The Teacup of Today

“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”  Psalm 118:24

 In the midst of a frenzied afternoon at work today, I paused to read an email from my daughter Amy:

“I’ve been thinking about this quote a lot lately:  “This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”  The last two words, “in it”, are what have me thinking. The phrase makes it seem like it’s a special place – a porcelain cup, specially made, specially prepared – to rejoice, to revel, to live fully in — when you are in something like a cup of tea, surrounded.”

Any given second, any given breath, we are within the walls of a day. We can’t see tomorrow – and so we can only treat it with what we can’t see – with hope (but how great is our hope when we think about Jesus)? We see only today, and our hands, and our feet, and our loved ones, and whatever else God has given us for today. “

What Amy wanted to tell me is that today is not only a special time, but a unique and wondrous place designed by God for us to live and breathe in.

The porcelain teacup of today.

I smile at the thought of today and of pink porcelain cups.

D. G. Vachal (c) 2012, 2025

A Burning Heart – A Sonnet

A Burning Heart A Sonnet

O that within me dwells a burning heart
That blazes like a bonfire on the shore
When twilight comes the purple colors soar
As lemon rays of daylight soon depart —
O that the light find I when darkness starts
And warmth when winter chills me to the core
With light and warmth I could not ask for more
For of life’s miracles take I a part.

O stand and see and for the old paths ask
Walk on in paths that lead to the good way
Beside you will be Truth, the Way, the Life
To give your soul the rest in midst of strife
Your heart will burn with love in night and day,
Through seasons, light and warmth to guide your tasks.

D. G. Vachal © 2025

Thus says the Lord: Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ – Jeremiah 6:16 NKJV

Image by Clayton Holmes @Unsplash

Momentary Blooms

Momentary Blooms

Are there memories
senseless
to logical sentiments,
written off as never-
happenstance hypotheses
by mountain goat-bearded
wise sages —

why then
do rainbow whirlwinds
hover over peripheries
of my befuddled mind,
radiate
in the recessive
penumbra
of my tranquil heart —

thoughts of loves
long forgotten
momentarily bloom
like purple
crocus petals
on the frigid soil
of weather-beaten
March gardens —

why then
do they disappear
in April.

D. G. Vachal © 2025

Image by Couleur @Pixabay

How Could You Ever Love Me

How Could You Ever Love Me

How could you ever love me
now
after so many winters past,
carved rivulets form
upon my face,
winter cold tunnels
furrow
nettled branches
upon my lips —

now
when my arms and legs
are krummholz,
tree branches
disfigured by cruel
north winds —

what ever do you see
in my tired eyes
the way one tenderly beholds
a newborn eaglet
breaking from its shell
expectant
for its maiden flight —

do you see beyond the farthest
ebony-ice mountains,
the mystery of the uttermost
remote white stars,
the silent moon,
disregard
the momentary sparkle
of the here and now —

how could you ever love me
bone and marrow,
petal and sepal,
root and river.

D. G. Vachal © 2025

Image by Susan-lu4esm@pixabay

To the Living Among Us All

To the Living Among Us All

My soul dwells secure
in pleasant mountains
Creator-carved,
where cloud-sent rains
descend to quench
desiccated tongues
and rays of molten sun
embrace the evening-cold
shoulders —

What little matters to some
are minuscule,
momentary dewdrops
adrift
in endless possibilities,
whirling from the gift
of measured life-breaths
apportioned
to the living among us all —

every sacred
miraculous moment
of what we call
today.

D. G. Vachal © 2015, 2025

Image by pladicon2012acacias@pixabay