By Cliff Eshom | Featured Contributor
Can blessings of life truly be free?
Sunshine, flowers, the shade of a tree.
Finding true love, is one of the keys.
Listening to ads, they’re only a tease,
tempting your flesh falsely to please
a portrait of life, seek only of ease.
By Evelyn Jervey Willburn | Featured Contributor
Looking back, I would say that the first time I became depressed was when I entered fourth grade. That year, my class was divided into two groups, and I found myself separated from all my previous year’s playmates. I didn’t bounce back: that year started my long, mostly self-imposed exile at school. At recess, I paced the perimeter of the playground, and as I moved up through the grades, I effectively rendered myself invisible. The occasional thoughtless comment that came my way from some popular kid became my excuse for further isolation. Once in seventh grade I went to see the school counselor, and she showed me a poster on her wall. In the poster, a group of cartoon hippos were piling into a small boat, threatening to swamp it. The caption read, “More is not always better.” That message stayed with me, in the background, but it was many years before I really understood it or was able to assimilate it into my worldview.
Continue reading “In Which I Face Down Depression and Gain the Upper Hand”
By Terin Marlae Benavente | Featured Contributor
As most of you know, Christmas this year looked a little different for everyone. My husband and I decided to take our children to visit their grandparents who live nearly an hour away for a short visit. Prepped with double masks and hand sanitizer, away we went. Once we arrived, pleasantries were exchanged and gifts were unwrapped. Shortly after, my father decides to bring me his retirement/pension paperwork to help him fill it out. Of course, the HR employee inside of me jumped up and said “of course!” while the daughter inside of me thought “Uh oh, I have left my husband all alone with his outspoken, sharp-tongued mother-in-law.” Not in the best health herself, I decided to roll with it and move forward.
Continue reading “Why Do We Judge What We Do Not Understand?”
By Forrest Rivers | Featured Contributor
All we are
Is stardust
And fractals
Of cosmic waves
Dancing in a sea
Of love
Life has meaning
A message
And a sacred rhythm
That drums to the beat
Of one
By Ingrid | Featured Contributor
The song of Summer’s ending
Lament to lost enchanted days
Sings in the early autumn winds
And rustling leaves born on the breeze
And echoes through the avenues
Of the early turning trees.
The parting hymn of Autumn
Sung soft into the evening wind
Sighs mournfully, and solemn
Leaving not a breath of warmth behind
It lilts and moans
In tilts and groans
The falling leaves to find.
By Cynthia Cady Stanton | Featured Contributor
This heart is a strong muscle.
It never disappoints.
When put to work,
there is always strength,
there is always strength.
This heart is a deep well.
When the bucket is lowered
and dips into its depths,
there is always refreshment,
there is always refreshment.
By John Gregory Evans | Featured Contributor
Lying in my upstairs bedroom at home in San Antonio, Texas back in 1999, I was frightfully sick with a terrible flu-related virus. I felt as if I were dying. I laid half asleep and half out of sleep. At this depth of illness, I cared not whether I lived or died. So I simply fell asleep thinking this was it for me. I was forty-five at the time. Life had proved cruel, and all so often we need some type of boost to get us back on track. I felt I was at the end of my rope, both emotionally and mentally, but my writing career was just beginning. Spiritually, I was alive and well, but my body had suffered greatly over the years. I was in very bad shape.
Continue reading “A Golden Azure of Light: My Hospital Visitor”
