poetry
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Thin Places – Podcast Recommendation and Personal Reflection
I listened to this podcast on my drive today and found it deeply enjoyable and thought-provoking. I am eager to read Tracy Balzer’s books and encourage you to listen as well! The conversation on this podcast also reminded me of my own experiences with “thin places” such as the hike to the Hermitage of St.… Continue reading
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Christmas Trees
I.Beside the road, browning in the breeze,Are th’unadorned and corpselike Christmas trees.Their severed stumps pine for forsaken sod,The rootless forest for a promised Rod. Dangling from a beam of their own bark,They wait in vain for cries of joy or “Hark!”In these rejected trees we find reversedThe truth that He who hangs as such is… Continue reading
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After a Children’s Christmas Service
Would the Light of the World have liked light-up shoes?Or eagerly volunteered to switch on the tree?Or struggled not to wiggle when asked to stand and sing? Would he sprint, unsteady, to the altarOr jump merrily from its step—Bowing midair lest He forgetUpon landing? We often consider Him as a baby With all His infant… Continue reading
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Insignificant in Life, Glorious in Death
There’s a tree at the end of my street that is unfairly beautiful right now. It’s nice enough throughout the rest of the year, but in the early autumn it turns a vibrant red. I slow down whenever I drive past just to marvel at it. There’s something somber about this tree. It spends its… Continue reading
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Joyfully, Ryanne
I sign my emails “Joyfully,” which seems ironic. I don’t tend toward cheerfulness when I open my cluttered inbox. Signing my emails this way began as a choice—much like joy. No matter my mood when I type the body of a message, I am forced to rejoice when I sign and send it. The early… Continue reading
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2022 Reading List
This weekend, I had the privilege of attending the Maranatha Christian Writers’ Conference. Perhaps the most invigorating part of this experience was swapping book recommendations. This inspired me to update my abandoned GoodReads account. This year has been a good one for reading and writing. I’ve finished my first draft of Fruitful Worship and, in… Continue reading
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Instrument
Do you look upon me as an unused pen Or an instrument prepared and poised to write The words and works that speak of such a life Made pleasing and productive in your sight? Or am I still a stone that holds within The unspilled waters of the unstruck spring, The unloosed letters of the… Continue reading
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Gardening Advice
I say to you: do not pull up the weeds. If you begin, it is a lifelong taskAs with each stem and bud you find and graspThree more will seem to spring up from its seeds. Again, I say: don’t bother with the weeds.If they offend, give them some other name;A “wild rose,” although it… Continue reading
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Becoming Who Your Book Thinks You Are
When I was in grad school, I asked a fellow student to grab coffee. She was a few steps (and degrees) ahead of me, but we shared an alma mater and enough other similarities that I hoped maybe we’d become friends. At coffee, she told me about a book she was writing on happiness and… Continue reading
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Holy Saturday 2022
This is the space between all life and death, Between his final cry and second-first breath;The stillness between singing and applause,Between the reign of love and rule of laws. The space before the church door is unlocked,Before the stone is rolled, the grave is rocked. The stretching shadow’s still beneath the cross,The stretch of time… Continue reading
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Good Friday 2022
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Church Growth Prayer
Teach me, Lord, to number my daysInstead of counting sheep: To live as faithfully for the oneAs for the ninety-nine.May it be as I lay down to sleepThat I rest in the victory you’ve wonBeyond any success I’d claim as mine. Continue reading
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