Posts by Julia

On Emptiness

Fullness It strikes me as impossible to write about emptiness. I realize that the prompt I am using here was geared toward photographers.  But, even there, it is impossible to photograph emptiness. Isn’t it? Emptiness—the absence of somethingness. And no matter what space you write about, or draw about, or photograph, there is something always there. God is never absent. There is no such thing as emptiness, unless you are...

The Prayer For Life

Lord God, thank you for creating human life in your image. Thank you for my life and the lives of those I love. Thank you for teaching us through scripture the value you place on life. Help me to uphold the sanctity of life in my church and community. Give me the strength to stand up to those forces that seek to destroy the lives of those most vulnerable, the unborn, the infirm, and the elderly. Today I commit myself never to be...

Lord, Open Our Eyes

Lord, open our eyes, That we may see you in our brothers and sisters. Lord, open our ears, That we may hear the cries of the hungry, the cold, the frightened, the oppressed. Lord, open our hearts, That we may love each other as you love us. Renew in us your spirit. Lord, free us and make us one. Amen. (Mother...

Just A Red-Blooded American Male And Miracle Worker

(by Patricia Treece) Sixteen-month-old Elizabeth Fanning lies listlessly in her mother’s arms.  Anxiously, drawn-faced Mrs. Fanning coaxes her child to take even a spoonful of the liver soup recommended by doctors.  But although Elizabeth’s swollen belly and twiglike limbs make her look like a starvation victim, the lethargic baby has no interest in food of any kind.  Little Betsy, as her parents call her, has a fatal...

I Thought I’d Write My Own Obituary

I thought I’d write my own obituary. Instead, I wrote the poem for when I’m risen from the dead: Ignite the flares, connect the phones, wind all the clocks; the sun goes rusty like a medal in its box— collect it from the loft. Peg out the stars, replace the bulbs of Jupiter and Mars. A man like that takes something with him when he dies, but he has wept the coins that rested on his eyes, eased out the stopper from the...