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grace

Doctrine by Tempest

(x = space)

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Doctrine by Tempest

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And should I turn

To the Spirit,

How shall she say

Or guide?

To love in all things,

Though that

Can be a mystery

Like faith

And should I ask for grace

Or is that bestowed

In quantities

Already

Measured out by God,

Dispensed by angels?

I don’t know,

I think grace might be wild,

Ready to fall itself

Into the crisis

Spreading all the elements

And changing time

For

Working things,

Which means perhaps

That prayer

Is unchained, too,

And to do so

Into the storm

In terror

And unformed bequest

Well, it counts

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C L Couch

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Hurricane Map

Photo by NASA on Unsplash

Yemen

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Gumball Machine

(x = space)

x

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Gumball Machine

x

Sometimes

Often, maybe

We wish for dispensers

Push a coin into a

Machine that has moving parts

But no electricity

And no computer parts

x

And receive

Something colorful and wonderful

Call it sweet

(call it sugar)

Call it grace

x

Grace for a quarter

(I know, it might have been

a penny)

Or something else

Dispensed

To save us for

A little while

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A coin for a bit of doctrine

Except it might be heresy

Grace for a coin?

That is a coin too much

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C L Couch

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by Strange from CA, Japan – bubbleGum!, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3232931

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Assignment Earth

(x = space)

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Assignment Earth

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A return to three dimensions,

Grace is brief

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It splits through time,

Calls to the source,

And invites us there

While claiming in the world

Surprise and alteration

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Miraculous intervention

Owned by none

But gives of itself

Until what it bears is gone

x

A life changed,

Spirit re-knit,

A reason to go on

If not in gratitude

Let alone astonishment

x

Maybe something to think about,

Maybe only forward motion

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C L Couch

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The photograph was taken by Joseph Schultz, my nephew.  He enjoyed a job with the Fish and Wildlife Service on Midway Island and now lives in Wilmington, North Carolina.  The world is his future.

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Doctrine Inside a Mask

(x = space)

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Doctrine Inside a Mask

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Grace is sufficient

It is miracle

It is salvation

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It is surprise

Totally untimed

Kairos, never chronos

x

So what shall we have?

Salvation’s disguise

They seek it here

x

They seek it there

We have a

Pimpernel

x

A small, red flower

Maybe a Z against the wall

A bag of gold

x

Tossed through

My window by

Valentine or Robin Hood

x

Or with Meg

Atop the seeing stone

After cosmos-saving

x

Or while the saving

Happens (I doubt that

grace is averse to

en media res)

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Stories for our souls,

Enough awareness

For our

x

Noticing in time

To say thank you

And our hero’s

Gone,

x

Because

Another rescue’s

Needed there

x

C L Couch

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the Wrinkle in Time series by Madeleine L’Engle

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image by fabrice Verrier – originally posted to Flickr as Mouron rouge Anagallis arvensis, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11333678

anagallis arvensis mouron rouge Seine-Port avec racines jardin

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…Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me. That is why, for the sake of Christ, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.…

Berean Study Bible · Download

(Second Corinthians 8-10)

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A Letter Came from Ephesus

(x = space)

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A Letter Came from Ephesus

(1 Corinthians 1:3)

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Grace

Hopes and maybe wishes

The visiting

And writing evangelist

x

We can ask

Any, all

And sometimes ask aright

x

C L Couch

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Photo by Mihai Moisa on Unsplash

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Grace Shall Abide

(x = space)

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Grace Shall Abide

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What is grace

But surprise

Wrapping us

Inside a storm,

Bringing us to

Unnoticed shelter

Where there’s

A song to sing

Through thunder

And a light

So much steadier

Than lightning

x

The ground

Might tremble

But we are held as

Much as we

Need to be for

Safety until morning

When should the

Storm rage on

Or anyway,

Grace shall abide

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(fine)

x

coda

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Not a human

Agency; we do not

Dispense it and

Should not

Deceive ourselves

Nor about cost

Or which

There’s none:

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We ask,

We receive;

Maybe it comes

Anyway,

A wild and loving

Trickery, fit for

Storms and then

In quiet moments

When a song

Rather than a curse

Can be,

Might be

Heard or

Received through

Other senses

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d. c. al fine

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C L Couch

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Photo by Pascal Bernardon on Unsplash

6 Boulevard du Palais, 75001 Paris, France, Paris

Concert à la Sainte Chapelle

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Unkept Doctrine

Unkept Doctrine

(and unkempt)

 

I’ve been meaning to

Write about grace

The kind that is

Free

That no one can hold onto

That has no rules except

To help ‘til heroes return

 

Like crumpling a butterfly

In a human hand,

It doesn’t

Mean so much if you try

To clutch it

Or claim at all it’s yours

It isn’t yours

And can’t be claimed by anyone

Don’t try

 

Enjoy the benefit

In a sunshine of surprise

Don’t polish it

Or ever, every try

To keep it on a shelf

It has no rules that we’re aware of

Someone, yes,

Not us

To those who want to market it,

You’ll learn, if you have to

Then be forgotten

It’s as if grace has a contract

Somewhere,

Chaotically enforced

When someone tries

To own it

 

The rest of us

Will bask, when we never thought

We’d have the chance

To breathe at all

Again

 

C L Couch

 

 

Photo by Luke Stackpoole on Unsplash

New York, United States

Steam venting in Manhattan.

 

3

Turn Around

Turn Around

 

This is sweeter than

I’d thought

(what I’m eating)

The day is still and white

But, look, the branches move

The movie is better

Than remembered

When leaning back,

The pillow touches the right place

From where

It had fallen

A surprise

Many small surprises

In this day

The day itself

A gift

From no one in particular

That is the disguise

Faith in costume

Grace behind a mask

 

It seems

We can’t have it any other way

 

C L Couch

 

 

United Nations COVID-19 Response

(Unsplash)

Physical distancing. Image created by Samuel Rodriguez. Submitted for United Nations Global Call Out to Creatives – help stop the spread of COVID-19.

 

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Surprised by Grace

Surprised by Grace

 

God

I love you

And I wish for

I don’t know

It’s not as if you’re in a lamp

Three wishes?

Not enough

So grant me what you think is best

The million tax-free dollars

Will wait

Unless

Unless

How about some love today

Unbidden, even without

Expectation?

Actually, it happened

Yesterday

Someone brought some

Food, not because

I was in trouble

But because of plenty

And of friendship

That’s love

For a story

Maybe for a

Thousandth night

 

C L Couch

 

 

Image by miniformat65 from Pixabay

 

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