invited us to try our hand at a poetry form that is new to me:
Sijo
A Korean verse form related to haiku and tanka and comprised of three lines of 14-16 syllables each, for a total of 44-46 syllables. Each line contains a pause near the middle, similar to a caesura, though the break need not be metrical. The first half of the line contains six to nine syllables; the second half should contain no fewer than five. Originally intended as songs, sijo can treat romantic, metaphysical, or spiritual themes. Whatever the subject, the first line introduces an idea or story, the second supplies a “turn,” and the third provides closure. Modern sijo are sometimes printed in six lines.
David did a fantastic job with the form. Click on his name & blog title above to read his contribution. I told him I was not sure I was even going to try… it sounds too complicated! But… with the following meme as a prompt, here goes:
Your mind will always believe, if you are ever truthful; But when you are deceitful, you feed it sorrow, deep grief. Feed your mind sincere love and truth, and it will be returned to you.
Bob & I send our love and deep peace to you and your loved ones today.
Thanks for visiting JanBeek. Will you try your hand at Sijo?
Choosing positivity brightens life; It keeps us happy and upbeat. Even though we encounter difficulties, We can choose victory, not defeat.
It’s up to us to decide the kind Of person we want others to see. If we keep our hearts open to love, We’ll be the best that we can be.
We can choose positivity again and again As we focus on the good things in life. Meet life eagerly as we tackle each task And ask God to take away any worry or strife.
“Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth…”
Ah, TRUTH! It can be so evasive… But a positive attitude and an open heart and mind Can make Truth more discernible. Seek it out with questions wise and kind.
Positive people are filled with curiosity; They never stop asking when and why. You can’t stop an intelligent child From asking, “Why?” even if you try.
So foster that curiosity! Appreciate it in your own design. You are a Child of God, you know, So embrace your uniqueness and SHINE!
Thank you for visiting JanBeek today. Your positive remark in the comments below Will add to my joy today. Let your positivity show!!
From my Christian perspective, this prompt is a no brainer for anyone in the USA with a moral bone in his/her body. But I have good Christian friends who disagree with me, so why open the gap and create more divisiveness?
Thousands of years before His birth, Isaiah predicted Him:
Isaiah 9:6
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Then, when Isaiah’s prediction came true, Jesus came to earth… the Prince of Peace, Here to show us how to find His peace, Here to show us how to live.
Ephesians2:14 put it this way:
“Jesus is our peace” Because Jesus “came and preached peace to you who were far away and those who were near.”
Jesus came, lived to show us and teach us, and died to save us. Believing that is the road to His grace. Believing that is the way to Eternal Life. Believing that is the path to peace.
Dr. John Koessler wrote:
“Those who know the peace of Christ become agents of peace themselves. When Jesus first sent His disciples to proclaim the kingdom, He told them, ‘As you enter the home, give it your greeting.’ Matthew 10:12 (the traditional Jewish greeting, Shalom) This was more than a social formality, Christians are offering peace through faith in Christ to others. The shalom of Christ is more than a greeting. It is a promise. There is more to peace than a personal experience. For the Christian, peace is a person. Jesus is our peace.”
Victor Salazar and Bob have stayed in touch for 50 years. How has that happened?
Victor was Bob’s wrestling student when Bob coached at Hillsdale High in San Mateo, CA. back in the 1970’s. Every year at Christmas, we exchanged Christmas cards. Victor let us know where he was each year – and his career took him to over 30 different countries! What a joy to have Vic come from Alabama to reconnect with us here in Montana! (That photo was taken last year when I first posted this blog)
I have had the fun of that kind of connection with former students, too. This is Ty Stiles and his wife with Bob & me. He was my kindergarten student in 1962! I named our first child, Ty. We never let Ty Stiles out of our sphere of contact. He was in my prayers daily. He came with his wife, Roxanne, from California to visit us a few years ago. About a year after his visit, sadly, Ty left this earth for his eternal home. My memories of him and his visit warm my heart every single day as I look at the cross he welded and sent to us shortly after his visit.
There’s no greater joy Than to reconnect with friends From long, long ago
Look up to the cross Recall its loving meaning Embrace those friendships
5 Ways to Keep Long-time Friends
Pray lovingly for them daily.
Be sure to keep them in your address book and write to them often (don’t just rely on social media)
Pick up the phone and talk to them, emptying yourself into them… it’s an investment. Be loyal and be confidential.
Let them know how much they mean to you, but don’t force the relationship. It has to be natural. Don’t insist that the relationship is forever reciprocal. Some friendships are meant to be seasonal… and the season may last years – but maybe not. You can’t control that.
Be honest and transparent with them … let them see your warts. It shows you trust them not to hurt you… and you are trustworthy in return.
Embrace Long-time Friendships Never let those precious folks go Keep them forever in your heart How long we’ll be here, we can’t know
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
“Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.”
Embrace Long-time Friends My heart’s covered with footprints. How about your heart?
Put on your hope-pack Wiggle into shoes of strength Cinch the belt of truth
Wear armor of grace And the bonnet of bounty Trash the coat of wrath
Burn the clodhoppers Of worry and of anger Just dress for success
Well, they ARE beautiful as they wear… But it’s not the clothing of cloth that counts!
Ephesians 6:14-15 New International Version
14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
Eight things to add to that list: 1. I have my health. 2. I have love. 3. I have faith. 4. I have trust in God who hears and answers prayers. 5. I have friends who faithfully join me in prayer. 6. My daughter-in-law, Monika had her gall bladder successfully removed and she is at home recuperating… dressed for comfort. 7. Her feet are fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of faith. 8. I am blessed.
I am dressed for success.
Are you?
Here’s my bonnet of bounty!
Thanks for visiting JanBeek today. See ya tomorrow (God willing) Hugs!
Embrace Karfreitag! That’s German for “Sorrowful Friday.” The same day named “Guode Friday” in Old English back in the 1200’s.
I always wondered how it got named “Good.” What’s good about the Friday when Christ died? I’m more apt to agree with the Germans” It’s a sorrowful day!
The Baltimore Catechism from 1885 says it is “Good Friday” because it’s the day Jesus showed his great love for mankind.
Matthew 27:46
And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema tabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Matthew 27:59-61
“Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb… He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.”
Today is the day when Jesus seems gone. Mary and Mary Magdalene wept in front of the giant rock that was between them and the One they loved. Can you imagine their despair?
The reason I am embracing “Karfreitag!” is because I think it would be a shame to jump from Sorrowful Friday to the joy of Easter morning without sitting for a day and contemplating the sorrow that surrounded Christ’s death.
Imagine yourself at the tomb. Imagine the shock of finding Jesus gone… with the stone rolled away.
Tomorrow is called “Holy Saturday.” This is all that is written about it:
The next day the Pharisees and chief priests went to Pilate. “Sir, they said, we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day…”
What would you have thought if you had seen this scene on the day after Jesus died?
Holy Saturday is a day to pause gather our thoughts, process what happened, and get ready for the beautiful message of Easter.
See you tomorrow. Love to you, JanBeek
Before you go, treat yourself to this wonderful rendition of one of my favorite hymns by a phenomenal boys’ choir … joined by the wonderful men’s voices of the King’s College Choir. You’ll be glad you did!
My hands are dirty – And my heart is soiled, too. Time for spring cleaning!
This season of Lent is a time for cleaning – Cleaning out our hearts in preparation For the arrival of Easter when we can Embrace God’s grace through Jesus’ sacrifice.
Today’s sermon on our ZOOM worship service Was titled, “Holy Ground” as our pastor, Steve Hundley, recounted his trip to The Holy Land back about 20 years ago.
My feet are dirty – And my heart is soiled, too. Time for spring cleaning!
Holy Ground
What was it like to be able To walk in the footsteps of Jesus? What was it like to stand On Holy Ground? Spiritually renewing?
I was expecting each site to be charged With such power that holy goose bumps Popped up all over my body. But I was a bit disappointed.
It was hard to feel the grace of the risen Christ In this historically preserved place. How do you feel Jesus breaking bread When all you’re seeing is the top of a rock?
It’s important to protect these sites, But looking through plexiglass makes it Hard to feel the reality of Jesus. The garden tomb remains open, though.
It’s helpful to see without obstacles That distort the original places. We have our own expectations of What we’ll feel imagining holy faces.
Jesus and the money changers Were there on the temple floor Where I stood on that visit. But I couldn’t feel Jesus’ anger.
I wondered if maybe those men Were in fact offering a service. He told them they could tear it down And He’d rebuild it in three days.
They didn’t know He was referring To His body, not the building. Buildings are not what we worship. We worship God’s nature in spirit and in Truth.
We are often tied to the Rites and rituals to define us. But our traditions must not Rise above the Christ we adore.
It is not the place that matters. It is the love in our hearts That counts when we join together In worship… thanking God for His grace.
Thank You, God, for Jesus, for Easter, For the meaning of the cross, And for the sacrifice of Your Son’s life So we might EMBRACE GRACE.
The HOPE of EASTER Is in the grace of the cross. Let’s engage in some spring cleaning In preparation to stand on that Holy Ground… At the threshold of our eternal cleansing.
Embrace Grace.
AMEN
Thanks for visiting JanBeek today. See ya tomorrow. I’m headed to do some spring cleaning!
For = before Give = before receiving Ness = before receiving give
N ever E xpect S atisfaction S imultaneously
Is there someone out there who has wronged you?
Have they treated you so badly, so unjustly, that you are having a hard time forgiving them?
Do you wish you could, and you’ve tried, but you just can’t find the grace to give them that satisfaction?
Do they deserve your unforgiving spirit?
Do they deserve a pay back?
Do you wish you could get even?
Would it serve them right!?
Serve them right if you never forgave them because they don’t deserve to be let off the hook?
Who’s caught on that hook anyway?
They may not even know they hurt you!
That happened to me once. I had a person who was a teacher in a different school. I used to be in the district office and now I was happily and obliviously back in the confines of my own classroom, loving every day with those darling children, putting those two years of district office administration behind me. It had been a tough time. Satisfying opportunities mixed with struggles to satisfy all the new teachers (K-12) who were required to come to my PETAL workshops.
P rinciples of E ffective T eaching A nd L earning
I enjoyed working with the new teachers, trying to help them be the best they could be. But, inevitably, you can’t please everybody, right? Not every one of them thought what I was teaching was useful to them. I probably rubbed some the wrong way. They’d prefer to be in their classrooms preparing for the next day, rather than being at a required workshop in “The Ivory Tower.” Do you relate?
No, they were not all smiles! But I did my best… and I got back to the classroom where I could interact daily with children as fast as I could! The District Office was waaay too far from children!
Then, “that happened to me!” A knock on my door at home one evening. When I answered it, there stood a teacher who had been in a series of my workshops. I invited him in. We sat on the sofa. He was nervous.
“I want you to know I forgive you,” he said.
I didn’t know I needed forgiveness. I didn’t know I had done something to offend him. I am sure my face registered shock.
“I have been harboring a grudge against you for two years,” he said. “I am going to a counselor for a lot of unresolved issues in my life, and my counselor said I need to resolve them.”
So he was in my living room, sitting next to me, letting me know I was forgiven.
I should have asked why. I should have asked him to explain what I did. But, I was too dumb-founded. I’m not sure I wanted to know. Let bygones be bygones, you know?
I just told him I was sorry for whatever I unknowingly did to offend him. I told him I held no ill feelings about him. Never did! I accepted his forgiveness. We hugged. He left.
That young man had been given the courage to confront his offender. He had been given the courage to let go. He had been given the courage to ask for forgiveness. My job was to accept it and to allow him to move on.
My job was to handle what God had given me… a clean slate in someone’s mind. A clean slate where there had been a dark smudge.
Is there someone out there who needs your forgiveness ? Are you carrying a grudge?
Don’t wait! Before receiving, GIVE! Give the gift to yourself… the gift of letting go.
Ezekiel 36:26
“I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.”
Thanks for following JanBeek and for coming to read and leave a comment today. You matter. I write for you. God bless you! See ya tomorrow.
Do you ever wonder what’s real and what’s not? Do you wonder what’s truth and what’s fiction? Do you wonder why certain things happen? Do you wonder what tomorrow will bring?
What if you grew up with a dad Who was a Special Effects Artist? What would the world seem like To you if this was your daily reality?
Special Effects Video
Ever wonder what life would be like If you had not met the person who Is front and center in your life now? Who would be with you instead?
Smooshed kisses – Watch out noses!!
Ever wonder how God created The beauty of a rainbow or sunset? The colors of the variety of birds? Or every zebra’s stripes unique?
Photo by Jessica Lewis on Pexels.com Double rainbows – no less!!
Ever wonder how He could make Each snowflake different? Each eye unique – unlike any other? Each voice to sound like no other?
Photo by Egor Kamelev on Pexels.com No two are alike… amazing!!
Each eye is unique. No two are the same. Amazing!!
Did you ever wonder if our eyes grow over our lifetime? When we’re born, our eyes are about two-thirds smaller than they’ll be when we reach adulthood. People’s eyes stop growing in length by the age of 20-21, when they reach about 24 millimeters. But the weight of the eyes’ lenses continue to increase over time. Isn’t that a wonder?
Ever wonder how I knew that? Used to be we had a huge set of encyclopedia that we bought from a door-to-door salesman. Encyclopedia Britannica. Outdated by the time it was published. Ask Siri today. Ask Alexa. Carry your encyclopedia in your pocket. Ever wonder how our kids could survive without their cell phones?… And about those voices:
People recognize us by our voices.
Ever wonder what life would be like If the only thing we bothered to talk about Was the good that we see in others? This is a poem my mom had memorized:
Wouldn’t this old world be better If the folks we meet would say “I know something good about you,” And then treat us just that way?
Wouldn’t it be fine and dandy If each handclasp warm and true Carried with it this assurance, “I know something good about you”?
Wouldn’t life be lots more happy If the good that’s in us all Were the only thing about us That folks bothered to recall?
Wouldn’t life be lots more happy If we praised the good we see? For there’s such a lot of goodness In the worst of you and me.
Wouldn’t it be nice to practice That fine way of thinking, too? You know something good about me! I know something good about you.
(Louis C. Shimon)
Mom posted that poem along with many others on a cardboard that she had hanging inside her kitchen cabinet door. She gathered the poems as a new bride in 1937. They were cut from the weekly newspaper. I have that cardboard posted inside my kitchen cabinet door here in Montana. It’s fading fast and becoming harder and harder to read… but I have most of them memorized now, too!
Ever wonder what your life would be like If you were born to a different mother? You wouldn’t be you, would you? What if your mother had different attributes?
My mother loved poetry (obviously) – And so that love of words well spoken Rubbed off on me – and I wonder What would life be like without poetry?
I wonder what life will be like when there is no more COVID-19.
Ever wonder what this world would be like Without the wonder of music? The streams would have to stop and The wind would have to cease.
Ever wonder how one could live happily Without having a sense of wonder? What do you wonder about, my friend? What gives you a sense of awe and wonder?
(By the way, that “Nature Sounds” video will play for 10 hours. Do you think the image or sound will change after a while? Ever wonder how they did that?)
Sending my love and hugs. Thanks for visiting JanBeek. Wonder which of your friends would like a link to this post?
Bob & Jan at breakfast on our 59th anniversary yesterday.
Thank you for all your positive comments and good wishes. I wonder what blogging would be like if I didn’t have YOU in it? Not a pretty thought!
