Psalm 46:10

You've probably heard it as:

"Be still and know that I am God" 

[New International Version]

but you should really become familiar with this translation:

"Go for lots of walks my girl,

come rain, come sunset shine; 

open your eyes, long yes wide,

listen as time whispers back now new;

and p.s., take your camera with you"

[Kooistra Version]

[He will be exalted;

this much is sure.]

Every Cottage Needs a Porch of Potted Herbs

Today Amy & I made a trip out to the Farms,

so I could get my milk and pick up some herbs.

When I got home, I settled myself down

and got myself to work.

 And when the day was done,

I didn't mind the view.

(I'm not the only one who thinks so.)

I have a pair of piano students,

a dear friend of mine 

and her well-loved child.

During the school year,

their lessons are on different days,

different time zones in the day.

But it's summer, 

and so hence, they come together.

This, at times, means that the well-loved child 

needs to find ways to entertain herself.

[This, at times, means that we have to tell 

the well-loved child to, in fact, entertain herself.]

"I need a friend!" one day she cries,

all up in our face.

"Go upstairs," I say direct,

"for up there a friend waits."

As in: my well-loved teddy bear,

from whence I was a child.

She gets him, she claims him,

she takes him outside.

We see her through the windows and doors, 

wandering around the yard.

Talking to him.

Suddenly, a little head and these little notes begin to appear,

over our piano-working shoulders:

 messages from the child,

and her friend, the bear.

Today I do my own bit of wandering around,

and find this scrap of yellow,

 lost beneath a chair.

I pick it up, and think:

this truly is a magical place,

and I'm not the only one who thinks so.