Rivers come and rivers go winding fast and winding slow.Around bends, bridges, and such...smoothing rough stones to a soft touch.
A cool quiet place to go for a nice quenching drink, and a quiet place to go for a nice place to think.
With a soft gurgling and bubbling sound, they calm tense minds and ease you down.
Bass swim along snatching bugs as they go, leisurely dancing among the shadows.
Fisherman stop for a nice cast or row and little minnows leap and swim to and fro.
Rivers are calm and rivers are serene, lets take care to keep them fresh and clean.

Rome you are calling
The nuns in the abbey are singing
The temperature outside is falling
I can hear the church bells ringing
The Lord will guide me in his way
Make clear before me where I am to go
In seeking his will I shall fulfill the day
He has called me, this I know
Such an exciting summer seems to await me
A place to go where I am called
Though things may go wrong and hesitate me
A city to travel to no matter how flawed
A time to spend with loved ones and friends

I am 18. Some may say this is young. It is true I have a long way to go. However I believe that an individual's age can only be defined by the emotions that they experience during the course of their lives.

Some live life safely, restricting risks, happily meandering in a life that appears complete, but is actually very hollow. They find definition in their lives from events, successes. failures. This is not a bad way to live, however the period between each milestone, each failure, each success, is a period that is present, yet absent from their lives.

God's voice, His word, is Christ--speaking that Will you? that He came to make attainable. Because He died we have the prospect of life--and now He’s always asking: Will you? Will you live? That is the essence of God--that tenderness, that love, that mercy, that strength, that desire. God has given us a choice. He has left it to us, whether we will choose Him and His light. Will we? It’s not the matter of a moment. So many times I have cried aloud a Yes! And yet, that is only true if we continue that Yes, that Amen, every moment of every day of every year in our lives.

I had never been one of those people who liked to pop up at the first sign of day-the beauty of things was very often lost on me-I was care free; and also oblivious. However, I always made sure that I was up when the mail came; for a special reason.

I am fifteen. I am standing in the arena at Spice Creek Stables while five riders circle me, as Bill Richey’s apprentice. I am uncomfortable, and ashamed that I feel this way when everyone keeps telling me what a great opportunity this is. I want to be an instructor, I want a job with horses, but now I am unhappy and I don’t even know why.

The room was dark. It hurt her eyes to have it lighted more than dimly. Her head ached regardless. She was queen, and she was dying. Dying. And had no heir.
She sighed heavily. She was faintly aware of having done so several times within the last five minutes. And her weary mind kept on its futile trek around and around in a circle of indecision. Every time she came back to the thought of her young cousin, in France, she would linger and sigh.
He said her cousin couldn’t be queen.

Falling down.
Rising up.
Creating things of destruction.
Hating right.
Loving wrong.
Prejudice forgotten.
Peace fought.
The earth is broken and shattered.
With it our souls lie forgotten.
As we bring ourselves to ruin.
And forget all we have learned.

Death and destruction follow us.
Pride and prejudice remain.
We ourselves are desolate.
Our greatest strengths remain forgotten.
Goodness fails.
Should we forget who we are.

There has never been a drearier house or a more dreary neighborhood in which this house lies. None of the children ever come out to play, if there even are any. The birds in the treetops are only nagging crows and creepy owls who never have uttered a sweet note of song in all their lives. The grass and bushes have withered and nearly died, and their color, if indeed they even posses such a luxury, is dull to say the least.