Your Dying Spouse 711 - Advent

I suppose I'm like most folks in that during Advent, I don't think much about the whole Christmas things, what it actually means. I have other things on my mind, like Chritmas decorations and how to keep breathing.

But sometimes my shallow current hits God's Blue Hole.

The dying world held its breath

on the cold first Christmas night.

Could there be reprieve from death,

would evil wither in the Light?

Was there hope, was there a chance

that God would alter what must be?

Could judgment be in abeyance

on the arrival of a baby?

A child born to a carpenter

and his quiet teenaged wife;

could this be the mighty Saviour

who'd turn sin's curse to Life?

The babe became the sacrifice

for God's Love bore any price.

Here's Christafari with Angels We Have Heard On High.

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 710 - Confidante

Barb and I were talking about this; we all need someone who'll listen, someone who will hear us out, and not judge.

As Proverbs 27:17 put it, Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.

Everybody needs someone

in whom they can confide;

someone who can face the sum

of us, and not go run and hide.

Everybody needs a friend

who'll listen to a broken heart,

and in the silence help to mend

that which has been torn apart.

Everybody needs a pal

who will stay and lend a hand

to repair a wrecked and fallen wall

even though he may not understand

the hurt that brought you to this place,

but only of your need for grace.

Here's Ben E. King, with Stand By Me.

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 709 - Cat Wisdom {Five Minute Friday)

How about a break from the, "Ooooh, I'm dying, I can't breathe, an I can see the tumours in the mirror!" whine-fest?

The Five Minute Friday writing-prompt this week is darkness, but I've had quite enough of that lately, and would prefer something fun.

Let's talk about cute cats. (Yes, I watch cute cat videos on Youtube. Deal with it.)

I'm a dog person, but I do think cats can be awesome. We have one, Sasquatch, who is absolutely fearless (or maybe brainless) as he stalks among fifteen dogs, half of which would like to make a meal of him.

But they don't dare.

Perhps there is a wisom there..."Eat me if you will, but I guarantee you a form of indigestion that Pepto can't address."

"I will claw my way out of your belly. Bon apetit."

So maybe not brainless. Maybe wise in the ways of the canine culinary word, where you generally don't have a meal that will eat you right back.

And here is a wise cat indeed, one who can say "Well, hi!" in a Southern accent so deep you can cut it with a knife.

(You can see a slightly longer version here on Instagram, where the video first appeared.)

First time I heard it (econd and third time, too), I thought it was my dear mother-in-law, come back from Heaven.

I wish that I might be a cat,

tail up, proud, and walking tall

(excepting minor moments that

I deal with a hairball).

I wish I were a tortoise tom,

self-satisfied, serene

with every night a senior prom,

every night another queen.

I wish I were a Siamese,

so distant and so regal,

in haughty strength with envied ease

rearranging the neighbour’s beagle.

I wish I were…hey, look, WHAT?

Gotta catch that running laser dot!

Music from Billy Joel, with The Longest Time...it's all acapella!

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 708 - Expected

It's a funny thing about expectations...they can box you in (think Thanksgiving with the family), but they can also save your soul.

I'm 'expected' to write a certain message, in a certain voice. It's a message of hope, and a determination to live what life I have as a witness to God's love, and not letting cancer take my spirit, even though it takes my life.

That's a simple enough mission statement, but it can be hard to live; I'm human, and this road can be scary and disheartening.

I'll reflect that in writing, but that reflection works through the issue, and finds a reason to keep looking for the light. It's expected by my readers (and, to be honest, by my own sense of pride); this is not an all-about-me exercise in navel-gazing and catharsis.

But the funny thing is that the expectation becomes the reality, and the need to give an uplifting turn to the message lifts me.

Proverbs 23:7 (KJV) says, "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:"

The expectations alter my thinking, and thus, are my rescue.

It's expected that I write

the hope I sometimes do not feel,

but the words can shine a light

and make what's forced come real.

There are times I'd like to cry

upon the shoulder of a friend,

but keeping presumed spirits high

already buts them on the mend.

There are times I would abandon

every step that leads ahead,

but then steps up my cheerful stand-in,

and I become that bloke instead.

The expectation of good cheer

can warm and dry the falling tear.

Music from The Fifth Dimension, with Love's Lines, Angles and Rhymes.

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.