt this week is FIGHT, a quality of which I am running out.

I've fought this thing for years and years,

and used to have a battle-shout,

but now I realize my fears,

and time is running out,

and I really have to ask,

was all of this worthwhile?

Or was it just a silly mask,

a bow to macho style?

I really can't see there from here,

and cannot know an answer,

but it seems perfectly clear,

the winner will be cancer,

and I hope that all I've done

will be accepted by God's Son.

Music from The Damned, with Tightrope Walk

The video is from a really terrific film, The Walk, about Phillipe Petit's high wire walk between the towers of the World Trade Center.

Sylvia will walk the wire for ice cream, using her tail for balance.

How Will You Face Your Death? (Tell His Story)

 

Do you think about the day

that you'll be heading home?

Do you think about the way

you'll face that great unknown,

the door between this mortal place 

and the life to come?

Will you want to stand and face

that portal as it's swung,

or like me, would you close your eyes,

and wait for Heaven's morning breeze,

familiar yet a great surprise

and it whispers through the rustling trees,

far past life and far past death,

the benison of Holy Breath?

Sylvia will keep her eyes open, thank you very much, to try to quickly score some ice cream.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Valhalla Awaits

 Obnoxious chest-thumping, self-delusion, or total immaturity?

Or a dawning comprehension of what's real?

I stand, and standing prove my worth,

and need not bow my head in shame.

Colossus, I bestride the Earth

and demons tremble at my name,

for I have fought through their abyss 

and left their entrails on the walls,

but let me here not be remiss,

for I well know the Voice that calls

my heart and soul into the fight,

with joyousness upwelling,

for I am drawn up to the light

and there will be a tale worth telling

as Valhalla rises near

with banquet tables slicked by beer.

The Five Minute Friday prompt this week is VOID.

Yesterday I was annoyed,

and threw a tantrum here.

Life itself felt like a void

when I ran out of beer.

Oh, sure, there was fizzy pop

and a box of wine,

but my anguish would not stop,

and I made it mine,

clutching grievance to my soul,

raging to the sky

that the day could not be whole,

and then I did espy

a fresh unopened case of Bud

and the day got really good.

Three minutes flat, but the beer's foaming in delight!

Beer and ice cream, says Sylvia.

Golden Rules (Tell His Story)

 Still down with the longest flu I've ever had, but I'll throw this out there...

Be magnanimous in victory.

Be gracious in defeat.

Share ice cream (Sylvia, how did you sneak that in?).

And move on.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

The Space Between

I've been running really high fevers lately, and Reality is starting to break through the edges of my orderly little life.

I have now spent quite awhile 

'tween this world and the next.

I'm really going out in style,

and wish I could but text

you of the wonders that I see,

flying dogs and long-lost friends,

Apostles and the Trinity,

and a grand pub-crawl that never ends.

There's Jesus on the rifle range...

BOOM! What the heck, He MISSED?

That is really very strange,

and now He doth insist 

that I take His piece and try the thing,

and I break the heart of the ten-ring.

There is so much more, though, angels ascending and descending, swirling noise and colours you can smell and taste, laughter and love and fistfights, a cacophony of epiphany.

And a message to bring back:

Be graceful in defeat, and magnanimous in victory.

The Five Minute Friday Prompt this week is TOWARD.

All I can offer is a haiku.

As ice presses toward victory,

the spring waits in the sky

with a smile.

Sylvia takes it for granted that there's Foster's-flavoured ice cream.

Over To You (Tell His Story)

Been running a high fever for a few days, so coherency is an issue.

But I can't leave you without a starter for conversation, so...

What's you favourite Beatles song?

Here's mine

The video is charming.

Sylvia likes it too.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

God Don't Make Junk

Regardless of what President Biden says, people are not garbage.

Not even him.

I don't hold with what you hold dear;

it, to me, does not ring true.

But may I make this very clear,

I still believe in you.

My conscience tells me something,

yours says something else,

but let difference that we bring

sit on a dusty shelf,

and let us both behold the Christ 

that shines out of our eyes.

Accept what He has sacrificed,

and thus reject the lies

that tell us that Our Side is the best,

and let the devil take the rest.

The Five Minute Friday prompt this week is UNEXPECTED.

It was quite unexpected,

the things some people said.

I really felt rejected,

and they wished that I was dead

because I could not quite agree

with what to them was true,

and it seemed they could not see

that you are me is you.

Is this what Christ died for?

Is this why He rose again,

that we might close and bolt the door,

and in darkness remain

with just the warmth we generate 

through hearts that are brim-full with hate?

Three minutes.

Sylvia, having once been thrown away, heartily agrees.

I Command You To Vote For...(Tell His Story)

 Someone. Just vote for someone, according to your conscience.

Both of the major candidates (and all of the lesser ones) are imperfect, and there's no Abe Lincoln among them (and if you've read Shelby Foote, you know that Honest Abe was pretty badly flawed as well).

Nonetheless.

I would suggest you follow Russell Crowe's advice from this one-minute clip from Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World 

Besides, why pass up a chance to see Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany?

Sylvia agrees.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter