Celebration

A green balloon

Or two

A pinetree-shaped

Sugar cookie

Or a card perhaps

Yes, a card

With a mountain scene

A meadow

A bird

A meadow lark

Singing its flute song

A stone path

Peaks

Valleys

Harsh, steep trails

Scorching summer sun

Weight, pain

Flight

Rest

Humor, so much humor

Despite the agony

Because of the agony

The journey I

Observed

From a distance

An onlooking friend

Cheering

Letting her story

Change me

How do I celebrate

The beauty

The life

The victory

How do I say

My spirit

Is stirred

I smile with you

Share a meal

Together

Laugh hysterically

And weep a bit

As you paint a picture

With words

Of the path

You walked the trail

You climbed

The people

You met

With gratitude

I receive

The raingear

You lend

Knowing I too

Will need

Protection

You cannot hike

The trail

For me

A twinkle in your

Eye conveys you know

It will be hard for me

As well

I can learn much

From observing

You

But must go

Myself

Must go

Learn the lessons

Learned by those

Who dare to

Step

Where they are led

A profound wonder

It is

To be led

To follow

The desire planted

In the heart

The deepest part

Of one's being

My friend has been

So brave as to listen

To the song

To the spirit

Within who

Leads her

She now sings

In return

A song

A meadow song

A tune unmatched

In beauty

Unprecedented

In grace

Life-giving

Grace

To Carla, aka Meadowlark

With so much love

From

Diane (yet to have an aka:)

Dry

Sometimes my hope
Is covered in cobwebs
All but forgotten
Sometimes the river
Of life that ran through me
Is a path
Of rocks
So dry
So dusty and dry
Sometimes each song
I sing
Or hear
Or think about
Falls flat
On my ears
On my heart
On my vacant heart
Sometimes

diane mann 2012

Morning Journal After Disorienting Dream

I'm following Love
It's calling me on
And Love
Is following me

Look on in wonder
Scratch your head
As I pass by
I won't apologize
Anymore
Not ever again

For choosing to be
And become
Who I'm created
To be --
Simply me
Following Love, Who
Always follows me!

diane mann 2012

The Cross Next to the Door

I sat in the front room of my house spending some quiet-and-still-with-God time.  Usually I settle on the floor of my office in the back corner of my home, but this particular morning, I was drawn to sit near the window that looks out to our neighborhood.

As I opened my eyes, I saw something unnoticed by me previously, a large, lovely, wrought-iron cross hanging on the neighbors' home across the street just next to their garage door.  From my narrow view through a pane in the window, the cross and the wall to which it was attached were all that could be seen of their home.  Asking my husband whether the decoration was new, he replied, "No.  That cross has always been there."

For a while I gazed at it, enjoying the focus of the symbol of Jesus' sacrifice for all, for me, for my neighbors.  I've never noticed it before, I kept thinking, surprised by my having overlooked it.

What had captured my attention these years as I occasionally looked across the street?The flatbed trailer parked next to the curb to haul four-wheelers to the desert each weekend, seeing the excitement of the occupants of that home as their son returned from Afghanistan, a new RV, hedges planted in front of the RV to help meet city storage codes, father and son working on cars together, some things that impressed me about their family, others that upset me about my street looking more cluttered.

Sitting with all my thoughts, the one that settled and resounded within me was this:  If Jesus is not in every person, He is right next to the door of the heart of each person, longing to dwell within them.  God is at work in and just outside of, if you will, everyone's life!  When I interact with people, easily I am distracted by what impresses me or that of which I don't approve, when Christ is there, drawing that person to Himself.  If Jesus is not in a human's heart, is He not at the doorstep seeking entrance?  That's what I long to focus on, the activity, the voice, the presence of God in a person's life, whether that individual has acknowledged Him yet or not.

I join with Paul in His first letter to the Corinthians, wherein he recites his resolve, "For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified."
(2 Cor. 2:2, ESV)

Lord, please give me eyes to see You, ears to hear You, a heart that responds to You as I journey with others, letting the distraction of my opinions fall away.  How cluttered my own life becomes, where my vision of You is obstructed and the din of my self-made busy-ness overpowers the sound of Your heartbeat.  Thank You for the cross of Christ!  I love how, like my neighbors' house decoration, "It's always been there," for me and for everyone.

diane mann 2012