Use Your Words

When we are upset
The best thing to be done is
For us to use words
Well;
Communication is key
To get all the things we need.
Better not resort
To violence and destruction,
Working situations out
Through
Discussion is a better option,
Which brings stronger resolutions.
Putting words on paper or screen
Can be a valuable tool
Letting us approach
Clarity,
Discovering our concrete ideas.
Using our words
Never indicates weakness
But shows intelligence and strength
Because choosing devastation
Is often a more straightforward solution
Than
Formulating a plan
To progress in creativity,
Building the present, ushering in
The future by making
The riskier effort to implement change.
Words build us up,
Encourage and inspire
To conquer difficulties
Eroding mountains of opposition
Into crowds of consolation
Where positivity can overcome
The landslide of negativity
Directed toward each of us
Perpetually.
It all began with the Word,
We withstand pain, trouble,
With carefully chosen words
That defend and guard us,
From what would harm us.
We do well to employ
Words
To do what seems too high
A hope, too large a dream,
A huge impossibility,
Because words have power
To change the world, reality.

© Jo Ann J. A. Jordan

Never Forgotten

One September Morning

One September morning
The entire world awoke
With no inkling or forewarning
Cherished dreams would die in smoke.

Another Tuesday
Like so many others…
No one apprehended that day
Would affect so many mothers.

One September morning
Terrorists tried to destroy
Our country without warning,
However, it did not work, their ploy.

Another Tuesday
That will live forever;
The bravery and sorrow of the day,
We will not forget, not ever.

One September morning
Love reached out calling
Even as we all began mourning,
Our nation was not falling.

Another Tuesday
When God was in control
Although throughout that dark day
The catastrophe tried every soul.

One September morning
Remembered by history;
A brilliantly promising morning
In a place proud and free.

Another Tuesday
When America found unity…
No matter what people might say,
We still have our liberty.

One September morning
When the whole world did cry
With new respect aborning
For the noble flag, we yet fly…

Jo Ann Joyce Anita Jordan
© September 8, 2002

It took me almost a year to process the tragedy of September 11, 2001. My pastor read this poem in our remembrance service.

I still fall to pieces when this comes round, the lost of life breaks my heart. The loss of innocence saddens my soul.

It was the final thing that fell into place to compel my son, Alex, to serve.

I post this here that we may never forget.

Not Afraid

We, the broken, open,
Gather, but loosely together,
A tribe rejected, remote,
Whose names history washed
Free of whatever remains.
One – another – we leave behind
The safety of the riverbank,
Slipping beneath the surface
Of believing, ridding our souls
Of blame, desertion, fear, shame,
Joining the rushing current, present,
Evicting the ghosts who pressed
Us with doubt into inaction.
We become those who call down
Future blessing with courage, desire,
Lightning accompanies our motion,
We face forward, countenances
Of fire, burning with conviction
Knowing each one has value
In reality, creating radiant truth,
Restoring liberty through LOVE.

© Jo Ann J. A. Jordan

Allowances

On days like this, it is hard to put my stuff out. I have the vow to trip over. The one that says I will post every day this year, and yeah, it is looking like that may become my permanency. It gives me the incentive to work when I might be tempted to go idle. What do you do to motivate yourself, or if you are not producing as you like, how can you make a change?

I have written four pages in the journal today, but I could so not post. Just go on reading the novel I want to complete, and wanting the chocolate I will not bring home. If I go to Aldi and get it, I will binge, to the degree I will eat almost nothing else until it is gone. Nope. I went to Sam’s Club the other day and am proud to say neither Nutella nor Airheads jumped in my cart. These sorts of things I battle regularly. What do you fight with every ounce of self you can muster? Is it food, television, books, shopping, negativity? You can win, at least sometimes. The more you win, the easier the next scrimmage will become.

I have played no music today, which is an anomaly. It has been me and my brain. Always a bit of a stretch, kind of like I imagine bungee jumping in the Grand Canyon, terrifying and exhilarating at once. What happens when you step out of your routine? Can you stick to it as you would like?

Anyway, I hope you have a rewarding evening and accomplish something that makes you smile.