Plucking Blackberries

Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God,
But only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round and pluck blackberries.

-Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Who said Liz wasn't a prophet? Doesn't that describe the world today, we're all too busy with our Blackberries (she was speaking of the fruit not the smart phone, but the irony is amazing), iPhone, texting, emailing, blogging, updating our Facebook page, hitting twitter, on and on and on......So, where is our time with the One who made blackberries, cherries and the universe? Can we twitter God? "So God, s'up?" What does God's Facebook page look like? Ever got an email from Heaven?

I think we all know what we should do, even you who don't feel you "need" God. You have that little place in the back of your mind that tells you you're missing something. I know that God has his own messaging system, it's a conversation with Him. Tell Him what you think, what you're feeling. That's all He wants, most likely He won't send you to Africa, India or somewhere like that, He just wants to be part of your life. So quick plucking those Blackberries for a couple of minutes and say, "God, s'up?" Who knows, He may just tell you.

Love Quotes Like This

"A Parable of Immortality"

"I am standing upon the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength, and I stand and watch until at last she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come down to mingle with each other. Then someone at my side says, 'There she goes!'

"Gone where? Gone from my sight...that is all. She is just as large in mast
and hull and spar as she was when she left my side and just as able to bear her
load of living freight to the place of destination. Her diminished size is in
me, not in her. And just at the moment when someone at my side says 'There she
goes!' there are other eyes watching her coming and other voices ready to take
up the glad shout, 'Here she comes!' "

- Henry Van Dyke

Ann's Writing Prompt

The first teacher I had to lead me in this quest called writing is Ann Linquist. On her blog, Ann Linquist Writes (link in my blog link section) had this writing prompt:

"To test this theory, I often write what I call “ouiji poetry.” I begin by closing my eyes, then randomly letting my fingers dance over the keyboard as fast as I can with no thought as to what is coming out. I try to hit the space bar once in a while and the “enter” key too, just for variety."
"Now I have lines of meaningless letters and numbers on the page. I look for suggestions of words in the chaos and give myself complete permission to translate the garbled lines into words. It’s still a mess, but I am slowly beginning to create order out of chaos. I revise again, and again. A bit of sense emerges along with many surprises."

There are many amazing "Ouiji Poetry" that came from this exercise, visit her link to read them. Here is my answer to that prompt:

After many wadded up pieces of paper, I decided I wouldn’t quit until I completed this, especially with GA4 just around the corner. 1) is the random 2) is the 1st draft 3) is the final

Of course being a guy, you can guess which way my mind went.

1) Lskryeuskx,cx cbdgdftgrywjhqwksmnsdbdfvgdt3y2qjqkq nmsbndverg4yhwjqksndsbvdgfregt34ywhqkjqnmsbndvergf4gtvebhwqjwkqbnmdvbwqgywuw3qkamsd nbeghwmq kashjckj, M ANVBSBHWJQ K1I2U3WHSWABNMla,ejdh

2)Lightning in the sky, illuminating us,

Sex beyond the foggy morning

Hawks swimming, small diameters

Bvds forgotten, 3 to 2 gigabytes

No more brown veggies 4 you

How quick and subvert dogs are free

34 year whole quick shower

Band very forgiven quickly.

Brown double buggy

With you til 3 am Sound now beginning Kash or check

My anniversary of BSing writing

K1 2u wheres the wabbit laugh

3) Lightning in the sky, illuminating us

Sex beyond the foggy morn

Hearts swimming, signs of dissolution

Bodies forgotten, two into one

No one bidding eternity for you

How quick, subvert and discreet

Forbidden, wild, and quite sweet

Bastion of forbidden quaver

Bound dauntless before blithe

With you still thriving amidst

Source of bridled passion

Checked within

Anna's Eyes

I first wrote this when I heard that there would be a granddaughter joining our family. My mind raced with what would a teenage granddaughter's greatest disappointment be, this is my answer to that question......it's fictional now, but with a name change and over time it may become fact....


She’s the apple of my eye, my sweet Anna. I guess it’s because she’s my only granddaughter, or it could be that she and I connected early in her life, and our relationship grew as she did. I was surprised that she was proud of her old grandpa and even postponed dates when she knew I was going to be in town. I was one proud old dude.

During one visit I knocked on her door, “Anna, it’s me, can I come in?”

“Of course you can Grandpa.”

She was sitting at her dressing table, and I could tell that she had been crying.

“What is wrong darling, what’s gotten you so upset?”

“Oh grandpa, just look at me. I’m ugly. There isn’t enough make-up to make me look cute let alone pretty, and don’t tell me that I’m beautiful, because I know I’m not.”

I sat down beside her and took her chin in my hand and turned her toward the mirror. “You are beautiful. It took generations of people to make you as you are. You have the best of all our traits and combined they make you who you are, my beautiful granddaughter. Look at your nose, that is your mother’s nose and her mother’s nose. I didn’t know your great-grandmother but I bet that is her nose too. Look at your ears, my dad had those ears and with those ears he listened to the surrender of the Japanese in World War 2, he heard the first words spoke from the moon, and he heard your father’s first cry when he was born. Those cheek bones are my mother’s. She turned heads until my father captured her heart. Take a look at this chin that’s in my hand. This is your father’s chin. Firm and squared makes you look ready to take what the world has to give”.

I turn her head towards me, “Now look at into my eyes, do you see it? You have my eyes. They sparkle when you smile, they radiate your goodness and tell me that as a person you are a mature and confident person. They complete you, the beautiful you that every one of your ancestors would be proud of. You are beautiful, my dear Anna. You are so beautiful inside and especially outside. Yes, you may not be the most beautiful one in your class, or the most popular, but you are who you are and that is someone to be proud of, there is nobody but you and your crazy notions that can take that away from you.”

She wiped away the last of the tears in her eyes, “Just how do you know what to say? Are you a prophet or something?”

“No, I’m just an old coot who has some living under his belt and now sees things more clearly than I did a few years ago.”

She laughed and hugged me, “You’re not just some old coot, you are my old coot”.

Yes, my dear Anna, you are the product of generations. As I look at the old black and white pictures I have of those who have gone before us, I see a little of you in them. You make me proud, and I know as they look down on us they turn to those around them and point and say: “Look, she’s one of ours.” One day my dear, you will say to your granddaughter, look you have my grandfather’s eyes, they sparkle when you smile, they dance as you laugh, you can be proud to have those eyes.

A Wonderful World

If we'd follow Louie Armstrong's vision in this song, it would be "What a Wonderful World" (written by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss):

I see trees of green........ red roses too
I see em bloom..... for me and for you
And I think to myself.... what a wonderful world.

I see skies of blue..... clouds of white
Bright blessed days....dark sacred nights
And I think to myself .....what a wonderful world.

The colors of a rainbow.....so pretty ..in the sky
Are also on the faces.....of people ..going by
I see friends shaking hands.....sayin.. how do you do
Theyre really sayin......i love you.

I hear babies cry...... I watch them grow
Theyll learn much more.....than Ill never know
And I think to myself .....what a wonderful world

The colors of a rainbow.....so pretty ..in the sky
Are there on the faces.....of people ..going by
I see friends shaking hands.....sayin.. how do you do
Theyre really sayin...*spoken*(I ....love....you).

I hear babies cry...... I watch them grow
*spoken*(you know their gonna learn
A whole lot more than Ill never know)
And I think to myself .....what a wonderful world
Yes I think to myself .......what a wonderful world.

Moral of the story is, look at what is around you. Look at God's creation and think how wonderful it is to be alive. Let the burdens of work, or loss of work, burdens of finances, burdens of sickness and death, all the burdens that may weigh you down, let them fall from your shoulders and realize that God can and wants to take them away. If you say "I don't believe in God", just look outside your window. See that mountain, He placed it there so you could see it every day. See that sunset, He painted it just for you. See that thorn bush beside the road, it's blooms cry out His Glory. See those people walking by you in that concrete jungle, they are made in His image. He created this world in a way that it would draw us to Him. It is indeed a "Wonderful World."

The Whole World's A Stage

I think it was Shakespeare that said "The Whole World Is A Stage". If that is true then where are the curtains?

The curtains have fallen on another year, a year that I would just soon forget, a year that I want to remember. There were many heartaches, the realization that my parents are mortal and won't be living forever, the death of friends.

There were also many blessings such as the birth of my grand daughter. The making of new friends. Spending another year in total love with a beautiful wonderful woman.

So I wonder what this year will bring. More heartache, I'm sure. More blessings, absolutely. Whatever it brings our way, how we react is a direct indication of who we are and what we believe. May you enjoy yourself. May you grow as a person. May your wishes come true.