Awakening

Dress down your pretty faith. Give me something real.
Leave out the thee and thou and speak to me now.
Speak to my pain and confusion.
Speak through my fears and my pride.
Speak to the part of me that knows I'm something deep down inside.

I know that I am not perfect, but compare me to most,
In a world of hurt and a world of anger I think I'm holding my own.
And I know that you said there is more to life.
And I know I am not satisfied.
But there are mornings I wake up and I'm just thankful to be alive.

I've known now, for quite a while, that I am not whole.
I've remembered the body and the mind,
But dissected my soul.
Now something inside is awakening,
Like a dream I once had and forgot.
And it's something I'm scared of
And something I don't want to stop.

And I woke up this morning and realized that Jesus is not a portait.
Where stained glass windows or hymns or the tradition that surrounds us.
And I thought it would be hard to believe in
But it's not hard at all.
To believe I've sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God.

And He's not asking me to change in my joy for martyrdom
He's asking to take my place.
To stand in the gap that I have formed
With His real, and His sweet, and His real amazing grace.
And it's not just a sign or a sacrament.
It's not just a metaphor for love.
The blood is real and it's not just a sybol of your faith.

So leave out the thee and thou and speak now.

-Sara Groves

Assorted thoughts from inservice...

As I was trying to occupy my brain during a not-so-interesting inservice today, my (very weak) poetic side emerged. Clearly, I had a one-track mind this morning.

Two haikus:

My coffee is gone.
Brown joy-bringer of the morn.
My heart slightly dies.

Bladder slowly fills.
My coffee running through me.
Ten-o'-clock come soon!


And this next poem was actually part of the inservice. We were given a poem to read and then instructed to write an original poem modeled after the one that we read.

Women Who Love Coffee: an Ode to Stalk the 'Stros '09

They are quiet and foggy in the morning
until the hot, brown liquid
first touches their lips.
They smile politely
in the presence of their
bright-eyed and bushy-tailed friends
but remain monosyllabic
as if to say, "I'm gonna need a little while."
Starbucks makes
their hearts leap for joy.
When they first sip, it's glorious.
Their spirits warm as the creamy, dark elixir
seeps through their bodies,
and they are once again ready to
mess some...stuff...up.

A Teaser...

It's been a crazy summer filled with many adventures that, alas, left little time for blogging. I hope to share stories of my summer fun soon, but until then, here's a small sampling from "Stalk the 'Stros '09" to tide you over.

On the last day of our trip, we were inside a Starbucks in St. Louis trying to escape the rain while waiting for time to leave for the airport. I got up with the intention of mailing a letter only to return a few seconds later to tell my traveling companions, "Girls, I have a bit of a problem."

This is what I had to show them:


Notice anything amiss?

*And yes, that is a Dumbledore's Army t-shirt I'm wearing. I am a BIG winner.