A Singular Thing

 Standing ‘neath
the open sky

at night,

Starlight

soon draws my eye

and I gaze up.

I feel so small

and yet

At Center

of it all.

God made the stars

for all mankind,

But also made

the stars to shine

on One Face

in One Place—

Each man the purposed end

of all creation.

Copyright © 2014, Danette Christensen, Light is All Around Me. 
Material may be shared or printed for non-commercial use, but must include this copyright notice.

A Goody-Goody Lives on The Edge

I’m really conservative.  Not a risk-taker.  I follow the rules and I never take dares.  I am careful.

I’m a quiet person.  Mild-mannered.  And I try to be nice and do good.

So why is it that, when I’m driving, and a really good song comes on, I want to turn it up LOUD and… BURN RUBBER?  

Sometimes I’ve done it.  In the back of my mind, I consider concealed cop cars, and I-would-never-let-my-teenager-do-this.  But that call to Go Fast and Play Loud is as strong as a glass of ice water after a 20-mile bike ride on a hot day.  It feels as good as shaking my hair out of a tight ponytail before I go to bed.  It’s the same as 5:00 pm, when I’m making dinner and the rice boils over and the kids need help with math, and my husband comes in and says something that makes me laugh; and when I laugh, all the tension flows out of my body, and little tingles flow in.

That’s how driving fast feels.  I LOVE it.  So when I’m there, in the driver’s seat, in the music, in the speed, can I just say? …

This is the right place.  Drive on.  *

_______________________________

*Brigham Young, a Mormon prophet, said these words in 1847, when he, along with the pioneers he led, arrived in the Salt Lake valley

Copyright © 2014, Danette Christensen, Light is All Around Me. 
Material may be shared or printed for non-commercial use, but must include this copyright notice.

Not Rachael Ray

(A true story)

 

We had the missionaries here

for dinner just tonight.

Entertaining’s not my cup of tea,

but that’s alright—

I do my best to just say Yes

when called upon to serve.

“Weaknesses to Strengths” we’re told,

so I got all my nerve…
I made spareribs, and oh,

Everyday Gifts

“You ever tried this?  You got no legs, you’re sittin’ in a wheelchair, and you’ve got to get your pants on.  Tried that?”

            I laughed as I pictured it.  “Never thought about that one, Edith.”

            Edith smiled back, “Well, it’s no picnic.” 

            It was another of Edith’s million dollar comments.  Brightened the afternoon in a moment.  She was good at that.

            Edith lived in my neighborhood.  I’d visited her occasionally; she was always a lively conversationalist.  Diabetic, her legs amputated at the knee, she told endless jokes and stories from her wheelchair:  Her helpful son, the other no-good son, why no one catalog-shops anymore, which canned pork and beans taste best… All of these were points of discussion.  Edith had the silver hair of a nearly-seventy-year-old.  Not thin, she was a lumpy, laughing lady whose lucid eyes looked straight at you from behind large round glasses.