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God

An Appointment with God

(x = space)

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An Appointment with God

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I don’t’ have so many appointments

Lately,

For which I’m grateful

In a time of my kind of PTSD,

It’s the weight of stressors

I don’t have to bear

So much

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To get there

To show up on time

To be here when I’m called

To have everything I

Might be needing

Relieved of this

Makes for a better day

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I’d like to live easy

I don’t have much

But to have time

And on the flip side

Lack of bother

On the A side

Coffee and toast

And morning

And a day for you

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Someday will arrive

I keep forgetting

You will arrive

To take me to home

By then,

Maybe I shall be glad

Meanwhile, I keep my faith

With me and then I

Hope with

The Amish

Who say, one by one,

I hope so

When asked about assurance

Of salvation

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C L Couch

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I think it was the poet Julia Kasdorf, as I may have said before, who told me about the typical response when Amish are asked the salvific question.

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Waves

Photo by Bernd Dittrich on Unsplash

Frankreich

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Gaze

(x = space)

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Gaze

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Give me a

Small piece of Earth

For a while

With dust swept in the corner

Without perfection

A hard floor

Some stones for walls

A ledge from which to look

While I can look

Out upon, well,

Everything you’ve made

And the uneasy alliance

You have with

Your creatures

Maybe all of them

Certainly the ones who

Made it out of Eden

Not unscathed

And how much we took with us

No one knows for now

And it’s been a while

And in this place

I’ll ponder you

And us

And our place with each other

In the grander scheme

Of things,

Which for now is

Still a guess

Though sometimes

We think we’re getting closer

But I won’t care about conclusions

Rather the sacraments

In each moment

Normal, mortal

Materials

Turned

Taken inside

To serve a spiritual purpose

However far

A thought of you

And us

Might take us

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C L Couch

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The Sacrament of the Present Moment by Jean-Pierre de Caussade

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Photo by Brigi Uhrin on Unsplash

Budapest, Budapest, Magyarország

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Second Book of Genesis

(x = space)

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Second Book of Genesis

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God kept saying

That it’s good

Creation’s good

Each day of it

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To be there

Hear the names

Have God speak into our minds

In pre-fall grace

With understanding

There is delight

And faith

In all this

Without they’re being named

Only the day and night

All the animals

Us

And then a time of rest

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If we had been there

If we could have touched their hands

And drawn them back

From the tree

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C L Couch

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Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

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Dire Invocation

(x = space)

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Dire Invocation

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God

Help us

We need you

Because

And when

The world is too much

And we can’t get away

For love

Of being here

Unreadiness for heaven

‘Til you say so

And we can’t live

‘Til you say so

We have to do

Other

We think you made us

This way

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C L Couch

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Photo by Jack van der Spoel on Unsplash

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Monarch

(x = space)

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Monarch

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King Jesus is all

My all in all

I know he’ll answer

Me when I call

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In a final chapter of

The Last Battle,

A non-Narnian who was

An anti-Narnian for

A time,

Has met Aslan, the

Metaphor of

Christ and God

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And this young man

Is abashed

To know he has

Been serving faith

In another god

And way

And now must own

His condemnation

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And Aslan

(and Lewis)

Judges remarkably,

As only God-as-love

Can

To pronounce that

Service done well

In his life

Is counted as

Service unto him

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(sorry,

as a character

Aslan is male,

though we know

don’t we

that God is female

and male,

Jew and Greek

and more than

these)

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Scandalous doctrine?

Some

Might think so,

Saving

Saving welcome for

Those outside

The fold

As Aslan

(in Lewis)

Says is so

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God bless the ecumenical

Those who serve

That all might know

The glory

Living in

The realm of God

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C L Couch

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The Last Battle by C. S. Lewis

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“King Jesus Is All,” a traditional gospel song

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Galatians 3:26-29

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Matthew 6:29

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As Pretty As It Is

Photo by Calvin Mano on Unsplash

Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

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On the First Day of the Week

(x = space)

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On the First Day of the Week

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God,

A petition for this morning

While the sky is gray

And the sun

Is in the offing

Waiting to push through

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Follow us

To catch us when we fall

Or to pick us up

Dust us off, after

Or simply be around

Because the negative is not

Enough

And if we rise with you,

A certain kind of sufficiency

Of economy

The science of

A real enough and more

May follow

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Really,

We don’t need so much

Less than we think we do

Then out of

Small largesse,

When that’s all we have,

We may help

The other

Not a sly metaphor

But a person

Real people

Real needs

Not holiday

But quotidian

Every day,

You know

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All this is real

And thankful

To be prayed

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C L Couch

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Photo by Sigmund on Unsplash

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They Seek Him There

(x = space)

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They Seek Him There

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O God, our help

In ages past

Our hope for years to come

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And what do we need today

But to know you are near

Some miracles would not go

Amiss, I must confess

(unless they do)

For a week of flood and fire

End or start to war

A sickness that has taken many lives

Corruption from the fruit of Eden

For the way we ate

For the way we live

For the way we want to live

On this side or that

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C L Couch

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title borrowed respectfully from The Scarlet Pimpernel

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by Lawn Weeds – Scarlet Pimpernel, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=85377914

Scarlet Pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis) is a summer annual plant and a member of the primrose family. As its name suggest[s,] it has bright red/orange flowers, which only open when the sun shines.

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Amen for Catharsis

(x = space)

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Amen for Catharsis

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You came

Dear God

And you were here

You were what I couldn’t see

The voice beneath the noise

Something soft yet muscled

Beneath the brittle strength of

The world

x

I don’t know about the timing

I wasn’t thinking clearly but

Have no doubt

Your arrival

Was perfect

In the way

Every plan from you

Is manifest

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Now in a time of peace

An hour, the next minute

Maybe a day–this

Side of things

Is too partial

And imperfect

(not like grammar)–

And now I go about

Again (imperfectly)

To try to serve

To try to balance out the wills

Of people

And of nature

With my energy

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And have I said it simply,

Lord

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Lord,

Thank you

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C L Couch

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Part of one of my acrylic paintings.

Photo by Paul Blenkhorn @SensoryArtHouse on Unsplash

Sensory Art House

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Peace Talk

(x = space)

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Peace Talk

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What does God demand?

We say humility

In walking

That sounds good

We could let go our weapons

And the meanness

On our faces

And go our way

Not as if

Everyone’s our friend

But that the world

And the world’s God

Anticipates

Agendas,

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Don’t make a face

That gets you beat

Or killed

And with a face

That says that, should we meet,

It might go all right

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The thing is

And I guess you know

This is a rule

First for the strong

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C L Couch

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Micah 6:8

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Photo by Timothy Barlin on Unsplash

(nice face)

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