manure

the ordure in trough and pen

and other feeding things

is sharp smelling squish

barefoot farmer children

press their toes between

it's fodder for the plants

that color and bejewel our days

a meal for varied gardens

spawning rations for creature needs

this, the offering of all beasts

holds a lesson for our lives:

the cross of our human living

is manure for our spiritual spine

*The problem with/for Jesus is that we have made him "a religion" instead of someone we follow.

*One never kills the baby because someone else may abort it

*Reflections of Frederick Buechner:

  -...the storyteller's claim, I believe, is that life has meaning - that the things that happen to people happen not just by accident like leaves being blown off a tree by the wind but that there is order and purpose deep down behind them or inside them and that they are leading us not just anywhere but somewhere.

  -...all that distinguishes a truth from a lie may finally be no more than just the flutter of a an eyelid or the tone of a voice.

  -...nothing is entirely black, you know.  Not even the human heart.