Journal Redemption

These are the journals
I've been filling with words,
recollections, thoughts,
dreams, adventures,

for two decades worth of time,



writing has been redemption for me,

has given my life validity,

has provided record of memory.
Everwhere I turn, there's another one

appearing

to add to the collection
that has been building
through these years,

and they're all still here,



even that tiny one,

with Winnie the Pooh on it,

that was once lost in a farm field,

after a music festival of

autumn's harvest moon...

but after inquiring of the festival organizers,

the mini keepsake was found

with all of its words & images in it,

and returned to me via air mail.

As Sara Groves, one of my favorite artists,

sings melodically in her song Add to the Beauty,

"Redemption comes in strange places, small spaces
calling out the best of who we are."

So is this part of it, then,

the best of who I am,

I ask You?



Are these the spaces that contain

who You've created me to be?

Is that why they are still here with me

for a time such as this, now,

for a time of redeeming?

Words everywhere,

spilling out at me,

words I have written,

words I have found,

notes I have taken,

quotes I have held on to,

studies I have wanted to pursue,

images and poetry,
collages, adventures,

dreams, hopes, wishes,

prayers, and Bible verses,



Paper, the rain bucket,

on which I have caught them.

Computer screen,

the place now,

for redemption.