Love… One Sip At A Time // A Valentine Tea Party
I started hosting tea parties in an older home propped as pretty as you please on the corner of a quiet street. A family of four in a two-bedroom, one-bath home made for a tight fit, and tea parties felt downright snug, but no one would change a thing. Some teas were scripture-based, and others celebrated holidays, but every time, the room filled with the scent of scones, floral tea, and...
Poetic Pauses: Egrets, by Karen Lucci
Egrets Egrets as inevitable As turtles and rare As turquoise snakes Sang along currents Of solitude Sand solicitously Entreating attentive Reflection Sinking through shadows Penetrating waters Pale as March Like lead they fell Splitting water Like pine logs ’til motionless the water Deep and sharp Straight to the heart Arising again death Gripped spun up Like a cockcrow Breaking night....
Trusting in the Midst of Messy
“Trust Me in the midst of a messy day. Your inner calm—your Peace in my Presence—need not be shaken by what is going on around you. Though you live in this temporal world, your innermost being is rooted and grounded in eternity. When you start to feel stressed, detach yourself from the disturbances around you. Instead of desperately striving to maintain order and control in your little...
Why It Feels Like Christmas at the Baker’s House
Snow wasn’t falling and bells were not ringing, but it sure felt like Christmas at the Baker house last Friday afternoon when a box of the above arrived on our doorstep. I never expected my poetry to be published so you can imagine my delight and depth of gratitude to the One who made it possible. The poem below is not mine, but one that’s also included in Enter the Gateway,...
One of God’s Greatest Gifts: Repentance
Guess it goes without saying that our granddaughter is rarely in the background, and for good reason! On those rare occasions, however, when she realizes we’re not tuned in to her every word it doesn’t take long for her attention-antenna to intercept with two words that snap me back into full attention mode: Meeee-me! Meeee-me! (i.e. Grammy) You would be hard-pressed...
Poetic Pauses: The Garden, Mary Oliver
The Garden The kale’s puckered sleeve, the pepper’s hollow bell, the lacquered onion. Beets, borage, tomatoes. Green beans. I came in and I put everything on the counter: chives, parsley, dill, the squash like a pale moon, peas in their silky shoes, the dazzling rain-drenched corn. -Mary Oliver, “New and Selected Poems” New and Selected Poems is one of my...
When A Pinch Spells Love
Mr. Rice was a close friend of my grandparents and the local elementary school principal way back when. He’d often stop by their home for a quick visit, to the delight of my grandparents. My reaction as a seven year-old, however, was quite different. I’d make a run for the bathroom, lock the door, and sit on the edge of my grandparent’s pink tub until I heard his old pick-up...