Stumble On--ABAB Poem

This is a random poem I did (because it came to mind and wouldn't vacate until I put it down), of the ABAB type.

STUMBLE ON

Stumble on, fair pilgrim, trudging into the night

For morning awaits on the moon's other side

The bleak winter's road, full of pain and spite

Breaks into Spring and, Fear, woe betide

Gird yourself freshly, with courage and grit

Take heart from these challenges, lessons of pain

The things you are learning will bolster your wit

You think yourself harried to Hell and again

For each other pilgrim must travel his road

Must deal with the stickers, the stones, and the heat

Must hobble onward, himself must he goad

Fearing he'll falter, fall down, and be beat

He fears his friends and his children and wife

Will forsake and abandon him while on his way

And they may, for the choosing is part of this life

There is but to fall to his knees, now, and pray

Stumble on, fair pilgrim, but know at your side

Is the Builder of worlds and the Maker of man 

Hold your head up high, He's along for the ride

And know He believes in you, and that you can.

For the darkness can't linger when e're there's light

The Builder has figured this fact in His plan

And Evil can never prevail against Right

It's part of the priceless Salvation of man

© 2016 by H. Linn Murphy

I Sent You a Dog

It's  been a crazy, nail-gnawing summer. I've barely had time to sit down and write on my Works In Progress let alone on my blogs. But today seems to be a good time to take stock of the situation.

There have been a few peaks (my son coming home from Russia; getting my medallion with my youngest daughter; seeing my babies and my eldest and her husband; going to the Temple; a family reunion) and several plunges (dealing with someone who reminds me of Godzilla in the way she stomps around crushing people; wedding insanity; and running a funeral). Challenges have included helping several friends work through hills of trash of both the physical kind and mental, as well as dealing with my own detritus mountain.

I wish I could say that I handled each challenge with grace and wit. Nope. I mentally kicked and screamed and threw myself on the floor and then crawled into my mental cave to lick wounds almost every time. I wish I could say I'd evolved into this amazing, brilliant butterfly of a person. But I think I went backwards and became a worm again. I let myself be pushed out of my place; knocked off my perch; rolled out to the trash and left there behind the barrel.

In fact, I felt about two inches high at a time when I should have been deliriously happy. It was supposed to be one of those fabulous mom paydays. Instead, she told me, "Sorry. No paycheck for you. In fact, you're fired. Don't let the door hit you in the rear. Oh, and by the way, you're unimportant and crazy." (Not in so many words, but actions yell.)

What have I learned?
1. Ask for inspiration about these things and then listen to and believe those words.
2. There are things you're reading incorrectly, but mostly not.
3. Trust your intuition.
4. Just let it run off.
5. Breathe.
6. Pick your battles.
7. Contrary to popular belief, you have a place and a value much > zero.
8. I sent you a dog. Now use him for good (not food).
9. Don't lose sight of what's really important while bemoaning the garbage.
10. This too will pass. And someday you'll have regrets.

Okay. Now it's time to go make dinner (not dog).

Lost Boy

H. Linn Murphy

I wrote a truly wonderful poem for a friend of mine the other day. He was experiencing a particularly dark time in his life. For some reason the poem got erased en route to the blog. I tried everything to get that stupid poem back, but it wouldn't come, wiping out hours of my much-needed writing time.

So I just re-posted this picture and put it on a time release hoping I'd still somehow retrieve the poem. No go. But then I finally realized that It was Christ's voice he needed to hear, not mine.

We all have challenges and rough water to navigate. Who better to tell us where the rocks are than the person who put them there under God's direction? Who better to calm the storms in our hearts than Christ, the One who stilled the angry seas one day in Galilea?

This is a picture I drew one day when facing my own rough seas.