Easier Said Than Done

Friday again. Wahoo! Blogathon number fifteen. The weeks of writing are just flying by! Today's prompt is a bit different than the others so far. A little bit of fiction. Write a very short piece of prose that begins with the phrase, "The night was replaying in her mind like an irritating pop song.”

I almost feel like I have to write a disclaimer today…. Listen people, I am actually a pretty decent writer. If I had taken more time on this I am sure I could have come up with something better. But that is the beauty of this blogathon. I just write. I don’t strive for perfection. I don’t get crazy about the little things. I am just having fun with it (and yes…. I used the word “damn” for those who dislike even the mildest of colorful metaphors, it just seemed like it needed it). I just wrote down the assigned sentence and started writing. I don’t know where this came from and I certainly don’t know where it is going. That is the beauty of a little chunk of prose. The writer doesn’t have to know. That is up to the imagination of the reader. 

Yeah this one is certainly easier said than done. But here goes....

The night was replaying in her mind like an irritating pop song. What was it about these events anyway that made her flesh crawl? The loud music, the mindless chatter, the hundreds of people suffocating in a tiny room. But this time was worse than it had ever been. Not because anything was particularly different…. But because she could not get it out of her head for the life of her.

She fiddled with the straps on her heels as she prepared to venture out on another day. Living the dream. She let out a humorless laugh at the thought. How come they don’t tell you the dream is really just that – a dream. 

It was just another Katy Perry song that one hates and yet somehow knows all the words to. Over and over it plays until every line is torture. The boss she had to schmooze, the balding guy who hit on her, the inappropriate jokes she had to laugh at. When would it end? 

And it hit her then with a horrifying and sobering revelation. It wouldn’t. Once the final chords play and she feels she has a moment to breathe, it will be just another song on another damn night. 

After all, this was her life. 

Want to try your hand at this fun little creative writing prompt? I am interested in reading. Link below!

Addiction is a Strong Word

Thursday already! Today’s blog prompt offers opportunity to unleash all of your deep dark secrets. Yes, share one of weaknesses, addictions, or vices. This could be fun.

I am afraid I am not one of those girls with a big dark skeleton in my closet… my “addiction” comes in the form of delicious smelling coffee beans brewed to perfection.

Many of my sisters were thinking of giving up coffee in the New Year. I don’t even go there. I don’t get a headache if I don’t drink coffee every morning. I don’t need it every day. I just like the whole coffee experience. 

The whole “experience” sounds like a big description for a mere drink, unless you understood from whence I have come. Coffee time in my parent’s house is far more than a delicious beverage. It is what I like to call an emotional experience. Coffee time happens twice a day over there, and though I cannot be there every day, I understand the simple beauty found in the tradition. 

It is something to look forward to every day. It may give me a little burst of energy, or it may just make me talk really fast. Conversation with a good friend is nice. Conversation with a good friend over a cup of coffee is far better 

So this is as close as I get to vice or addiction, but I assure you it is a calculated appreciation for coffee (he he, I wonder how many people have said that before about other things…). 

What is one of your vices or addictions? Link up below!

Pictures Tell a Funny Tale

Today's Blogathon prompt is a definitely a unique one. Post a sequence of events in pictures that tell a story. I must say I got a pretty good chuckle at the expense of the stars of my little "comic strip."

They are each so short so I couldn't confine myself to one. It is amazing how the expressions really tell all (especially on the faces of the wives). A title will suffice for each.

Wow. Really, Husband?

Wow. Really, Husband? Part 2

It starts out with Jackson thinking he can pet Drake like a cute little friend. Until he pokes out his eye. Then Drake will have his moment. He is bigger. He could take Jack. It's tackle time.

Do you have any amusing or interesting pictures that tell a story? Link below!

Castles In the Sky

So far this week’s prompts just give me the opportunity of expounding upon those areas in my life from which I am currently deriving inspiration. Yesterday a book. And today, a song. 

I love music; not just because it sounds good or it is fun to dance to….music is powerful because of the words. Never underestimate the power of words. Whether the written word, or the spoken word, they can both break a heart or heal a wound. 

Music speaks to the heart. Well written lyrics must come from a true poet. And so words are powerful, but when put to a beautiful melody…. They can send shivers down your spine. 

I have listened to the song, “Dustland Fairytale” a thousand times. And yet, every time I am shaken by the lyrics. The words come from the depth of the artist’s heart, and it comes across in his voice. The whole song is amazing, but my favorite verse runs:

“And the decades disappear like sinking ships, but we persevere, God gives us hope.

But we still fear what we don’t know. The mind is poison.

Castles in the sky sit stranded, vandalized. The draw bridge is closing.”

  

It is the sad cry of the singer’s heart that life is no fairytale. It is a hopeless world we live in. There is hope found in God, and yet we continually have to fight the doubt and the fear that society gives forth.  

All of the plans and dreams, the “happily ever afters”, rainbows, the castles in the sky, lay shattered beneath the lyrics of this beautiful song.

This is a secular song and yet even in the midst of this scene, Brandon Flowers knows where hope is to be found.

What song speaks to your heart? Link below!

Mercy Triumphs

How quickly the weekends come and go. Our blogathon prompt for today is to review a book or movie you have read/watched recently. 

I am not a huge movie watcher, therefore I decided a book was more up my alley. My reading of late has been rather somber, as I am tackling the heart wrenching Les Miserables. 

I have been thrust onto the emotional roller coaster which comes with reading Hugo’s work. Because this is such a vast book, it is separated into smaller volumes, and then within those, shorter books. He did a fine thing to break up his work in such a way, because each segment could be studied and learned from on its own, separate from the tragedy of the whole story. 

The wonderful deeds of the bishop, though so important, I fear will be but a brief ray of light as the book moves forward in all of its heartbreak. Therefore, I think I am going to review the virtues found in the first two books of volume one. The life of the Bishop and the first meeting of Jean Valjean. 

It was during the perusal of these sections that I felt I was on an emotional and spiritual journey. Oh, the Bishop. Every good deed that I have ever done becomes nothing, every Christian act or thought pales in light of the goodness of the Bishop. The self sacrifice, the love of mankind, the sincerity of heart…. he is truly an amazing character. 

It is such a simple concept that he has mastered. That which we are all supposed to strive to do. Love one another. The bishop ached for and loved people. He gave until it hurt… and then he gave some more. From the smallest to the greatest. No one was below him.

This is the man that we know when Jean Valjean, the sad victim of a crooked and judgmental society, is introduced. 

This Bishop’s character can be better understood through the words of his sister. He was not religious. He was not to be the judge of anyone. He was to love everyone. That is all. She states, “Is this not, indeed, to understand charity well? Is there not something truly evangelical in this delicacy which abstains from sermon, from moralizing, from allusions? And is it not the truest pity, when a man has a sore point, not to touch on it at all?”

How often have we beaten the proverbial Bible over someone’s head? The Bishop, knowing well the past of Jean Valjean, made a careful effort to avoid all subjects that would touch on his past. There is an example for us to follow of a good Christian man. 

It is a wonderful thing to see how one individual’s life changes another, and then how that man’s life goes and impacts hundreds, or thousands. Everything we do makes a difference. Whether good or bad, every act, word, or deed will affect another life.

The Bishop’s last words to Jean Valjean were simple, “Jean Valjean, my brother, you no longer belong to evil, but to good. It is your soul that I buy from you; I withdraw it from black thoughts and the spirit of perdition, and I give it to God.” And that is what he did. A few poignant words spoken at the right time, but above all, action, changed the course of Jean Valjean’s life.  

As long as society treated Jean Valjean like a scoundrel and a thief, what other recourse had he then to be a scoundrel and a thief? But when the bishop treated him like a fellow citizen, called him brother, and gave him hope for a future, he rose to the occasion.

I wish I could better describe the way in which this book has been impacting me. When I go to read…. I feel as if it hurts me. If the whole story stopped at the end of book two. We would see the goodness of the bishop, and we would see the life changing moment of Jean Valjean, and we would be happy in thinking he was going to go on and do good to others. 

And so my book review for today does end on a happy note, for I am not expanding on all of the heartbreak that is to come. I merely see how a man changed another's life because he did not judge, but showed mercy.

A lesson to be learned from this book that can be transferred to this life that we lead. Love goes a long way.  There are dark characters in this book, and yet the good characters shine bright in the darkness. This world we live in is flooded by darkness. If we would stop perpetuating evil by unloving actions,by showing mercy, and demonstrating the love of Jesus, perhaps light would begin to spread from one life to another instead, just as light spread from the bishop to Jean Valjean.

Read this book. It will break your heart, but light a fire inside of you all the same.

Have you read any spectacular books lately? Seen any good movies? Link below!