Welcome to the first Spiritual Journey Thursday post of 2018. Today I and my SJT friends are unveiling our one-little-word choices for the year. My trusty altar-ego Power Shot is here to do the honors in a storyboard sequence. Take it away, PS! So there you have it, folks. My word is FOCUS. Frankly, I… Continue reading 2018 one-little-word reveal (Spiritual Journey Thursday)
Pivot Night Under ancient curse Ushered through canal of pain Tiny, pink, squalling History pivots, the night Yahweh incarnates the Star © 2015 by Violet Nesdoly (All rights reserved) *************** The daughter of my friend is in labor right now. And so my mind keeps drifting, this Christmas Eve day, to the ignominy of… Continue reading Pivot night
One of the things I love about writing is having pieces accepted for publication. One of the things that I don't love is the publicizing and marketing that's needed when those publications are books. But I know I need to do my part. So when the newest Hot Apple Cider anthology (Hot Apple Cider with… Continue reading The gift of people
When my friend Laurel asked me to be part of her Advent blog, Toward Christmas, I was delighted to accept. On these 24 days of preparing for Christmas, six of us are reviewing the Jesse Tree characters of Jesus' story. One of the characters I chose to write about was Jacob (I think it was… Continue reading Alert to blessings
The farmhouse where I grew up - Photo © 2009 by V. Nesdoly Missing Home I remember squeaks and slants in the floor of our last home can picture the gouge in paneling beside my desk the crumbing rubber on the patio-door seal. In the shed I see rust-freckled freezer top shelf of garden powders… Continue reading SJT – Home (Missing Home)
For the last few years, many of the clocks that I use—like the ones on my computer, ipod, kitchen stove, bedside, car, and digital photo album—display the time in a three- or four-number readout. Often when I check the time, I notice what one could call a lucky hand if playing cards—like 11:11 (four… Continue reading It’s time to see “God loves me”
Captivated Puffy white lambs in the sky. Iridescent dragonflies. Furry bees. Jewel birds flitting and fluting the forest with warbles and calls. A plush rabbit’s coat. Moist velvet tickle of a horse’s nose. He, smooth, agile, muscular climbing a palm. These globes just above me hanging from this tree God has forbidden their glossy roundness… Continue reading SJT – Doubt (Captivated)
This week's theme Spiritual Journey Thursday word "REDEMPTION" had me scratching my head at first. I know the traditional religious meaning of the word "redemption" is the rich concept of salvation from sin through the atonement of Christ. But one also hears the word redemption used in another way. I read or hear it used… Continue reading SJT – Redemption (Midwife Openings)
Mercy is one of those words we bandy about so freely in Christian culture, it becomes almost invisible. I gained a fresh appreciation of its richness when I looked it up in the dictionary before writing this post: Mercy: 1. Kind or compassionate treatment of an offender, adversary, prisoner etc. in one's power; compassion where… Continue reading SJT – Mercy (In the DNA)
At a Bible study class I attend, this week one of the class members bemoaned the existence of denominations. Her sentiment caught my attention, partly I'm sure because I was already thinking about the topic for this week's Spiritual Journey Thursday. But partly too because I don't agree. Yes, I know we can look at… Continue reading Denominations–members of One Body
Violet Nesdoly 