Dying dad

Between laughs

remembrances descend

somber like dead balloons

leaking whatever life remains

He looks beyond looking back

probing deep down

through the ground of crumpled colors

through the tired and piled balloons

Between laughter

his sober thoughts gather feelings

grains of gratitude and sorrow

or more for us who want to know

He smiles again

dispelling our dis-ease

lest we dive into a funk

a desert without reprieve

But midst our labored exhalations

we pretend exhilaration

*Reflections of Alan Jones:

-It takes a long time to make a human being, and conversion is that continual process of being made and re-made.

-Desert believers know that however we have come to acknowledge Christ as Lord, there is always more of him to know and more of ourselves to know and surrender to him.  This means, among other things, that we don't all have to experience the same things at the same time.

-If we follow the life of Christ as set out in the Gospels...we find a range of possible experiences.