The Rite of Rubble Removal

Take the gentle path

George Herbert

You can blast your way through life

You can trod all underfoot

You can mow down  all that is in your way

But then be ready

to build your life on rubble

Today- by all means go forward

Gently....

You will still get where you want to go

And it will be a much nicer place to live 

when you get there

and that's poetiquejustis

Let your gentleness be known to all

Philippians 4:5

As far as the east is from the west. so far does He remove our transgressions from us
Psalm 103:12

Let it soak

You usually have to wait for what is worth waiting for

Craig Bruce

I come from a big Italian family where there were lots of big Italian meals

And those meals almost always included lasagna

There is a point to my telling you that

After dinner,the women would clear the dishes

And march off to the kitchen to wash up and gossip

The china and crystal never went in the dishwasher

So it was quite a task

We would chatter and laugh and sing

But lurking in the back of our minds was that lasagna

And the pan it baked in

If it had to be washed, the cannoli and coffee would be a good twenty minutes away yet

Finally, all that was left was the pan.

Mom would eye it speculatively and we would hold our breath

"Let is soak!" she would declare with all the authority a 4'11 Italian woman can summon- 

which is quite a bit

and we would all breathe a sigh of relief and sit down to cannoli and coffee

Today, when you get that over the top email

Or you are ready to fire back at some nonsense sent your way

"let it soak"..... 

or in other words:  leave the stress

and take the cannoli

and that's poetiquejustis

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Galatians 5:22-23

The View from Under the Bus

Lots of people want to ride in the limo,

but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you

if the limo breaks down 

Oprah Winfrey

It has happened to all of us

The limo of our career seems to break down

But instead of being able to take the bus

Someone throws you under the bus

Heck- I have been there so many times that I was thinking of having my mail forwarded

to "Under-the- bus, USA"

I had a reader tell me the other day that two people came out of the same meeting

where he was not present

and both accused the other of having "thrown me under the bus"

Note: bus throwing is usually done in absentia  

When did extreme under the bus throwing become a national past time?

It does not take  courage

or brains

to throw someone under the bus

You know what does?

Coming along side and helping that person under the bus

To get back on their feet.

Well done to all of you who are bus survivors

And bus victim revivers!  

and that's poetiquejustis

                                          For the people worked with all their heart.

                                                         Nehemiah 4:6 

Path, Purpose and Projects Undone

Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction

John F Kennedy 

I have two unfinished manuscripts sitting on my desk

They are being very patient, and only occasionally let their emotions show

But I swear I hear them sighing now and then

"Hey, Lady.....Here is a pen....could we please get on with this?"

Those books and I know where we want to go.....

And there are things in them that we have put the effort and courage in to saying

(as much as any writer has the courage to put their thoughts on paper for all to see)

But direction and purpose do not come from the pen

or the brain

Direction and purpose comes from the heart

and connects all else

Today, my books and I  will find that road between my heart and  head

and see where the path may lead

Are there projects waiting for you?

Go...build that path

And you will find the purpose and direction along the way

and that's poetiquejustis

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go

I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

Psalm 32:8

Two Chairs

Let me live in my house by the side of the road

and be a friend to man

Sam Walter Foss

Thoreau kept two chairs in his home at Walden Pond

One for himself and one for a guest

It is not the lack of furnishings that catches the mind

It is his thought to make room in his day for another 

To leave the door ajar to the footsteps of passersbys

Today-

"live by the side of the road" in your mind

and make a little room for others 

That is worth more to most people than you will ever know

And that is poetiquejustis

                                 The heartfelt counsel of a friend is as sweet as perfume and incense.
                                                                     Proverbs 27:9

Throw 'em a curve!

A smile is a curve that sets everything straight

Phyllis Diller

Andy Rooney said: 

when you smile when nobody else is around

you mean it

Right as always, Andy....

but

If you smile when others are around

you share it

and that's a good thing, too

Today-

you will see so many people without a smile in their eyes

Dennis Waitley said;

a smile is the light in your window that tells others that there is a caring, sharing person inside

Today- throw them a curve!

Give them smile they cannot seem to manage on their own

I bet you get it back!

and that's poetiquejustis

A glad heart makes a cheerful face, but by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed. 

Proverbs 15:13

You: A Brief Case Study

I have to learn to be myself again....that's all

Doris Lessing

What are you waiting for?
Pack it up!

Pack it in!

Peel off those labels that people have stuck on your life

 Unlock the real you

Get a handle on who you are

then take it on your road!

and that's poetiquejustis

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:10

Rhythm and Rhyme

Talk is a refuge

Zora Neale Hurston

You can hide behind your words

Or you can use them to reveal your story

You can bury life in rhetotic

Or dialogue with the stars

In the words of the great Al Jarreau:

  I will take my time this time I'm gonna make a rhyme this time 

I will make a rhyme this time 

 I'm gonna take my time this time

Today- find your rhythm in your words

 then make your life rhyme

and that's poetiquejustis

Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? 

You have the words that give Eternal Life."

John 6:68