I never know what I’m going to get when I look back each week to lift a line from each day’s musings. Sometimes the resulting re-verse is a random jumble of thoughts, but I am always amazed by the final poem. Sometimes it just clicks. Like today.

It would be an understatement to say that 2018 was a rough year, globally as well as personally. There were bright spots of course. The birth of a new grandchild sweetened our summer and the opportunity to save the life of an abandoned puppy was a joyful honor, but the challenges we encountered throughout the remainder of the year tested our patience and faith in goodness. 2018 was a year of survival. Unemployment, blatant discrimination, milestones with estranged family lost, and the heartache of missing my beloveds.

Enter 2019, a clean slate symbolically, a new Congress and truth finally coming to light on the world front…people waking up. And closer to home, a new job for my partner to help ease the financial burden that weighed heavy on me (and my tiny paycheck) for half of the previous year. A new acceptance of things I cannot change and a newfound appreciation for the family that I am blessed with. We survived! But more than that, we are thriving, a year older, wiser and filled with a sense of grace. I don’t know what the future holds, but I know we’re going to be okay. I know it from my core. That’s what surviving and being present in the passing of seasons teaches us.

Will there be challenges in 2019? I am sure of it. Will we make it through? Chances are good that we will. There are sure to be bright spots, and magnificent triumphs too. There is grace enough to see us through it all. Grace enough to hold us when we need to remember to breathe and savor the moment. I wish you abundance, good health, and peace in the coming year. I wish you grace.

Sunday’s Week in ReVerse – 13 January 2019

I notice sounds that I’ve ignored
something real
wounded hearts take time to heal
it’s bubbling
there is no reasoning with them
there is no rustling of leaves
devoured in calamity
her crystal gown is drenched in sleet
miracles, just a breath away
though we have lost our way

~kat

A ReVerse poem is a summary poem with a single line lifted from each entry of a collection of work over a particular timeframe and re-penned in chronological order as a new poem. Unlike a collaborative poem, the ReVerse features the words of one writer, providing a glimpse into their thoughts over time. I use it as a review of the previous week.