Daily Prompt; Landscape


Trees

http://dailypost.wordpress.com, Daily Post, Daily Prompt, DP

When you gaze out your window — real or figurative — do you see the forest first, or the trees?

I see the trees first. Then as my mind starts coming alive and I have had my two cups of coffee, I begin to see the forest.

I can see big fuzzy bears showing huge white teeth. I can see monkeys making fun of me when I let life over take me. The pointers of the beasts  show dripping saliva as they lick their lips and wait for a tiny morsel from my soul. The laughing of the monkeys makes me shrink into myself, causing a lack of confidence to take over.

I see a man swinging from tree to tree. I think he is gorgeous. His soul is sitting on the outside of his chest and I can read words of caring, compassionate, loving and family first.

I try to do the look or send body signals to let him see that I am interested but he keeps swinging staying just outside of my reach.

I see slimy snakes wrapped around tree trunks and they hiss at me. They want me to come near so they can wrap their bodies around me and smother my life a way from me. I am smarter than they are, and I stay my distance.

On the ground walking in little groups are the creatures that can not be seen easily. These are the ones who play with  my mind. They bite hurting words into my skin and they do their best to carry me away from what I represent. These are the smallest of all but have the most powerful sting of all.

As time passes me by the minute and I realize I am actually here in my seat things change. The fog and mist lifts and I realize that only I can make the changes so badly needed in my life.

The wild beasts of my mind disappear. The rain stops and I see the promise of a good day in the rainbow over the tree tops. Life is good and I can now smile. My days are filled with challenges. The beasts continue to try to irritate me, but the son of God is on my side. The forest wither into tiny new seedlings and the beautiful leaves come pouring out of the strong branches holding life for me to reach up and grab a piece of it.

First Joy of the Day


I wake up to the furnace finch

Running to keep me warm

I look at the frost on

Other roof tops

The ground is covered

With white stiff frost

The temperatures

Are only 19 degrees

But the sun is shining

The skies are blue

All of a sudden

In the quiet I hear

The sweet little

Chirp of an old friend

I grab my camera

In hope of capturing

The beauty of him

He looks at me

With those tiny eyes

I think he sees my lens

He must be proud

Of what I want to do

As he sits very still

Eating his daily food

Be careful little one

Don’t move or fly

Let me get you focused

Oh thank-you dear friend

You are the first

To place the smile on my face.

Terry Shepherd

04/03/2013

This Was So Cute, I Wanted To Share It


The softer, orange-fleshed variety of sweet po...

A lot of my blogger friends live in the country, or have gardens or farm. When I came across this little love letter I just had to share with you. I thought it was so cute, and I bet my bottom dollar, some of you will enjoy it also!

It is called

A Farmer’s Love Letter

My dearest Sweet Potato,

You are the apple to my eye with your radish hair and your turnip nose. My heart beets for you. My love for you is as strong as onions. Do you carrot all for me? If we cantaloupe, lettuce marry and we will be a happy pear.

Love,

String Bean

 

Wasn’t that just so adorable????

Needs Or Wants


Cover of "Kindle Wireless Reading Device,...

Cover via Amazon

I am doing laundry and considering washing a couple of windows, inside and out. While I am debating on what to do next, I have been watching the commercials on the television. I realize that you can buy anything your heart desires for the right price. Do you need a new figure? You can buy a Weight Watchers diet plan. You can buy the special foods with the points numbered on them, and you can even pay to go weigh in public with others. Do you not like your face, your eyes, nose or chin? You can pay for an alteration, even splurging for a look where people would not recognize you immediately. Do you have those ugly spider veins? You can pay someone to take the streaks away, leaving you with beautiful legs. Are you and your partner not compatible in the bedroom? You can buy another human body for an hour to give you what you think you lack at home. Do the shoe commercials tell you that your feet would look more beautiful if you wore their brand of shoes? How many pairs of shoes are already in your closet, also guaranteed to make you more beautiful than you already are in God’s eyes. Did God not give you the perfect breast size? You can purchase new ones if you want. How about the body that God hath made? It is remarkable that you can now pay top dollars and have your gender changed. Can a commercial convince you that your car that is running fine, and only five years old, that you must have a faster, safer, more exotic car  to be able to fit in to this world? That you will get more dates, more looks, and more envious eyes turning your way? Don’t like carrying around your favorite paper back book? You can buy a Kindle and take this with you everywhere. You can purchase a certificate for anything you want to be today. I can remember when training was offered for free at a job, along with a weekly pay check. Remember, going into your grandma’s garden and picking that warm, plump  tomato off of the vine? Enjoying the flavor of it as you bite into it and the juices run down your arm? The watermelon? Dad would go to the garden patch and pick out one of many, cut if from the vine, and you had it for supper that night? Now you can pay a high price for organic, the same food you ate from the garden in earlier days. Now you can pay high prices, thanking the production companies, by filling their pockets, for not putting that cancer chemical in your foods. My father mowed our yard with a hand push mower, that had blades and a frame and handle. Now you can purchase gas, electric, self-propelled mowers, that almost do the guiding and work for you. Just know your budget and they can fulfill your dream. You can pay money to go to a club and walk an indoor track, or use an indoor, heated pool. When I was young, I walked as a way to get from point A to point B. I swam in the lakes, in the summer, where the natural sun heated the water, and I could go as many times as I wished all summer long for free. You can now purchase under garments that add lift to your bottom, or extra lift to your breast. Have a tummy that pokes out? You can buy an all in one, to keep it all hidden and under control. I could always listen to the radio at home on my very own portable radio, or I could choose to go out into the living room and watch the family television, all three channels. Now you can purchase many stations, premiums for kids, teens, and adults, any sports channel you can imagine, and you can watch these on any numerous televisions through out your house. You can purchase tiny electronics, that you can place ear buds in your ears, purchase and download the music, and have your very own juke box with you at all times. Need to take your computer with you? You can buy a laptop, and all the accessories, now making the internet available to you 24 hours a day.  When mom or dad called your name and you were so excited because someone was calling for you, now you can carry a cell phone, and pay top dollar in order to never miss a call. You can even purchase electronics that allow you to see the other person you are talking to. My parents each had two jobs in their lives. The one they started in their teen years, and the one they ended up retiring from. Now you can choose any job, switch at any time because there are no longer the securities built-in to the paycheck that give you the incentive to remain with one company. You can even buy your own retirement, and this is probably a good purchase, because if you don’t, you may retire in the poor house. Remember the wonderful health insurance you had when you worked full-time? Now you can purchase your own coverage, picking and choosing what you think you may need. This used to be  free, remember? Our world is in debt to a dollar amount that we can barely speak. Jobs are hard to find, if you are looking for security. God has promised to  give us all that we need in our lives, if we promise to love and follow him. How much do we pay yearly, to hear that we need more to be more. Is there a difference between wants and needs? Should we pay a higher price to keep the cancer chemicals out of our bodies, because the supply and demand is so huge with the fact that we want it all now? I am not saying that advancements in life are bad. We do need some in order to keep up with the future, but do you think the media, the television, magazine ads, books are promoting our minds to spend more on wants than needs. The clever pictures, words, and sexual innuendos that are used to sell us, are done so craftily, that we do not even realize what is happening. I find myself in these positions at times also. I am guilty for sure. When I see this happening, when I hear I want, I want, coming out of my mouth, I have to stop, and take a breath, and think, do I need this or do I want this. Just my opinions friends. No pointing  any fingers from me. We each live our own lives the way we see fit. Remember the phrase, stop and smell the roses? This is what I need to work on daily, because I can find my mind swirling and making me dizzy.