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Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Falling like a Leaf


 I had a magnet for many years on my fridge that read, 
"Let go, and let God!" 
Little did I know at the time what it really meant.


Falling like a Leaf

As I’ve journeyed through my faith walk, I have experienced many ways to God. I wanted to be a part of something I could believe in. I knew once I found it I would be a true believer, and live it through my everyday life. But nothing seemed enough, not church, bible studies, the charismatic movement and so many other things I tried within the bounders of religion. There was just something missing, and one day I stepped out in faith, and left it all behind.  I felt like a lonely leaf falling from a tree leaving behind all that I knew.  As I lay stagnant upon the heaps of other dead leaves, the fall turned to winter and it was as if I was in a resting place of thought and contemplation.  I often think that it was like Jesus’40 days in the desert.  There were many fears, temptations, and guilt, but in order for the leaf to fall from the tree it must let go. To let go I had to trust in something bigger, and what could be bigger then God’s love.  That was all the discernment I needed to let the wind blow me where it would. It blew me back to the simplicity of my childhood belief that God was my friend, and the only one that truly loved me. My journey is not over. Letting go was only a new beginning.  I‘m still that falling leaf blowing in the wind learning and discovering everyday, but I don’t do it alone anymore, for I am the leaf and God is the wind and He carries me in His direction throughout the day.


Thursday, September 11, 2014

"God's Candy"

This is a creative writing piece I wrote many years ago for a a writing workshop.  Writing is an art of it's own, much like a painter, only instead of using a paint brush we use words to describe what we want you to see. Our sense are the colors we use to paint our pictures. The lesson was to write about a type of fruit without naming what it was. 

I called it God's candy because when my children were little that's what I called fruit. 


God’s Candy

By Connie Rife

     I know that I am not much to look at.  If you didn’t know what I was you might mistake me for a bug…and step on me. On the other hand, you might avoid stepping on me at all thinking I could be the pea size turd of a rabbit left behind.
     The truth is I was born to be this way. I have a purpose, and believe it or not I will give you pleasure if you plop me in your mouth.  However, I understand if you feel a little skeptical, after all, how can something so ugly…taste so good.  I have followed the path for which I was created, and in return I have been concentrated into pure natural sugar which gives you natural energy and fiber to boot.  I have been known by some to be called “God’s candy”.
     My story begins with the predestined crop that grew before me.  I was born in the spring popping through the flesh of my vine developing into a tight bud. I was soon joined by other buds and as we clustered close to one another we became family. As I felt the warmth of the Sun envelope me I was filled with such joy that I let go and burst open. As I watched the same thing happen to my sisters beside me I saw what beautiful flowers we’d blossomed into. We stayed that way throughout the summer enjoying the sun and the rain until we grew to maturity, losing all our childish petals along the way.  When I reached the age of perfection my skin was tight and smooth to the touch. My shape was round and very voluptuous, I was ready to burst forth from all my juicy sweetness.
     It was at the this peak of perfection that the life I knew was pulled apart. The pickers came along and plucked us from our vine. Then picked each member of my family from the comfort of our clustered home and placed us on paper trays; there we laid in wait in the hot August Sun without any water for two or three weeks. I can’t even remember, but we were there until our time of purification was over.
     A man stood before us looking down with pleased eyes and said only one word, ”beautiful!” I felt hard, dry and parched. As I looked at my sister’s lying beside me we were no longer the tight baby bud, the flower of our joyous childhood, the plump voluptuous juicy body of our maturity. We’d become old and ugly, dark and shriveled to less then half our size. 
     The man looked at me as if he could hear what I was thinking. He grabbed one of my sisters and cut her in half. He plopped the one half into his mouth savoring the taste of her sweetness upon his tongue while he held the other half between two finger looking at the thick dark goo he was tasting in his mouth. He smiled again with great pleasure saying only one word again, “perfect!
     I always knew deep down inside that my destiny was to give something of myself. That there was something inside growing so sweet that it was ready to burst forth, but I was too busy looking at the outside to see that what really mattered was inside. 
     Have you guessed by now what I am? I’m not going to tell you, but I hope the next time you take the pleasure of looking deeper into all of God’s creations and seeing that everything has a purpose Taste me; go ahead just plop me in your mouth…Ah! Now you understand that my outside taste as good as the inside, my purpose has been fulfilled for now you experienced the beauty of me.