John,
Thanks for your post :) I am honoured to have a seasoned blogger be the first to publish a story on my page. The story, by the way, was delightful! Did you write it off the top of your head? Impressive. I look forward to meeting many more of your carefully crafted characters.
I am performing my first wedding ceremony this weekend. I can't wait. The couple are two friends of mine, one who I've known since high school and the other I met this past Christmas (although I feel as if we've been friends for longer!). Elmo (that's their "Brangelina" name) have been so generous in the whole wedding preparation process---even going so far as to let me practice some premarital counseling with them. In these next few days I hope to prepare a literary piece as part of their gift, so I'm counting on you (readers) to post some inspiring work. ;)
My homily for the ceremony is titled, "Walk in him;" likely related to my study in 'Colossians' this past school year. In preparation for the weekend I've been reading through some old poems and came across one that is especially 'close to my heart' (that's the only cliche that will appear on this blog, I promise!). Tell me if it stirs memories of the "daily living" or "daily dying" that comes with being a follower of Jesus. Also, I'm open to suggestions for the direction of this blog, as it's still very new to me. Do think that there should be more/less commentary to accompany submissions?
All the best,
Helen
"With lips turned down their fleshed out faces mock briefly hum's stride. Curls and points and downward spirals do little but assume the posture. And wiggle they may and wiggle they might, yet lawly forces keep them there. Silence bids and silence holds the scoffers' sudden hush. But quiet it is not for the heart's wail sings a steady rhythm. The complacent static now disrupted bows down before the entrance. The mind exposed looks again both ways, before turning.
'All is well,' the content sings as mundane and creature walk hand in hand. Steady. Hush hush. Steady.
Steady. Hush hush. Steady."
The old farmer chuckled as he read the note which had been taped to his door. 'A little flattery goes a long way', he reflected wryly.
ReplyDeleteMoments later he had crossed over to the farmhouse next door and was knocking on the door. The elderly lady who opened the door beamed to see him. 'Hello Satanen' he greeted her warmly.
'Hello, Sean', she replied. 'Thank you for coming so quickly.'
'I'm only sorry that I missed you when you were by earlier. What is it that you needed help with?'
'Well,' she began, 'last week I entered a draw when I was in town. Today I just found out that I won a new bike!'
Sean was speechless. He knew how much this must mean to his friend. 'I'm so happy for you! This is wonderful news! Where is it?'
'That's what I need your help with. See, they gave me all the pieces, but I just can't figure out how to put it together.' She shrugged helplessly.
The farmer nodded and chewed thoughtfully on a piece of grain. 'Have you tried looking at the instructions?'
She smiled. 'The instructions aren't included.'
The grain fell out of his limp mouth. 'The instructions aren't included?' he repeated incredulously. 'How do they expect us to put the pieces together without any instructions?'
There was a moment of silence. Then, 'The pieces are around back if you want to take a look at them.' He nodded blankly and followed her around to the other side of the house.
His agitation increased when he saw the piles of bike parts sitting unconnected. It was a lovely set of parts, but it was useless until it was put together.
Several hours later, though, Sean and Satanen stood back and looked proudly at the finished product. 'It's beautiful!' she gasped.
'Yeah,' mused Sean. 'Who woulda thought that all those parts would come together to make such a fine bike specimen.' They stared at it for a moment more.
'I'm glad you were able to come over and help me out,' Satanen smiled. 'I had fun.'
'Me too.' Sean looked slightly disgruntled. 'I only wish they would have included some instructions so we could have finished the job faster.'
'Well . . .' she hedged, thinking of the set of bike assembly instructions which were sitting untouched on her coffee table inside, 'perhaps they would have sent us some instructions after a couple days if we couldn't have figured it out on our own. Don't you think?'
Sean raised an eyebrow, and then shrugged and nodded. 'Yeah, I suppose so, Sat--mm, you don't mind if I call you Satan, do you?'
'Of course, go ahead,' she giggled. 'What harm is there in a friendly little nickname?'
Translation:
ReplyDelete1) Thanks for the compliments about my last story.
2) Congratulations on the wedding gig! That's so exciting.
3) Beautiful poem, although it took me several readings before I made sense of it (probably in part because I didn't realize at first that the blog post's title was connected to the poem). Your friends might need a little bit of assistance if this is what you end up giving them.
4) Yeah, it might be helpful if you could post some commentary on your poems--but maybe not at the time. Maybe post the commentary a day or two later, after we've had a chance to struggle through making sense of the poem or story for ourselves.
Thanks for this, Hel.
:)
Jottens,
ReplyDeleteIf I'm Satan, and have managed to lure you into posting on my blog, does that make you Eve? ;)
Well if so, then I'm the ugliest Eve I've ever imagined, that's what!
ReplyDeleteI hope that my teasing your name wasn't too too devastating. :P
Helen,
ReplyDeleteI would love to see some commentary on your sermon-gone-story you recently posted. Also for thought, what was your inspiriation to write such a wonderful little story? I like the direction of your blog. A spot for us student-writers to interact has quite the potential.