#68" "Turn Tables" By Susan Pearl

Some people keep turning the tables on others,
In fact, I have met some that I thought their table had a spin top,
And so I have found that by not putting my time or resources on their table,
Or by simply walking away, these are ways to make their turning the tables on me to stop,
Of course, the lure is there to try again and maybe things have changed,
But a turn table is a turn table no motter how the chairs around it are arranged.

#67 "Disguise Bullets" By Susan Pearl

In my opinion cruel and demeaning words are like bullets in disguise,
The words penetrate us and wound our vulnerable areas we keep hidden inside,
I've heard  that it takes two to ten kind words to make up for every one cruel word that came and went,
Isn't being cruel and demeaning the makings of an extremely painful lop sided event?
I think it truly is sad and shoud be rectified,
Because too many tears have been cried,
And for a healing process within us to begin,
The anxiety of the bullets in disguise can end,
When we know the cruel words spoken are not true,
And we can't let them hurt us like we used to do.
And so I guess,
Having self esteem can protect us like wearing a bullet proof vest.

#66 " Conditional Flow" By Susan Pearl

I tell people that I will go with the flow as long as it isn't going down the drain.

#65 "News" By Susan Pearl

All of us in life are an automatic candidate,
For experiencing and learning to live with a heartache,
Because so much of life is left to time and chance,
And time and chance are left to unknowm circumstance,
So each day that goes by that is kind and without painful news,
Is a gracious day and may be best  used,
To know what we have while we have it and to realize and appreciate the gift life, too,
This wisdom brings a special peace of mind  for the time of whatever we do go through.

#64 "Reverence" By Susan Pearl

I was told once the the highest form of respect is reverence.
For some reason I have remembered that statement for many years.
The utmost form of respect is to have and to show reverence.
Can a person have the utmost form of respect --- reverence towards things of this earth?
In my opinion the answer is "Yes".
A person can have reverence for the land, for the work of their hand,
For the life and rights of ourselves and others,
For marriage, for ethics, for treatment of environment and living creatures.
Does haning such reverence take away from giving the proper reverence and exclusive reverence to God.
In my opinion,  "No", this does not take away from true reverence for God.
The reason I say that is because even though a person has reverence for these things and for people,
At the very same time a person recognizes that everything and everyone is owned only by God and the utmost respect for such ownership gives God exclusive sovereignty over all. 
By having reverence for the sovereignty and ownership of God over everything gives true reverence to God while having at the same time the utmost respect for God's creations.
This, in my opinion, is having true reverence and the realization of responsible stewardship of this earth.

#63 "A Process" By Susan Pearl

Is it fair to say that anything we see has gone through some sort of process, or is currently going through some sort of process?
Is it, also, fair to say that everyone we see is going through a process?
Are there two kinds of process --the process of change--or the process of preservation to preserve against further change?
Is life an ongoing process of change while preserving the values we have learned to be true?
Did learning these values to be true bring us through a process in some sort of way to become the person we are today?
And so the process continues that will define as we go through this life of change and preservation that is happening at the same time.

#62 "Two Ways" By Susan Pearl

There are some who want to be the only one in control,
There are others who want to welcome others and learn to co-exist,
For one, a common connection is constantly looked for,
For the other, a commom connection will be consistantly missed,
One will lead towards the betterment with respect establishing dignity for all,
The other will dictate the next thoughts for others to think and not answer any pleading call,
One will last as long as people want to live back in the past,
The other goes on and on where the differences all belong to making it strong.

#61 "Push Or Pull" By Susan Pearl

Sometimes a person can feel a little pushed,
So it is good to ask--- are we are being pushed back from where we want to be,
Or--- are we being pushed forward to a where we don't want to go.
So should we try to step forward or should we hold our ground and maybe even take a step or two back,
Remember there was one childhood game that we would win by going backwards,
And that game was "tug of war" showing us that sometimes we can win by stepping back,
So we can know for sure that our pulling back is just as important as pushing our way forward,
And maybe at times that is just the thing to do in order to make progress is to pull back.

#60 "Pretending" By Susan Pearl

A person doesn't have to be at a Halloween party to see people wearing masks,
And to keep things real and true is reality, through and through, so being real is what reality asks,
For the people who are pretending are wearing a look that is not real,
And pretending is a cover up for what that person really does feel,
Reality asks us not to wear masks, not to pretend,
To be true to one's self makes us into a very good friend,
A true friend to ourself and to others ,too,
That's what not pretending and keeping it real can do.

#59 "One Word Resume" By Susan Pearl

It was during the 'great depression" when  my father-in-law went where ever there was work.
He grew up on a farm but left home and worked the sugar beet fields.
I think since he had two sisters living in Chicago he then went there to try to find work.
He told of being the 'milk man" and his delivery route but layoffs were everywhere even in the "milk man' industry.
Word had it that there was going to be one hiring at a manufacturing plant so he went there to apply for the job.
He said the waiting room was filled to capcity with people filling out applications.
He took his application and wrote one word under his name.  That one word was "farmer".
All of the appications were turned in and a decision was to be made right then and there for the person getting the one job.
He said the door to the plant opened and the foreman called out his name. He had gotten the job.
As he went from the waiting room to go into the plant area  the foreman said to him,
"When I saw that you had written "farmer" on your appliation I knew that you know how to work".

#58 " Solving A Mystery" By Susan Pearl

It has been a mystery to me how well it made me feel to please someone else, without any doubt, I thought that was what life was all about,
But to keep a promise I made to myself, I could put it off for a long time until it would slip my mind  like it didn't even count.
This mystery story reads on to facing the fact that a person's willingness to please others may have something to do with a need for self esteem,
That by pleasing others and looking good in their eyes we feel good about ourselves or so it seems.
To draw self esteem from what others think of us, is a low esteem point of view,
So to truly know our own self worth, believe it enough to live it are the best things for ourselves and for others we can do,
Because to look for our self esteem or our worth by pleasing others will not last and is not the way  to go,
But to find that our self worth comes from within ourselves and to live it every day a true joy of life will show,
Solving the mystery by taking away the looking outside of ourselves for something we already have within,
And realizing the answer to the mystery is to know the worth we have and that's where it has always been.

#57 "Twisting in the Wind" By Susan Pearl

"Twisting in the Wind" is an expression to convey that one person needing help is left to be alone while others watch and don't come to the person's aid  or try to  defend,
In some instances being left to "Twist in the Wind" can happen to the same person over and over again.
The reason that no one comes to assist the person "Twisting in the Wind",
May be because this is all they know and that at all times someone has to be "Twisting in the Wind",
And they would rather it be happening to someone else than to be happening to one of them.
But to live this way is to live in a fear that has domain to remain of not getting anywhere,
To help another in need is trusting that it is the right thing to do and that can become a new way of life, too.

#56 "Important Button" By Susan Pearl

When I was a little girl we played a game called "Button, botton, whose got the button?"
We would sit with clasped hands and one person with a button inside clasped hands would go to each of us and pretend to drop the button into our clasped hands,
Of course, only one would receive the important button and then another player had to try and guess who had the button.  It was a fun and kind of suspenseful game. How important that button was to me.
There was a lot to the game because if you actually felt the button fall into your clasped hands you had to act like you didn't get the button and not show it.  Because the guessing of who had the button was a big part of the game.
Some people were easy to guess if given the button.
Some people tried to trick others by pretending to have been given the button when the button had not really been given to them.  Some people were better at secretly giving the button.
It was really a game of guessing, being right or wrong, of being out played or not, and all of that over a little button.
That important button that I wanted to be given was so simple yet it gave me many exciting fun times with friends and it is still interesting to think about---because all that from a button, a button that was seen through childhood eyes as being so very important button at the time.

#55 "I Miss Elizabeth" By Susan Pearl

I miss Elizabeth, I really do,
I never met her but I would have liked to,
She had a way that connected and resonated to the deep innocent inner beliefs in me,
That people should not be judged by race, color, creed, age or whatever size he or she might be,
But have dignity and apprecited for the uniqueness of life brought by each person into the human race,
An endearing, honest person who suffered such personal great sorrow yet wore a grace hope filled face,
Came and went through all of the emotion of each season,
I do miss Elizabeth, and I know there has to be a reason,
I guess I'm lonesome for more like her who speak directly from the heart,
And speak an unspoken word that good will win in the end no matter what comes apart,
Shining again, like a long lost friend, refreshing as a blissful wind,
That does not parch or sap but gives and gives nurture over and over again.
I miss Elizabeth, her words of strength come like a welcomed friend,
Telling me what I feel is that by thinking of her I am remembering a person who was really real.

#54 "Time Together" By Susan Pearl

Take the time to be together,
Because being together forges a bond,
And it is on that bond,
That a lifetime of love can be built upon.

#53 "Balance" By Susan Pearl

Life can be simple and it can be very complicated for me, I wonder and ponder about what causes current happenings to be,
Like yesterday my husband was making big snowballs for our dog to destroy like styrofoam toys,
While I was contemplating the future of the middle East and seeing the faces of freedoms true joys.
I think we need "simple" and we need "complicated" both at the same time,
Because somewhere in the middle a balance in life we will find.

#52 "My Chair" By Susan Pearl

I do have a favorite chair and if you visited in our home you would probably find me sitting there,
With two tables, one on each side of my chair, computer and TV remote control it is like I am sitting at my constant command center ready to go,
But the chair has a problem and it is a fact that things disappear from the chair and must go somewhere, not ever to come back,
If I'm crocheting I lose the crochet hook, and while reading I have even lost the book,
Most things are eventually found but some of my "things  to remember" listings are still missing,
When the lists I had made were needed they were gone, the hunt was on, but no amount of searching could find them, somehow the lists were simply lost somewhere from my chair,
So I have nicknamed my chair, "The Bermuda Triangle", because things disappear there,
Sometimes never to be seen again, and it happens time and time again,
In my chair things just seem to vanish into thin air.

#51 "Out There" By Susan Pearl

There may be someone "out there" who needs to hear what I am about to say, today.
So here goes:
However blue you are feeling those hopeless feelings will not stay,
Someday those feelings will lift and go away.
Please don't think the way you are feeling right now is the way the rest of your life will be,
Because it is not going to be, believe, believe, give this some time and you will see,
No matter how low you are feeling right now-it will not stay,
And you will see a day when the sad thoughts have gone away.

#50 "Finding A Way Out" By Susan Pearl

Years ago I saw an interview of a father and his son and it still comes to my mind,
The son had a serious illnes and the dad was telling about this hard and rough time.
Then the father began to cry,
As he told about the day his son asked him, "Dad, am I going to die"?
Then the dad swallowed hard and looked confident as without a doubt,
And said he had answered his son's question by saying "not if there's a way out."
I thought that was a very wonderful wise answer and also very kind,
It was truthful and honest yet filled with hope all at the same time.
So now when perils seem to be coming upon us and the future may be filled with doubt,
We owe it to the next gerneration to try to find a way out.
And to say,"Not if there's a way out will we be going down."
"Not if there a way out" and it is our responsibility for the "way out" to be found. 

#49 "Not Everyone" By Susan Pearl

Not everyone has a perfect track record,
Not everyone gets to be in the limelight decades at a time,
Not everyone passes each test with flying colors time after time.

#48 "The Best Cake" By Susan Pearl

It isn't that hard to make and bake a cake.
On some years I went to take a cake to a cake walk event,
My "Hot Frost Chocolate Cake" had made me into quite a local celebrity,
And adults would like to win my cake, even though it wasn't hard to make.
But children didn't care which cake they won because it was just as fun,
So the day had come and I wanted my family to also have a cake, I baked them an even easier cake,
So I made one cake from scratch, and one cake from a mix, it was no match
To see both cakes on the kitchen countertop one cake was a hands down winner,
And I know now the family was looking so forward to having a piece of that scratch cake following dinner.
But when it was time my family acted like it was a crime
To take the cake baked from scratch and not look back,
But it was really about me being the "Hot Frost Celebrity",
I made the cakes and I made this family memory- away and out the door their "Hot Frost" cake went,
And it was the topic of conversation as they later ate cake with surprised astonishment,
Because I believe true charity begins in the home and we should first be good to our own,
And I had said this, time and time again, even as I took the best cake away from them.
I told  "no one should be a hypocrite" as I proudly presented the scratch cake at the cake walk event.

#47 "Time Comparisons" By Susan Pearl

"Lick-ka-dee-split"---"Lick-ka-dee-split",
    thats the way the time went,
During my older years---oh,so quick, "Lick-ka-dee-split"

The middle years were like having the "Hee-bee gee-bee's",
Not enough time to get it all done while being on the run,
Family-busy, work, bills to pay, going steady night and day,
"Hee-bee-gee-bee's", "Hee-bee-gee-bee's, on the go, go, go,
"Hee-bee-gee-bee's", pick up the speed, no need to be slow.

"Click-a-dee-clack", "Click-a-dee-clack" the younger years finding steady track,
Don't slip though a crack, watch your back and keep moving, moving, moving
"Click-a-dee-clack", the "Hee-bee-gee-bees", and the "Lick-ka-dee-split" await,
Time will take us there and time is not late, it keeps changing the calendar date.

#46 "Wake Up Call" by Susan Pearl

Wake Up! Wake Up!  Wake Up!
Work, walk, think an abrupt thought of being anew,
Wake Up! Wake Up! Wake Up!
Dreams and time fade and disappear into an unknown atmosphere,
They are not here, from a nightmare to a glorious moment in the freshness of air,
Do not slumber in recall, trying to remember it all,
Wake Up! Wake Up! Wake Up!
From what has drifted away, live today-renew, renew is what to do.

#45 "Housework for Two" By Susan Pearl

Our children are raised and have gone out on their own,
So my husband and I are the only ones living at home.
But housework for only two-where does it all come from?
I guess it wasn't just the children making a mess, this I now confess.

#44 "A Dream to Sing" by Susan Pearl

I dream of peace,
When man made trauma will cease,
When children will no longer have to wonder what harm the day will bring,
But they will wonder in wonderment about the beauty of each amazing thing,
This dream to Thee do I sing.

#43 "Hope" By Susan Pearl

When I was young there was a popular picture sybolizing the virtue of hope,
The picture was of an anchor that was attached to a large strong rope.
It was a simple picture, only the large anchor was on display,
It was explained to me that the anchor was the artist's symbol of hope in a meaningful way,
It shows that the anchor can keep a ship from being tossed about in the midst of storms,
And that is what hope can do, it keeps us from being tossed about in the midst of whatever uncertainty forms.
Whenever uncertainty brings out a stormy time,
I remember that picture of the anchor, I have it pictured in my mind.

#42 "Jumping Rope" By Susan Pearl

The rhythmic beat, the rhythmic beat,
Feeling the rhythmic beat, in my feet.
The timing,.timing, timing,
Like hearing a bell chiming.
The long heavy rope is being turned by ambitious young arms,
Over and over and over again, now, time to run in, jump, and time to run out again.
That is round one, said and done, and it was fun.
Over and over and over again, now, time to run in, jump one, jump two, and run out again.
Over and over and over again, now, time to run in, jump one, jump two, jump three, and run out again.
Now the rhyming will begin, a showdown of durability with the words of the rhyme coming from a vague memory.
Rhyming, rhythmic rhyming about going to a place and rhyming, rhythmic rhyming about "how many did she see"?
Count one, two, three, Jump, Count one two, three, Jump, for as long as endurance and timing will last.
If it gets to be one hundred successful  jumps then "Hot Peppers" will come real fast,
And that is like ten bull whips striking at the feet at lightnig speed, the jumping can still be counted but if it gets too fast the feet's timing won't last.
It is not only a test for the one jumping the rope but also for those turning the rope whose arms are tiring just as fast as the "Hot Peppers" are fast,
The contest is on, as fast as all three can be- arms turning like spinning windmills and feet jumping too fast to see.
Then a foot is caught on the hand blistering rope and it is over.The rhythmic beat was broken, The jump rope really wins again and outlasts all, but really none can loose, wasn't it a matter of time to tire from the timing of the rhythmic beat getting so fast or just the thrill of seeing how long the rhythmic slaps on concrete would last.
The rope that came to life and brought so much fun for the day is now put away.
.

#41 "Nine Year Old Chaperon" By Susan Pearl

I was a chaperon at the young age of nine, the "big tattle tale" kind,
My brother wanted to have the car to take his date and go to the outdoor theater show,
His request was granted on one condition and the condition was that I would go along,
Taking his little sister along to the drive-in movie was not his cup of tea but he did agree,
So began my undercover work of being a chaperon and it was better than easedropping by the phone.
At least I got to see a movie not to mention the concession stand and so the chaperoning of my brother began.
There was a playground in front of the big picture screen and I couldn't wait to swing on the swing.
As twilight began it was time for the movie to be shown and my brother gave me money for a grape snow cone.
He asked for no spills in the car that I eat the snow cone while sitting in a lawn chair in front of the concession stand -sounded like a good plan.
Then back to the car and once there my thoughtful brother said that he thought I could see the movie better from the lawn chair.
From the back seat of the car it did seem kind of hard to see the screen,
Back to the lawn chair I went fending off june bugs as I sat there that night because the june bugs were attacted to concession stand neon light,
The car wasn't that far away, it was in sight so I felt like I was still on my chaperon duty and watched the movie knowing things were alright.
Then my brother came and got me when the movie was about to end, because eveyone would want to leave all at the same time then,
He wanted me to be safe in the car before the car stampede for the one exit began,
I remember a man with a red flash light even directed the traffic so things wouldn't get out of hand.
And so concluded my evening of being a chaperon and it was fine with me - playground, snow cone, movie, an evening outdoors - how much easier could it be?