No Words Remain

I took a stick of chalk and I drew a line in the blackness.

I thought it would stave away the beast of fear.

I constructed my walls of protection without a second thought,

But it was you who I barred out.

So while I wrestled with fear and grappled with emptiness,

I knew that I was drowning in emotion, like a sailor lost at sea,

The lighthouse of hope was there, but I couldn’t bear to open my eyes,

Because I was dying and I have always been a coward to death.

But my line faded and smudged,

My walls crumbled in the aftermath of the storm,

And I fell to my knees in utter despair,

Because I had lost the fight.

I awoke armed with a blessing.

A promise that you whispered into my ear before I lost consciousness,

I will never leave you nor forsake you.

And I jumped to my feet, ready to fight,

But the battle was already won.

I looked out over a field of wildflowers, showing where you had tread,

They shone like gold, and with eyes burning with hope, I turned,

To catch a glimpse of your back side, or to touch the fringe of your robe,

To see with my doubting eyes that you are going to keep your promise—

Oh faithless heart, behold the cross.

I dropped the stick of chalk, because blackness is no more.

I let go of my life, because death is gone.

I put my hands on rugged grace, with its splinters and its bloodstains,

Tracing the curve of the words of the prophets,

That all proclaimed without a doubt who you are,

Did not see fulfillment, but knew that the word of the Lord would stand beyond forever.

You do not change, you do not change.

How can I doubt that?

For you declared the end of the Book of Death with a ragged last breath,

It is finished.

And no words remain. 

An Interesting Tag

Behold! I have been tagged once more! This time it is by the ever-wonderful Bella! I call it an interesting tag because it kind of struck me as funny. It is called the Five Male Characters tag.

I don't know, it's just funny. XD

There are rules.

-List Five of your Favorite Male Characters, book or screen. (Yay books!)

-Tagging other people is optional. (Isn't it always???)

-If you are tagged, link to the person who tagged you. (Done! Look at me, I'm so good at this.)

-Link back to Revealed in Time. (Yup, did it.)

-Be awesome. (Just kidding, that's not a rule.) 

To List the Five Favorite Male Characters, you choose one for each category:

-Hero (Duh)

-Villain (Less duh)

-Anti-Hero 

-Best Book-to-Screen Adaption

-Best Character Perception (What does that mean? *sees what other people post to find out and is still slightly confused*)

M'kay. *rubs hands together* This will be fun.

Hero

Book cover picture found on Pinterest. I'll give you a hint: Taran is not the bald, evil sorcerer.

 Taran of Caer Dallben from The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander, hands down, is my favorite hero. He is cool.

The thing I love most about Taran is that he is so human. He struggles with his pride and hot temper, with trying to impress a certain, red-haired princess, with wanting to be more than he is, and just with himself in general. Yet he realizes that in himself. The fact that he goes and apologizes to others, takes the blame for things, and gives all that he has several times...that is so awesome. And yet, it is a struggle still, just as it always is, to humble yourself before the people who have embarrassed and hurt you.

Also, his character development is the best ever. The way he grows is so real, and the man he is in The High King is so much different than the boy he was in The Book of Three. Yet, always, he is still Taran.

Also, he says things like, "Coll? But he's so...bald!"

Villain

I feel like finding a favorite villain is sometimes dangerous waters. Like, villains are so blurry nowadays, with the onslaught of sympathetic villains, or just the idea that darkness might be something to like. And that is kind of scary. But I am fully aware that villains are necessary parts of stories, and that they can be well done or they can be altogether lame. I could go into a whole blog post just about villains and what their role is and how they should fulfill it and blah-dee-blah as if I was an expert at it, but instead, I'll just go with the villain that I think fits the villainy bill. I don't want to say that he's my favorite villain because I actually hate him. But that's what you're supposed to feel towards villains, right? 

From Pinterest

The Sheriff of Nottingham, from the Robin Hood BBC TV Series. He's pretty darn evil. He likes festivals of pain and killing peasants and basically just lives for his own amusement and gaining power. Which is partially just for his own amusement. And he frankly is quite funny, until the moments when he's just too evil to bear and then you just thoroughly hate him. 

And he fights Robin Hood, which makes him thoroughly villainous because Robin Hood is awesome.

And he says things like, "A clue: No!" 

Anti-Hero

So, the definition of Anti-Hero is, "a central character in a story, movie, or drama who lacks conventional heroic attributes." (according to Google). Now, heh, I'm going to cheat with this one. Because my sister and I are writing a story together and one of the main characters is a great anti-hero named Dan, who is basically a loser. 

I love him because he is Dan. Because he never really knows what's going on. Because he sleeps on the couch and drinks milk all day. Because he's more focused on his band than on the fact that the world might be in danger. 

And because he totally rushed the villain with the superpower and headbutted him in the stomach and that was hysterical. 

And he says things like. "WHA?????" 

Best Book-to-Screen Adaption

Okay, this is a slightly weird one, because I've only read one book in the Guardians of Childhood series by William Joyce (though I'd like to read the rest of them), but I'm going to go with...

Both from Pinterest.

Nightlight/Jack Frost. Honestly, I'd say just looking at both these pictures just says it all. Because they're both, like, amazing. The moment you realize that they are the same person is like...basically I got shivers. Like, they are different, but they are different in the way they are supposed to be different. 

And Jack (Nightlight doesn't talk all that much) says things like, "Right on time, Sandman." 

Best Character Perception

Ah, the hard one. So apparently what this means is how the audience's perception of the character changes over the course of the story (different from character development because the character doesn't actually change). 

Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmm......

OH I GOT ONE. 

THEY'RE ALL FROM PINTEREST GUYS WOAH HOW DID I DO THAT

That's so right, guys. You didn't think I would actually go a whole post about characters without mentioning a Ninjago character, did you? Funny that it's Dareth..... 

So yeah, Dareth. I also could have put him under the anti-hero category, I suppose, but whatever. So the funny thing about him is not really that you realize, "Oh, he's such a great guy after all!" but you realize, "I adore this funny little man and all of his quirks and idioticness." Because he's an absolute fool, really, but he's got a good heart, and big ambitions... 

And he says things like, "I Dareth you to join my Dojo." 

OKAY! I hope you enjoyed this fun little tag of mine. It stretched my imaginative powers, actually, because I had to actually THINK about the characters I wanted to talk about. And I got to talk about some characters that I don't talk about often. So SCHMANKS FOR THE TAG, BELLA! :-) 

And because I feel extra nice, I'm going to tag people. 

I TAG

Addy T. 

Cally D. 

Jess

Lady Gargoyle

KAY I'M OUT BAI.

Time

I just need time.

A chance to step back and remember,

Remember how to breathe.

I’m that kind of girl who wants desperately to fly,

Yet sits on the edge of the cliff for awhile,

Kicking legs in empty air and imagining the feel of the jagged rocks.

It’s been desperate, most days.

Clinging on has left me aching,

My knuckles white and my fingertips red with my own blood.

I’ve been afraid.

Afraid of falling, afraid of dying, afraid of being alone,

Afraid that the flying will only take me to another obstacle to overcome.

I just need time, I say, as it whirls past me like a hurricane,

As growing up engulfs me like a tidal wave.

Time to sort things out,

Time to make things right,

Time to unmake messes and erase mistakes,

And for goodness sake, time to do my hair and tie my shoes.

Yet as I stare into the depths of this gaping cliff,

I realize that this time, it is not time that I need after all.

I need abandon. Surrender. Letting go.

I need nothing that I can gain by holding on,

Nothing that the world can offer me,

Not time or money or a car or any of the things that I am afraid of losing,

If I let go of them.

I need none of those things.

I need what is in this abyss, this hole, this blackness that seems so bleak.

I need the altar that demands me to lie down on it.

To give and give and give and become fully empty,

That I might be filled.

So I’ll let go, trusting that if I dash against the rocks,

You have only broken my bones to bind them up.

Touching Hope

So lately, it's been a saga of hope.

After a rough year of learning trust (have you ever had a year focused on that?) and weathering disappointments and discouragements and yet still somehow holding onto the knowledge of God is Faithful...

There was hope.

My sister told me one night that there was one thing she regretted about her years of waiting, and that was that she hadn't cherished them.

Cherished the waiting? Cherished the times where my heart broke over disappointments and I wept for the pain of the silence of God? Cherished the times where I couldn't see for the darkness? How could I cherish that?

I could not accept that challenge of cherishing the waiting, for all I could do was look forward and see that dim light of hope that I could not attain, wishing to be immersed in that light.

What I failed to realize was that hope and trust go hand-in-hand. They are not enemies, but good friends that complement each other perfectly. It is not, "I cannot attain hope and will not attain it for I am learning trust this year," but rather, "I trust that my God is faithful, and I rejoice in the hope of that."

How was I supposed to learn that when I had both of my hands given to Sorrow and Suffering? It seemed impossible and yet with God, nothing is impossible.

Learning hope was not letting go of the hands of Sorrow and Suffering, but rather gripping them firmly and determinedly, eyes locked on the Shepherd of my soul, knowing that every moment of waiting was purposeful and meaningful and that each day was full of sanctification and growth.

Hope is not only a bright feeling you get when you see something worth running for. Hope is seeped in the running. Hope is the planting of seeds, the watering, the sowing, the weeding, the muddy knees and blistered hands and sweaty brow, as well as being the tree bending over with the weight of its fruit. It is both sides of the coin. Hope is something we see in the distance, yet seem to overlook when it is right beside us.

Hope is not looking past the silence of God to the time when He will speak again, but instead it is resting in that silence and flourishing under it, knowing full well that the Gardener is at work within us and that His work is a good work.

See? Trust and hope. You can't separate them. Trust without hope is like knowledge from a dull textbook. Hope without trust is never being satisfied or contented.

And that, that is how we cherish the waiting. In the little things. In the hysterical laughter as I try to learn the slight differences in the varied accent marks as I endeavor to learn Mandarin Chinese. In the bursting of joy when I get a job I applied for, knowing that the lack of hours only means that God has more planned for my life. In waking up early and marveling at how the ruddy orange color trickles through the cracks of the curtains. In tasting and seeing that the Lord is good.

The Girl of Sunshine and Stars

Photo creds I think Addy.

~To Cally-Girl~

She grew up.

She was always growing,

Always growing.

Like a fiery field of dandelions she let her seed go to the wind,

And she knew that it would not return empty.

She knew the world was more than sorrow,

So she woke up early to catch the first of the morning dew,

And stayed up late for the expanse of the sky to pour crystals down.

It was her joy that tore at my chest and set me aching,

Her hands, so ready to work, that humbled me.

She was the sunrise, a golden glow that shone through my grey dawn.

Oh, she was the fiercest dying star that ever shot across the midnight sky.

She grew, but she never lost her childhood,

She planted it firmly in her heart where it became a mighty oak

To weather every chaotic bruising that the world would toss her way.

She grew, but she never lost her God.

She climbed the insurmountable heights of injury,

Swam the unsearchable depths of loneliness,

And bore the cost of every sharp word that ensnared her between stones.

She loved until it broke her heart to pieces on the ground,

And from her knees she cried out for a greater love that would not break,

Because she had the courage of a lioness.

She grew up, emblazoned by the heart of her God,

Radiant in the image of the Captain of her soul.

Never had I seen such passion of heart, such love,

Never had I seen such a story of endless grace.

It broke me.

Yet it built me up again with firmer stones.

Oh, girl of laughter and light,

Never forget where your home lies,

For your God is waiting on the shoreline.

Run to Him, my girl, run with all your might. 

Vacation Was...

So I just got back from Work Camp, which explains yet another absence from me. Should be the last one for a bit, but you never know.

And though right now it is Work Camp that is running through my head, I did promise a vacation post.

So vacation was...

A little cabin called the Ho-Hum...

Wild blackberries...

A final heave of summer... 

The lake. Every day. And little cousins...

Wet towels...

And man, God's breathtaking creation.

I think that was a good way to cap off the Summer. 

Is anyone else ready for Fall?

Monday (?) Madness S1 P11

Yes, I'm back. Yes, I shall tell you about my trip. With pictures.

But first I must do as my brother Brendan oh wait this is not Ashtown this is Monday Madness. Apologies.

First I must update you on Keilah's world. Because let's face it, it's much more interesting than my life.

These are Treskie's sketches of Keilah and I was so excited that I had to have them in this post. She is too cool for school. Oh and Treskie's cool too. ;-D 

The rain came down heavily, all of the sudden, it seemed, and Eli and I were soaked in seconds. I was, though I'd never tell him, quite grateful for the hoodie. But the rain stopped further conversation for the moment, which was alright, because I needed time to mull things over.

Now that things were piecing together in some form of sense, and now that I was actually starting to believe this kid (though I wasn't sure exactly why, except that he did, now that I thought about it, have some similar facial features as I did), I actually felt a little flutter of excitement in my chest. I mean, who doesn't when there's some sort of mystery surrounding themselves?

I looked at Eli almost shyly from underneath the hood. He was checking his watch. Just then a car drove up slowly and came to a stop right beside us. Eli grinned as the driver rolled down the passenger-side window and raised his hand in greeting.

He was definitely another brother. The family resemblance was so strong that I glanced in the mirror and saw it in my face too.

"Hop in, Li!" said the driver brightly.

"She prefers Keilah," said Eli as he opened the door for me. "Keilah, this is Meng."

"Hi," I said, in a little bit of embarrassment. It had to be the oddest thing in the world to be introduced to your long lost brothers like this.

But all oddness aside, it was rather nice having older brothers show up like that because it meant I got out of a really bad situation.

"So, um, are you going to let me call my...my, uh, parents?" I said, shifting in my seat as Meng pulled out.

Eli gave me a sad look and I almost wished that I hadn't mentioned it, but then again, I mean, they did adopt me. And honestly? They probably would have adopted the whole brood had they known that there was a whole brood.

"They'll be worried," I added.

Meng dug into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone, then handed it back to me. "Yeah, 'course."

I quickly dialed my home number and tapped my fingers impatiently on the car door. It rang, and rang, and rang. I bit my lip and glanced at the clock. My dad would be home from work, and my mom should definitely be around. And my brothers (the non-biological ones) should also be home. The answering machine picked up and I sighed.

After the tone, I said, "Hi Mom and Dad, it's Keilah. It's been a crazy day and I'm sure you're wondering where I am, but I'm fine and I'll be home as soon as I can but...um...well it's hard to explain. I love you." I hesitated for a moment before saying goodbye, because it seemed like there was something else important to tell them but I wasn't sure what.

Just before I hung up, someone picked up.

"If you ever want to see your family again, you'll be at the park-n-ride in ten minutes."

They hung up.

I dropped the phone on the car floor.