Rotation will cause
the dark and light.
While many are in day
Others are in night.
One Earth
One Moon
Harmony
Could more light
Shine all times
on Humanity?
Keep the faith, have hope! 💛
Explore Inspiring Posts from Flannel with Faith!
Monday Moon
Tag: light
Pure Poetry
Many weeks ago, a friend and fellow blogger/poet/author Kelley Morris, wrote this amazing poem to accompany a photo I shared on my blog. How fitting that this poem has taken on a whole new meaning for me after this week. If you have the opportunity, please stop by Kelley’s site (and check out her collections of poetry books). Please enjoy this pure poetry!
A bright, white light
bore a perfect hole
through the middle of sunset.
No argument over
stopping for a photo.
It was as if the sky was on fire.
But fire would have devoured.
And this dusky scene held steady,
like a brilliantly lit painting,
carefully placed
in a prestigious gallery.
The light was so bright.
I almost looked away.
Then, suddenly, the image
transformed, the clouds
once again whole.
Sunlight remained, filling
the entire space within and
between the clouds,
highlighting the edges of each.
A perfect reflection of
the only Light able to
pierce the heart before
filling the entirety of the soul.
A perfect likeness
of the only Love able to
fill all the spaces
within and between us.
Holding us steady, like
delicate white-hot glass,
smoothing our rough edges.
💛 Thank you, Kelley
My precious cousin, Sagan, wrote this poem to share with me last week! I featured her a couple of years ago in a “Talk About Tuesday” post for her senior year accomplishments. Today she and I are going to collaborate together to create a Renga poem (in honor of my son headed to Japan soon).
What the Word
Words are spoken, words are said
Some words are even read
Words hold power like a blooming flower
Petals wilting in the sun
Words have triggers just like guns
Shooting bullets at hyper speed
Words can spread like unwanted weeds
Ripping them from the ground
Words can weigh a hundred pounds
Your muscles become dull and weak
Words can flow just like a creek
Water has no concept of time
Words may pucker like a lime
Citric acid burns your throat
In which words have the ability to coat
But be careful of what you say
For your words can alter someone’s day
If your words are really nice
Their bad day could be sacrificed
But if your words are rather vulgar
That person may become an ogre.
So be kind and don't be curt
What you say can really hurt
Sagan Wilson
How is your heart, dear friends? Do you feel confused, sad, or angry? Do you have hope? Do you know how this ends?
It’s not always easy, friends, but I pray you keep the faith and have HOPE. You are loved. 💚
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The Right Light
We toured the backroads of our lives. Mom was driving, Dad singing, and other family members and I enjoyed the views. Memories have become less melancholic. Rather than sadness, serenity swept over me. Recollections of my childhood, family functions, and the best, my own sons and times in this area, brought me car-abiding comfort. Focusing on the setting light, I thanked God for supplying me strength and stamina.
Just like the sunflowers on Sunday evening, my mature muscles keep me facing the direction of a new morning; new mercies and light. All the years I kinked my neck and twisted my back seeking the better bright will pay off. A harvest is happening. The light is right.
In the morning, all the sunflowers will face east, the direction of the rising sun. As the sun moves, so will the sunflower heads to follow it. But as summer turns to autumn and the sunflowers get big and ripe and heavy with seeds, they will stop moving. Until they are harvested, they will face only east. (Nargi, 2021)
Only young flowers “move” to face it throughout the day. Once they reach maturity, they stop sun-tracking—their blooms forever turned eastward. Attempting to understand the function of heliotropism in young sunflowers while mature ones stay static remains a fascination for many scientists. Recent studies suggest that sunflowers share a common mechanism with human beings, circadian rhythms organized around a 24-hour day. Scientists hypothesize these circadian rhythms—behavioral changes associated with an internal clock—explain sun tracking in young blossoms. (Do Sunflowers Always Face the Sun?, 2020)
Unlike these flowers, my rhythm is off. No explanation is needed as to why. Unlike these flowers, I will keep my neck stretching for the SON light at all times. Maturity maintains my muscles; I can rest before harvest. Are you growing and bending to the right light? Are you in the mature harvesting phase? Will you accept the love and light that keeps your head high? You are loved.
Have faith💚
Have you heard of NET, yet?🦓
Thank you for remembering me in your thoughts and prayers. It’s so humbling. I will continuously share my gratitude like a broken record! Last Friday’s blood draw revealed I need to continue growing platelet levels. If approved, I’ll receive more shots beginning soon. In two weeks, I will meet the surgeon via Telehealth. My friends and support group meet each Wednesday. They have become such a mighty force in my friendship circle. My learning and support have been boosted (just as we hope blood continues to do)! I have several friends, either newly diagnosed with cancer or are battling other life-threatening situations or circumstances. I found out last week about a very young patient who was recently diagnosed with this cancer; another friend has breast cancer. My daily prayers are with them and all of you; no matter the situation. Each day, no matter what, I keep things in perspective. It may not lessen the pain or challenges, but I stay grounded. I’ll give out grace like chocolate chip cookies! Due to advancements in imaging and technology, more are being diagnosed. Also, due to those things, many are living longer lives. I pray you are all living your best lives. I’ll keep focusing on all the good. Faith is working.
Bibliography
Do Sunflowers Always Face the Sun? (2020, January 2). Retrieved from Ripley’s : http://www.ripleys.com/weird-news/sunflowers-face-the-sun/
Nargi, L. (2021, October 12). Why do sunflowers turn to face the morning sun? Retrieved from Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/why-do-sunflowers-turn-to-face-the-morning-sun/2021/10/11/5a815d2a-255c-11ec-8831-a31e7b3de188_story.html
Embracing imperfection with faith, flannel, & fresh air
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Snare a Smitten
“The day brought about an uncertainty of certainty. For this was a time of change and change does not come easily for some bears. Especially a bear named Winnie the Pooh.”
Winnie the Pooh: A Valentine for You
Like my activity during a typical wacky weather week in Missouri, I went from cleaning my garage on a near 70 degree day on Monday to a 60 degree drop in wind chill during the last 24 hours. Change. Aren’t we used to it?
Change is necessary; but not always easy. This morning as I walked on my treadmill (attempting to prevent further pain with the drastic temperature drop!) I watched the classic Winnie the Pooh: A Valentine for You. It took me back to my own childhood, my time as a Mom and teacher, and especially warm thoughts of my precious grandchildren. Don’t you love watching and doing things you did when you were younger? You’re still that dreamer if you wish :-). That’s what I love about Winnie the Pooh. In this episode he was worried Christopher Robin no longer loved him. Tigger shared that Christopher had been “bitten by a smitten” (the “love bug”)! It was time to snare another smitten to “unsmite” Christopher Robin! Low and behold, a tiny light appears on Pooh’s honey jar! It must be a smitten!
The whole gang (how do you choose a favorite?) set off on a journey that took them deep into the heart of the 100 acre wood to snare the smitten. “Which way is this way,?” asked Piglet. Beaver points and says, “That way is this way!” Eeyore pipes in, “All we know is nobody knows!” (I hear ya, Eeyore) If only Christopher Robin was there to help them find their way! The group felt alone and afraid. BUT for the smitten! It flitted while lit and tickled Pooh enough to make him follow! The cute crew, lost while searching, all saw the light and gathered around it’s “winking and a blinking”! “Whatever it is it brought us out of the dark and back together!,” exclaimed Rabbit. “He’s shining his light on all of us!”
Christopher found them. Pooh begins to release the smitten until Christopher shows a Valentine he made for a new friend. Pooh hangs his head as the others try to get him to unsmite Christopher. The smitten was released and freed. Pooh shared, “Christopher is happy and I shouldn’t want it any other way. This is the saddest Happy Valentine’s I can ever recall.”
Pooh really thought Christopher had found a new friend and didn’t need his old friends. BUT…Winnie and all his friends found valentine cards at their homes. Of course Christopher had made and delivered them!
“There are places in the heart that always know a friend. In good and glad and sad times, the heart remembers them. There are new friends yet to meet, there’s a place for them to start, but old friends…always keep them…in places of the heart.”🎵 -Christopher Robin
“So as winter changes into spring which changes into summer there are things which go on forever such as a way a certain boy cares for a certain bear. And we will know for as long as we care to remember somewhere in that enchanted place on top of the forest, a boy and his bear will always be playing.”
Winnie the Pooh-A Valentine for YOU
Today is “Random Acts of Kindness” Day. Although the weather is keeping me in, kindness has still been my focus. Yes, it’s easy to be like the weather-a roller coaster of drastic shifts. But when you become smitten by the light, with friends, new and old, on your side,…well, love wins. 🤍
Have faith💚 You are loved.
Speaking of kindness…
This morning my Mom texted and said, “I want to send you a picture and then I’ll call.” She was having her morning quiet time and coffee, reading the Missouri Life magazine-she was on page 26, under a section, “More Good Reads” and there, in print, was my little book. My little book!💛🙏 We were both shocked to say the least. I couldn’t believe it! I can’t say THANK YOU ENOUGH to Missouri Life Magazine https://missourilife.com/for the review and nod. It means so much to me! Yesterday, Gage and I met to begin our next collaboration in the series. Meanwhile, I’m still marketing this one in my home state. Because of family and friends, old and new, I feel smitten- totally and completely smitten. Your support means the world to me. 🤍
