Gideon’s Challenge

IMG_9517Cozy is not Warm

Cold raindrops
year ’round,
and rivers
that freeze your toes.
Rocky shores
of gray and blue
the dead of summer
still holds chilly dew.
This is home
it is not warm
to anything
except the heart.

I love where I live.  I live in a land of blues and grays and verdant greens. The rain drops here are cold all year round, and the oceans and rivers are freezing cold no matter what season it is. Evergreens flourish, hardy and strong…. and I love it all.  It’s home, and proof that “cozy” does not always equate warm, because there’s nowhere more cozy to me than here.

Photo © ZenStatePhotography

Gideon’s Challenge

IMG_8774Beautiful

What we have
the passion we share
the trust
the honesty
and how you’re
always there.
None of these things
are taken
for granted,
but cherished
like treasure.
Beloved.

Photo © ZenStatePhotography

Gideon’s Challenge

IMG_8310Faith

Your belief in me
is a beacon
in the darkness.
Your care for me
wind underneath
wings.
With you
at my side,
your encouragement
there to guide…
I soar.

You speak of loving me like it is the simplest thing in the world, but I know I am not the easiest person to love.  You speak of supporting me like it is lifting a feather, and yet I know the strength of your arms.  Thank you for always being there, for always believing in me, and for helping me to become the man that I am today.

Photo © ZenStatePhotography

Gideon’s Challenge

IMG_9221Bright

Your love
shines
line sunlight
on my soul
and I bathe
in its radiance
as it
warms me
from the
inside
out.

I can feel the tangled knots of the drop now rising in my gut, seeking out a place to stick and stay, hide and rest.  Your love is the shining light, bright and ever present, that helps keep that bundle of knots for lingering too long.  Thank you for always being there for me during these times… even the ones where reaching for you becomes a challenge all its own.

I love you.

Photo © ZenStatePhotography

Gideon’s Challenge

IMG_9398Calm and Quiet

First she comes
tentative
and wild
one quiet step
and then another.
Shhh… stay still
and watch
they say,
and next
comes the surprise.

Twins with wobbly legs and curiously twitching noses follow their mother out of the trees and into the open. They stay close, but still they come.  Their mother is skittish, but she brings them forward to show them off in a gift built through years of cultivating trust.

Photo © ZenStatePhotography

Gideon’s Challenge

IMG_8470Motivation

Half a moment
just a thought
flitting through
a butterfly
flying by
and yet
it becomes
creative spark
alight
burning
turning
spinning
twirling
I must
bring it to life

I have an idea. Yes… yes.  It’s going to be a for sale idea.  But still… I have an idea. And for the first time in a long time? I feel that inner spark of interest and excitement and exuberance that comes with the spark of creativity coming to life.

Photo © ZenStatePhotography