Songs, Smiles & Stability
Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.com
Thanks for joining me on our A-Z journey
to find ways to
Add More Meaning
and
Discover Clearer Purpose
in Life
Today’s letter
is “S”
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
Songs
Yesterday my second great-grandchild was born. My grandson, Jordan, and his “significant other” Joss, live in Sacramento. The care Joss received was wonderful at the hospital when she arrived by ambulance to deliver a little girl one month prematurely. By the grace of God, all that baby girl’s fingers and toes are perfect and at last report, she was nursing and cooing. No smiles yet, but those will come. Meantime, I am singing praises to God, the Creator for this little treasure.
https://deyspublishing.wordpress.com/2019/05/10/bring-forth/
The link above will take you to my friend, Dorothy’s blog.
Her topic today, “Bring Forth” fits today’s “S” themes perfectly…
Thank you, Dorothy!
Sing to the Lord
is one of my favorites.
I can get it here with my Amazon Music.
Can you? Try clicking on it and look for
Faithful Servant album by the Herbster Trio
(But don’t forget to come back.. there’s more good stuff here!)
https://music.amazon.com/albums/
Hallelujah!
Smiles
I am smiling as I sit here this afternoon volunteering at our Madison Valley Medical Center in Ennis, Montana. The smiles are a result of my anticipated hug time with Cosette, my new great-granddaughter, named after a main character in Les Miserables.
Another thought that brings smiles is the party we are planning at our house tomorrow for my Ennis granddaughter’s 25th birthday and our great-grandson’s 2nd birthday.
I am also smiling because I am reading a small booklet that I received in the mail today from Red Cloud Indian School in Pine Ridge, South Dakota. The booklet, titled Whispers of the Lakota, is filled with poetry written by 9th and 10th graders. I am soooo impressed with the depth of these poems. I called the school and asked for permission to share a couple of them with you. They agreed.
This one is by Isabelle, a 10th grader,
THE HERO IN ME
“She smiles, she laughs, she hurts,
… she cries.
She holds it all inside.
She lives, she flies, she soars,
She dies.
She is the one I idolize.
She loves, she gives, she cares,
She is
The one I know I will someday
… Be
A hero, a mother, a child, a soul,
… the woman inside of me.”
Such a perfect poem for this Mother’s Day weekend, don’t you think?
Thank you, Isabelle, for letting me share it. I love it!
Kudos to your 9th and 10th grade English teacher who drew these marvelously thoughtful, intimate poems out of his-her students’ hearts!
Stability
My prayer for Cosette, my new great-granddaughter, born prematurely to this couple who have not yet yielded to the commitment of marriage, is that she will grow in an atmosphere of unconditional love, a home where her best interests are in her parents’ vision, and a family who will give her joy, nourishment, and stability.
On this topic, let me share another poem from Whispers of the Lakota by a 10th grader named Jessie:
LIFE
“We often call it a gift, a mystery.
We have the power to make and take.
Let’s think about this
I know we can all relate
A brand new human, bright-eyed to the world
We cannot tell time, we cannot tell where or when
Something will happen but we can see that brand new
Baby Boy or Baby Girl
Life is a treasure, a gift not to be destroyed
You cannot throw a child away as if it were a toy.
The actions you take can certainly make or break
Take the time to consider the life
You make.
What amazing insight for a 10th grader to exhibit, huh? What might Jessie have seen in his/her young life to have been able to write so poignantly from the heart – the soul – of the human spirit?
If the poem is from Jessie’s experience, then we might assume Jessie has seen life taken for granted – and has experienced (or known up close about) the unspeakable act of the “throw-away child.” A life destroyed. How sad! Thank you, Jessie, for encouraging and believing in the right to life for these defenseless little treasures.
More Meaning/ Clearer Purpose
This blog series, devoted to adding more meaning and discovering clearer purpose
in life, could not have been enhanced more than by the words of these young people. Thank you, Red Cloud Indian School, for the work you do with these Lakota students! The way you love them and teach them and help them learn is so appreciated!
Red Cloud Indian School provides stability of place, stability of community, and stability of heart to children who need all of those so much. It is the largest privately funded Indian School in the USA, educating more than 600 students on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in a remote part of South Dakota since 1888. They teach the children not to run away from challenges and difficulties, but to stay and work through problems. They educate and nurture them. God bless the school and their students and staff!
Songs, Smiles and Stability
I hope today’s message has lived up to its promise to put a song of praise and thanksgiving in your hearts, give you reasons to smile, and has given you pause – as you think of the person(s) in your life who provided you with a sense of stability.
Happy Mother’s Day weekend!
See you tomorrow!
Comments on: "Songs, Smiles & Stability" (25)
What a wonderful post. ❤
I appreciate your visit and your compliment. You are such an encourager! <3
The pleasure is all mine. 😊❤
Congratulations on your new great granddaughter!
Thank you, Dorothy!
You’re welcome
Dear Red Cloud staff and delightful students,
Thank you for sending the booklet, “Whispers of the Lakota” to me. I love it!!
On my WordPress blog, I am writing an A-Z series on how to add more meaning and find greater purpose in life. Your booklet’s timing must have been a “God Thing” because it could not have come on a more perfect day. The letter I am on in my A-Z series is “S” – and I already had planned the “Songs, Smiles, and Stability” title. Then your booklet arrived. You will see when you click “Read more of this post” to go to the site, how perfectly the poems of Isabelle and Jessie fit my theme – and the points I was trying to make. They enhanced the message so beautifully!
I hope the students are pleased with the reporting of their beautiful work – and the staff of Red Cloud knows how special they are.
Thank you, Jan Beekman Ennis, Montana
>
Jan, you filled up my bucket with so much. I appreciated it all. The poems from the students in Pine Ridge, SD were very special. The reservation is filled with so much economic hardship, but the students’ voice is strong and clear.
Congratulations on your new great granddaughter. Such awesome news!
I’m glad you appreciated those poems as much as I did! Thank you for your kind words. I appreciate your encouragement.
This out a smile on my face, too! Congrats on the new great grand baby!
Thank you! Family is so precious! And children are such a gift. I pray daily for their nourishment, love, and stability.
Yes they are!
So beautiful Jan. Such a wonderful post
Thank you so much for visiting and taking the time to comment. God bless you!
You bet, I always enjoy my visits!
Blessings 💜😂🌸🤗
enjoy your new great granddaughter! what a wonderful blessing.
Mrs. Jan, Mrs. Jan, Mrs. Jan, First of all CONGRATS on your granddaughter, and secondly I praise God for speaking through this message. He said a lot and it did more than the following words can even begin to say….
A prophetic utterance to say the least
A message so powerful and filled with meat
We know not how the Lord will use
The words we pen to reveal His clues
To life’s mysteries nestled in His will
The ones we can’t see but trust Him STILL
The Lord used this message to increase my strength
To brighten my smile and to help me sing
As He builds a bridge from heaven to earth
To bring forth His purpose and help us to birth
What He’s placed inside of us before we were formed
The time has come for it ALL to come forth
God is doing a new thing so let the earth sing
Let’s arise and take our place for this divine birthing…
The Lord awakened me this morning to Luke 24:50-53, and He taught me that we should have an anticipatory praise for what He’s doing, where we’re going, and for what’s getting ready to take place.
“And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. 51 Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen.
How God does things
can go against the grain
Like a Mother giving birth
it can even bring pain
But once that new thing
finally comes forth
Like the cooing of baby
it makes pain become an afterthought….
“A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world…John 16:21
Thanks for the info about the school also. Speaks volumes!!
That’s the most beautiful response to my writing that I ever have (or probably ever will) received! I am overwhelmed and so grateful. God bless you! I need to figure out a way to copy and paste it into an email to myself and then print it. It’s a keeper. Thank you soooo much!
His words through this vessel of clay
are His to help us along His way….
What’s amazing is the fact that prior to February 16, 2019, I had no rhyme or rhythm to anything I wrote. After one amazing encounter with a very dear and special friend of mine, the Lord used her to instantaneously unlock, encourage, and nurture something I never knew was inside. God is eternally amazing! Keep being that vessel of clay that the Lord uses!
Yes, it was unlocked, indeed!!!
Man……I’ll be like a cow today concerning your message and keep chewing it over and over again. Then I’ll bee like an ant and store some of it away for future use! Thanks again!! Blessings to you!
Wow – what amazing insightful poems! As a poet myself, I was so impressed and enjoyed them immensely. Thank you for sharing them and congratulations on the birth of your new great-grand daughter!
You’re welcome – and thank you! Yes, the students’ poems really impressed me, too.
It’s amazing how important counting fingers and toes is at the outset. Today there is such controversy about the stability of marriage vis a vis cohabitation
Yes, there is … and the role models most of the “kids” use certainly don’t have the same sense of “order” that we grew up with!