Haiku Inspired Day

 

Enjoy this haiku

Inspired, oh so normal

glimpse into my day.

 

745am

 

It’s Thursday. Note day.

But my mind is truly blank.

What is on your mind?

 

845am, 5th grade update

 

Farting on purpose

After awhile, dear students

Is not that funny

 

945am, 2nd grade update

 

Why nine days and nights?

“To celebrate God because

He was a good guy.”

 

1030am, Kindergarten update

 

Please stop twerking now.

It is not appropriate

For school music class.

 

1115am, 4th grade update

 

Beethoven was deaf.

I have an ear infection.

Not being able to hear

Is quite frustrating.

 

1215pm, 1st grade update

 

“Look Ms. Deaton, look

I found some fake fingernails.”

Throw them away please

 

2pm, 3rd grade update

 

Listen to this song

It is NOT a dancing song

“Can we dance to this?”

I Love You

 

“I love you.”

Three simple words. 

Said too much. 

Said too little. 

Full of rote promise. 

Full of meaning and power. 

Said through tears of planned passion. 

Confessed in momentary desperation. 

Wicked 2. 

Zootopia 2. 

Two completely different movies. 

Both tied together with the words 

I love you 

At their emotional peak. 

 

I like movies. 

I do. 

Yet I rarely slow down long enough to see them.

But I had the opportunity to officiate an out of town wedding this weekend 

And I found myself with some time on my hands. 

So I went to the theater and saw both movies mentioned above. 

I had heard good things about them both

And so I wanted to see what the hype was all about.

Neither movie disappointed. 

And both movies surprised me with their utterances of I love you. 

 

I will be honest. 

I did not like the first Wicked movie.

I had trouble separating it from the stage show 

And could not see it as a completely different experience.

But the second one was different. 

It had more depth. 

More meaning. 

More backstory. 

It wasn’t just the stage show set to screen. 

It was more.

And it was good. 

And it explored what it means to be truly good. 

And what we learned is that it’s not just appearance and pretense. 

It’s deep sacrifice and, well, love. 

 

I’ll be honest again.

I did not see the first Zootopia.

And even after seeing the second one,

I can’t remember the main character’s names.

I just remember laughing and being captivated by the story 

And exploring what a true partnership is. 

And it’s not being exactly alike,

Rather it is accepting differences and building on those differences and being willing to sacrifice yourself physically and emotionally 

For, well, love. 

 

And here’s the kicker. 

The love about which I speak in both of these movies wasn’t romantic love. 

Rather, it was 

True, deep, friendship love. 

 

I think sometimes we reserve the words

I love you

For romantic or familial love. 

But maybe we should normalize saying

I love you

To our friends.

 

“I love you.”

Three simple words

But the three most powerful words of all. 

 

Tell someone you love them today. 

You’ll be glad you did. 

 

On Shows

 

Sometimes they get it wrong.

In 2004, for instance, they awarded Avenue Q the award for best musical.

The other option was Wicked. 

20 years later, very few people have heard of Avenue Q,

But Wicked has become somewhat of a global phenomenon.

 

I think they got it right in 2024, though. 

The Outsiders won the Tony for best musical of 2024. 

And it is an outstanding show. 

 

I had the privilege of seeing The Outsiders on Tuesday night.

I went in blind.

I had no idea what I was going to see.

By the end of the show,

I had laughed and cried and been drawn into the world of Tulsa in 1967. 

I had pondered the poignant themes of love and friendship and family and grief and

violence and sacrifice and overcoming stereotype and more.

The music was excellent with strong melodies and harmonies. 

I could understand the lyrics. 

And I was left feeling that I would willingly see the show again and be able to find even more meaning the second time. 

All of those things together, 

For me, 

Make a good show. 

 

What about you? 

What makes something a good show?

What show is your favorite? 

What show would you not see again? 

What show do you think deserves awards? 

What show received accolades that you don’t understand? 

 

And when I say show, I use the term jn the broadest sense possible. 

TV show, box office movie, Broadway musical, stage play—

Whatever is on your mind at the moment. 

 

And…go! 

 

Quest For A Turkey Sandwich

 

The good thing about not cooking Thanksgiving dinner at home is not having to clean up. 

The bad thing about not cooking Thanksgiving dinner at home is not having leftovers. 

 

I ate a little bit of turkey on Thursday, 

And it was good. 

But I really wanted a leftover turkey sandwich on Thursday night 

Yet there was none to be had. 

 

I had a busy day on Friday, 

But I thought about a turkey sandwich all day

So I finally went on a turkey hunt. 

 

On Friday night,

I located some thawed turkeys at my local Food Lion but 

The only ones they had were huge and I wasn’t sure Mom, Dad, and I needed the whole thing 

So I looked for a frozen turkey breast like one that we had last year. 

I remembered they it could be cooked from frozen. 

I found one, but it was Cajun flavored, and we’re not spicy folk 

So I didn’t buy it. 

I figured I would be able to find a different flavor at a different grocery store.

 

I was wrong.

 

After searching both other town grocery stores on Saturday morning 

And debating whether I should buy a fresh turkey breast

But deciding that the frozen one would be easier,

I ended up back at the original store,

Buying the frozen Cajun spiced turkey breast,

And taking it home to cook.

 

I struggled to get the plastic off.

Then I struggled to get the gravy pack away from the turkey because they were frozen together. 

Then I struggled to get the net off of the cooked turkey

That took three hours to cook.

But in the end,

I had a turkey sandwich

And it was delicious!

 

My parents commended me for my perseverance 

And we all laughed together at how determined I was to have a turkey sandwich :-). 

 

Sometimes, 

We do crazy things to get what we want. 

And sometimes, 

We do even crazier things for the people we want

To love 

To please 

To make smile 

To make happy 

To make life a little better than before we came. 

 

So may you do something crazy today. 

Within the law, of course. 

Not to hurt anyone. 

Something out of the ordinary 

For something 

Or someone 

You really like. 

 

Search for that treasure. 

But that random gift. 

Call that long lost friend. 

Prepare that long forgotten recipe. 

 

Life is too short not to be crazy sometimes. 

So take this as your permission to go on that turkey hunt. 

 

You won’t be sorry that you did. 

99 To Beat

 

For the past few weeks, 

My mom and I have been watching a show called 

99 to Beat. 

The show started with 100 contestants and will eventually get down to 1 

Who will win $1000000.

The games are not complicated when not under pressure. 

Think party games,

Relay races,

Minute to win it, 

Stacking cards, 

Popping balloons, 

Stuffing a tent back into its bag. 

And the object isn’t to win. 

The object is not to finish last. 

 

The contestants have gotten close,

Which makes it seem that the show was filmed over the course of time. 

Yet they are in the same clothes every episode, 

Which makes it seem that the show was filmed quickly. 

Come to find out,

The show was filmed over the course of three weeks, 

With 15 hour days, 

And multiple sets of the same clothes were provided and laundered for show continuity. 

 

In other words,

There is a lot to the show that we don’t see! 

There are hours and hours of contestants waiting around, 

Talking, 

Sharing life stories,

Getting to know one another. 

As the show gets closer to its end, 

It’s harder and harder for the contestants to see one of their friends fall. 

There are real connections. 

There are real tears. 

 

When Jesus was crucified, 

One of thieves on his side mocked him. 

The other proclaimed he was Lord. 

How did the latter know this about Jesus? 

What led him to make such a bold declaration? 

Was it simply in how Jesus went about the process of dying? 

Or were there countless behind the scene hours that we don’t see? 

“Criminals” held together awaiting execution, 

Talking, 

Sharing life stories, 

Getting to know one another, 

So that as it got closer to the end, 

It was harder and harder to say goodbye? 

 

I think that sometimes we read scripture and forget that it was real people living the stories

And that all the details weren’t written down. 

There are time lapses and emotional connections and food breaks and rest breaks and 

Themes like clothes used for continuity

But real time passes and sometimes we don’t know how much. 

 

May we allow the Holy Spirit to illuminate the words 

on the pages 

of the book 

that is increasingly being used 

as a weapon 

And may we connect our lives to the 

Greatest story every told, 

Jesus,

The servant King, 

The last one standing. 

Amen.