Tag: truth
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A Suspicious Red-Tailed Hawk
The first golden sunrays had just stretched their fingers over the mountains and begun to play with the leaves of the wild cherry tree above me, when, from the low, delicate branches of that tree, a raucous cry startled me out of my stupor. It was the aggressive screech of a wild red-tailed hawk, shattering…
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Steps
Far below me on the canyon floor–well, more specifically, one of the many levels of the canyon floor–a round, muddy, teal-blue pool caught the five tiny rays that reached down to it, winking and twinkling them back to the sun on its barely-stirred ripples. Ivory walls rose straight up from this pool, circling up and…
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The Original Plan
“I want to stick with the original plan, you know?” Melita’s mouth was half open, but I kept talking. “The only problem is, no one told me what the original plan was in the first place.” She laughed. “I wondered what you were going to say. Yeah. That’s true.” We were 9,000 kilometers from home,…
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Character
Character. That foundational piece of you. Yes, YOU. Untouchable by disease. Unhindered by poverty. Unmistakable when times get hard. It’s the man battling cancer and the man battling heart disease who invest hope into each other instead of speaking of their own pain. It’s the mom with the uncooperative toddler in the grandchildren photoshoot–the mom…
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Safe
From the pebble beach of Blue Marsh Lake that yellow September day, I gazed at the sky above the vicious locust trees and asked Jesus what he had to say to me. “A storm is coming.” That’s what I thought he said. Had I just imagined the words? A wisp of mare’s tail cloud hung…
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They Killed the Biggest Bear
I pointed Harley’s face towards the creek at the edge of the woods, speaking into her ear with quiet intensity. She lowered her head, wriggling away from my grasp. Then the lights came on. Her ears shot forward. Her eyes froze. Her hackles stood up. Growling, she strained against me, but I did not let…
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We Don’t Get To Be Here Long
Bu-BUMP, bu-BUMP, goes the blood in my jugular vein, as if my blood vessels are a track and the blood cells are thoroughbreds, surging towards the finish line. I stomp the accelerator and turn the wheel into the mat of blackberry vines, very aware that my body is being forced back into the seat as…
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Preparing for War
“What would you like me to teach you?” 4 sleepy, innocent faces stared at the table. 2 sets of eyes blinked back at me. It was 10 am on a Sunday morning, but the brains in the 4th grade class were functioning at the slowest possible speed. “It’s ok.” I said, “We’ll talk about this…
A Blurred Reflection 