To a Homeless Man - A Poem

I almost didn't post this because I felt so terrible about it. But I decided maybe someone would benefit from reading it. You know, in my last post I wrote a poem about compassion. Well, yesterday I found myself in a situation where I could have demonstrated compassion towards an individual........and I didn't. And now I feel terrible. The following poem is about that situation and is a type of sonnet with an a-b-c, a-b-c, d-d, a-e, a-e, a-e rhyme scheme.

To a Homeless Man 

I saw you yesterday at the stoplight. 

Your sign read 'Traveling and need supplies."

Your friend was sitting, his head bent down low,

I worried how you'd make it through the night. 

Your clothes were ragged, despair filled your eyes.

I wondered where you'd been and where you'd go.

What was your story? Why was there no home?

Why were you here now and why on the roam?

Your eyes locked with mine, my stomach curled tight.

Why did I always see men like you here?

Could you be a test for me to choose right?

Why then, suddenly, the shyness and fear?

Oh, how I regret with all of my might,

I looked away when heaven had drawn near. 

If you see someone in need of help today, don't give in to fear or excuses like I did. Please, help them out.

Portrait

This is a portrait I did of two of my friends. It was the first portrait that I had ever drawn and given to someone. I don't usually do portraits because they take me a long time- usually because I'm a bit lazy. I have six more I'm working on. :-) this portrait below took half a year to draw so who knows how long I'll be working on the others!

Compassion - A Poem

When I was in high school, I used to write poems almost every day. They seemed to flow from me. I would find inspiration for poetry in my friends, in nature, from my imagination, from pictures- everything would spark a poetic verse. But, after I finished high school I stopped writing poetry. Some things just weren't the same anymore and I lacked some of the inspiration that I previously had. Three and a half years later, and only a few days ago, I was rummaging through some of my keepsakes and found an old note somebody had written to me. "Never stop writing poems" it said.  This note inspired me to take up writing poetry again.

I searched on Google and came across a long list of different poetry types. After seeing the list, I challenged myself to write a poem for each style. Here is the first poem, an acrostic. I put it in my sketchbook and decorated it up a bit.

Here's the poem, in case you can't read it from the picture. 

Cheerfully laying aside

Our own selfishness and pride,

Making the things that we do

Pleasing and helpful and true. 

As we see another's need

Sympathy will take the lead.

Seeking to help and to care,

In love, their burdens we'll share.

Our virtues ever should be, 

Niceness, love and sympathy. 

Sunset Drawing

I love going to church! Today was extra special - it was the communion service. I had such a wonderful time studying the Sabbath school quarterly, playing the piano, and enjoying the fellowship of my church family. After arriving home late in the afternoon, I went on the balcony to enjoy what I could of the lovely day. I brought out my sketchbook and pencils and began to sketch the trees across the road. All of the sudden, I looked at the sky and realized I was missing a gorgeous sunset. So I hurried and sketched the sunset as best as I could. This drawing took only fifteen or twenty minutes to do. It has a bit of an impressionist look. But it's the best I could do!

Praise the Lord for a lovely time at church and a beautiful sunset to close the day. :) 

Journal Cover

In the last post I said that we have a lot of citrus fruits down here in Louisiana. Today, my mom and I were able to pick some oranges, kumquats, satsumas, an unknown citrus fruit and some persimmons. When we came home we had nine bags of fruits! We intend to make some orange marmalade with it. 

I had the evening free so I decided to do something crafty. I had this one journal that was plain black and rather boring looking. So, I got out my materials with the intent to re-vamp the cover and make it interesting. Here are the results! 

Before:   :( 

And after:  :)

You know what this reminds me of? It reminds me of  Ezekiel 36:26.

   

 "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." 

Praise the Lord that He will take our black, sinful hearts and transform them. He can change your heart, too, if you ask Him! 

Soul Expression

Soul Expression. I have a number of ways I use to express myself- composing music on the piano, sketching my surroundings, drawing pictures from my imagination, making crafts, cooking food without recipes.....

We all have different ways of expressing ourselves and that is part of what makes us unique individuals. However, the greatest thing....no, not thing....the greatest Person I want to express is Jesus. I want Him to exude from me and be part of everything I do or make. I know that may sound weird.....Maybe I'm getting confusing, but I want to be so full of Jesus that every time I express myself Jesus naturally flows into that expression.

Here's a little word art I drew. May it remind you that everyone is unique and special. May it also remind you that Jesus is to be our ultimate 'soul expression.' :)

Embossed Card

Fall is fully upon us, down here in Louisiana. You wouldn't know it if you looked at the trees. All the trees are still green! I saw my first fall-colored tree yesterday. However, I've been seeing plenty of good ole' persimmons and citrus fruits ripening on the trees. Talking about citrus fruits, I've never seen such variety! Of course you've got regular oranges but then I've seen ten other versions of it and even a couple that people didn't know the name of. There are so many different limes too. With all these beautiful trees and with the lovely fall weather you'd think I'd have plenty of creativity. But, unfortunately, that hasn't been the case.

Once in a while, when my creativity gets low, I go on an excursion to the library. So, the other day I checked out a book from the library on card making techniques. I saw some examples of embossed cards and decided I wanted to try them out. Now I don't have all the fancy presses and stuff to make 'real' embossed cards so I did it my own way -with tinfoil, glue and a pen and toothpick. :) I had to laugh at myself while I was making the card. It seemed pretty ghetto to me and I wasn't sure it would work out. But, there you go! I made my first embossed card! The card with roses on it was my own idea.

Materials: 

*White card stock

*Rose motif

*Yellow tissue paper

*Confetti

Materials:

*White card stock

*Purple paper

*Embossed motif (Tinfoil glued onto card stock and embossed with a pen and toothpick :) 

Next time, I want to make Christmas cards. I'm already in the mood for Christmas even though it isn't even past Thanksgiving yet. I'm of the opinion that Christmas cheer, the Christmas spirit of giving, and Christmas music are not to be limited to the Christmas season only. (I'm also of the opinion that stores should reserve their Christmas advertisements, products, and decorations until the week before.) Too bad there won't be any snow down in this Louisiana Bayou area. My dad even suggested getting a palm tree instead of a Christmas tree this year! I told him that next he'd be suggesting we decorate an alligator! 

Haha! Maybe I'll make some special Thanksgiving cards....or wreaths....or food next. Who knows! 

Here's a neat quote I found. When you think of, or see beautiful, fall colored landscapes, remember this quote. 

 The lovely birds making the air vocal with their happy songs, the delicately tinted flowers in their perfection perfuming the air, the lofty trees of the forest with their rich foliage....all testify to the tender, fatherly care of our God and to His desire to make His children happy.  {SC 10.1}