Intro where I talk about how I cannot believe/fathom that the entire first quarter of 2026 is already over.

Now, onto the next stuff.

This will be the last poem I share on the subject of October 2024. Consider it the last in the tiny poetic trilogy that started with All Good Things and then Make Something New. If you know, you know. If you don’t know, I will simply say that the church I moved 1200 miles to help plant (i.e. – help start) fell apart in October of 2024. You could say I was not having the time of my life for a minute there (hence All Good Things and a host of other poems and prayers and gnashings of my teeth).

By the grace of Jesus, I am still walking with God and am now a part of another church (perhaps I’ll write about why I’d choose to join myself to another church when 2 of the 3 I’ve been part of have imploded in ways that have catastrophically altered my brain chemistry).

But for now: a final poem.

How strange it is
To live in today
In a moment I could not have
Imagined
Fathomed
Hoped for
Believed possible
A year ago.

All those days of grief
I knew in my heart
Better days would come
But to live in those better days
To see them come to pass…
How strange.

Father, thank you
For those days
And for these days.

How strange
To see a bud on the branches
I might have sworn were dead.

How strange
To feel the sun
Warm my face
Warm my soul.

How strange
To experience familiarity
To be called by name
To be a little known
After 400 days of sojourning.

How strange
To have the painstaking
Foundation-laying
Finished
And be able to
Live in a home
Once again.

How strange
To have roots
Finally
Pushing into new soil
After the cataclysm
Of the transplant.

How strange
To take off at a run
Full tilt
When I wondered
If I’d ever walk again.

How strange
To dream of the future
Once again.

How strange
To have memories of the pain
But to
At last
Not be in pain.

How strange
To be in the days
Where the
Quiet
Secret
Precious
Patient
Work of the Spirit
And his salve that is truth
And his splint that is time
Bring forth
At last
A bud.

How strange
To be
Well again.

---

And just for fun (because this is a blog, not a serious publication, ladies and gents), here are some things that are currently keeping my heart from growing cold as I continue on the pilgrim way home to Jesus. Of course, they’re mostly songs. Smh, classic.

Shai Linne’s Attributes of God album takes my feelings out of myself and roots me (whole being: thoughts, feelings, zeal, etc.) in who God is and what he’s like. This album is a triumph, particularly Self-Sufficiency (which begins with a sermon excerpt), Lord of Patience, and Triune Praise Remix. (Yeah, your girl finally got got by Christian rap).

Another rap rec: Shai Linne’s track Immutable from his Still Jesus album. It’s straight fire.

Delighting in the Trinity by Michael Reeves was a Godsend last year when I read it. Surprisingly funny and deeply encouraging, this is a must read for Christians because it is all about why the God of the Bible and the Christian faith is Trinitarian (3 in 1) and some of the implications of that. I didn’t think a book on the Trinity had any business being this life-giving (my surprise is proof that I still know nothing), but it was a banger from start to finish.

The Zion Acoustic Album. I’ve learned for myself that Scandal of Grace is never not the vibe.

Shane and Shane’s Praise to the Lord (Joyful, Joyful) medley is a can’t stop won’t stop recalibrator of my soul; it gets my eyes and my heart on the Father in all his majesty, goodness, and delight.

John Mark McMillan’s Nothing Stands Between Us is a joyful anthem about how there’s no enmity between Christians and God, just love, and I could dance to it into eternity.

Weekly coffee with Judy (sorry if you don’t know Judy–your loss). Since you likely don’t have Judy (a woman at my new church who has been discipling me), pray for one and try to find one! For six months, we’ve sat in her recliners every Monday, drinking coffee and going through a book and talking and praying and she shares wisdom and insights and my skittish spirit settles. We met through my new church (where I’ve been the last year and managed [by God’s grace] not to run away from). Maybe pray and see if there is an older, wiser Christian that you can ask to help you not be a lost, cynical duckling to disciple you.

And, of course, the Bible (the whole thing–I just can’t get over it).

Further up and further in,
Rosalie

p.s. – if you haven’t gone to see Project Hail Mary, please go see it. I saw it 3 times in 7 days with no regrets. It’s why movies are made.

p.p.s. – leave your book recommendations in the comments, please. I’m trying to read 50 books this year, and of course, my towering TBR is always in need of additions (or should I say… editions 0.0).