by a 14 year old poet, musician, artist, with a good heart
Pandemic, pandemic, pandemic
COVID-19 taught me the meaning of,
Pandemic, pandemic, pandemic,
And its only cure is love
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Maybe talking to plants does help them thrive. I wouldn’t put it past God to be that creative. And maybe my physical self affects my spiritual self. Or better yet, maybe my “self” cannot be bifurcated. Maybe everything is spiritual, even the physical. If an immaterial thing, such as connecting with my plant can help it grow, what are the implications for the way I speak to other people? What about the way I speak to myself?
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Read MoreIt feels emotional to think of them freshening up the vacant spaces of our yard, the home full with all four children this Spring. The Coronavirus has played into my mind, when I let it. An essay on a flower may seem superfluous, not the justice writing I normally do, but it’s a window into the complexity of what aspects of creation are markers for hope.
Holy ground, where are you now?
The place Jesus stood before the High Priest…
Do you still remember?
Read MoreWhere are you, dirt, which the soldier stood upon and leaped to strike his face when he refused to answer Caiaphas?
What did you feel?
El Coronavirus, Ansiedad, Aislación, y Trauma
El virus ahora, ha integrado en nuestras vidas, nuestras conversaciones, y está viviendo en nuestros pensamientos. Tal vez tienes o no tienes los síntomas físicos que califican en el mundo de los médicos para un diagnosis que tienes el coronavirus, de todos modos, estas infectado.
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The Coronavirus has by now, integrated its way into our daily lives, our conversations, and is residing in our second by second thoughts. Whether or not you are exhibiting the physical symptoms that would medically qualify for a diagnosis as sick with the Novel Coronavirus, you are infected.
Read MoreWe have always been infected.
We may never fully grasp the level of humiliation for a Jewish man to be naked and bleeding in public. By starting to see this part of Jesus’ sacrifice as a way that Jesus can relate to girls and women bleeding during menstruation, childbirth, and miscarriages, I started to see how much Jesus was like a mother.
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Spaces of dissonance with the life I was coerced into living broke apart. My body screamed, “STOP!”
Friends rushed in. Perhaps they held goodwill in their hearts. Perhaps not. What is clear is that my mind and body were craving validation, and the freedom to express the truth.
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The future is unknown, my plans follow a trail map. It goes off the grid. I haven’t traveled this terrain before, so I’ll be trusting my gut, relying on the witness of others, and orienting myself to Jesus. You’ll find me “way-finding.”
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Read MoreDespite the increased conversation around consent in recent years, pockets of conservative faiths that decry the term still remain.
In addition, the lasting effects of a lack of autonomy still reverberate through the bodies of those raised in environments that never taught consent, mine included. With such heartbreaking prevalence of this harm, it is imperative that we continue to build a culture within our churches that embodies the immense value of consent.
I watch her daily, the way her body is continually stretched and worn by the task of growing a new life. Over and over and over again.
“It’s important to surrender our bodies to the Lord,” she says, “If Jesus is not Lord of all, then he’s not Lord of anything.” This logic makes sense to my young mind, and I worry about the ways I’m not surrendering. Does my fear of what the Lord may ask of my body mean there’s something wrong with me?
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Joke to him and to me
he’s there
she’s not seen
I’ll tell you the stories of eyes not blue
I’ll tell you the stories of eyes not blue
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the pews with common faces,
and here, my brown hands
tearing white loaves
for you, for you
my body broken,
i consent
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Read MoreIn the age of consent and the church, I walked through the door of lying to myself, so I could tell the truth about Jesus and love. The truth about my past wasn’t the truth about Jesus. They did not mix.
I say “Yes” to love, relationships, honor, trust, delight, faith, and hope.
Read MorePhilippians 1:29-30 “29 For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him. 30 We are in this struggle together. You have seen my struggle in the past, and you know that I am still in the midst of it.”
Skittles, Lynch, Seahawks
New Year pictures
lime bike
Read Moregraduation
Melancholy hope nights shouting
Read MoreI set my Bible next to the puzzle, wondering if there was an arc that would hold me and my family from the impending flood. Days later, after my therapist handed me a yellow sticky note with 4 names of potential next therapists, I just stared. She’d made the call to get me into the hospital, and days before Thanksgiving, sat me down and told me to look for a new therapist. I really needed help, and I would be best served elsewhere.