The Monkey Barrel

Archive for January, 2007

In one year he learned to read a book and add and subtract. He learned to ride the bus to and from school. When John was six he got to visit Mickey and he was tall enough to ride nearly all the roller coasters at the parks. He shanghai’d a quadrunner and scared us all to death and beat more levels on Lego Star Wars than I care to recall frankly. When John was six his baby brother learned to walk and steal all his toys, so John learned the meaning of patience and sharing. His drawings took on more shape and life and began to tell stories. He rode a snowboard for the first time and learned to boogeyboard while mom looked on in paralyzed fear at a safe distance so as not to scare him too. When John was six he watched many movies at the theatre, ate boatloads of popcorn and mounds of macaroni and cheese, and butchered many a cone of ice cream. He outgrew his need to have Elvis watch over him every night and grew an inch nearly every other month. He outgrew three sizes in shoes and two in clothing and finally began wearing holes in the knees of his pants. We joined a care group and found a church when John was six and he found and made many more friends than the year before. He impressed teachers and parents alike with his good manners and attentive spirit. He learned the art of sarcasm and could even carry a joke with a punchline. He wrote rules to live by and has followed every one. When John was six he did try hard and he made us proud. When John was six, life was good, and we adored him and marveled in his growth. When John was six he was loved and now that he is seven, we love him still and more. Happy birthday John, I cannot wait to see what 7 has in store.

There is a glorious winter sun streaming through the windows on an unusually chilly January day. John is home from school and I had big plans to go out and do something that wasn’t in the house. But then I remembered my childhood and how a day home from school was best spent lying in the nearest patch of sunlight lost in some fairytale land of books or imagination. So John is in his room this morning, building fantastical lego contraptions and citys and roaming around in his imagination. Luke is in dreamland and I’m still in pajamas. Looks to be a pretty good day. All we need now is snow.

Satan, Father of lies
Chieftan of deception
Breathing poison
Dark clouds that shroud
Picking the scab
Stabbing the heart
Lucifer speaks
Diversion, smokescreens
The Word speaks
Piercing into the shroud
Truth shines
and the deception crumbles
Shout truth into the night
Declare and claim
And darkness has no dominion
In the light of the Son

Gray clouds rolling in
Roiling through our perfect blue
Pushing back our spring
A little closer to its home
Naked branches stretch
Beckoning the blue to stay
To play a while longer
Yearning to burst forth too soon
Wind blows in an icy chill
Frosty nips around the fringes
All too soon, again to hold
Bringing back our winters cold