I am a 54-year-old Christian. I am highly artistic and creative and enjoy acting, writing plays and poetry and short stories for children, as well as writing to promote nonhuman animal welfare.
“Father God, we all have at least one ‘that!’ to change, and yet we all don’t want to change ‘that!’ We all know we should, but we just don’t want to let ‘that!’ go. Maybe I’m wrong in saying‘all,’ in ‘that!’ maybe it’s only me? But I don’t think so, Father God. You know what ‘that!’ is that I must change, and yet I am struggling to change ‘that!’ I think Paul in the Bible had it right when he said, ‘I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate’ (Romans 7:15). How many of us can relate to ‘that!’ All this to say, Father God, that I am struggling so much with having to change ‘that!’ It is a big deal in Your Eyes and by Your Graced Step and Graced Breath through Your Son and my Savior, Jesus Christ, I will not ‘fall short’ to change ‘that!’ but only be allowed to change ‘that!’ of High Court. And thanks, Father God, for this picture (unfortunately with no animals) that mentionseverything should be translated to ‘both.’ I know you know this is music to my ears and heart, as I am constantly and consistently mentioning ‘both’ ALL THE TIME. I especially mention it when I write about extending love, compassion and mercy to BOTH God’s humans AND nonhuman animals. I pray all of ‘that!’ in the Wonderful and Precious and Never-Changing Name of Jesus Christ, and ‘that!’ prayer is answered by my faith and my belief. Please help me, Father God, where my faith and my belief are lacking. Amen.”
(God’s Sonnet by Timothy J. Verret; “it’s how I cope to hope in changing ‘that!’ what I must change one Graced Step and one Graced Breath at a time ‘that!’ daily leavened [Jesus Never Changes!] bread.”)
Everyone has at least one “that!” to change.
You know what “that!” is. You have to change “that!”
“But the discomfort of ‘that!’ will derange.”
You got “that!” right. You got “that!” God at-bat.
My “that!” to change is leaving me, “I can’t!”
I got “that!” right. “That!” God can. I’m “fall short.”
Is it “that!” big a deal to change “that?” Grant
me Grace, God, as “that!” deal is of High Court.
“I know discomfort leaves you, ‘Oh my God!'”
says Jesus. “You have to change ‘that!’ through breath.
Breathe in God’s Love, breathe out what is facade.
‘That!’ you are breath of life, not pain of death.”
Do we feel better now “that!” God works at
helping us change “that?” Breathe “God” to change “that!”
(First God Sonnet from GOOD ACRES SANCTUARIES by Timothy J. Verret; “it’s how I cope to hope always in a cow named Misty [“Miss Misty,” as I fondly call her], who is blind and yet sees way more than I could ever hope to see.”)
What can you tell me of your blue blind eyes?
Did you once see horrors I’ll never know?
Look at you now! I see for you the “why’s?”
Why blind a blue soul when you see my glow?
What can you tell me of your blue blind eyes?
Did you witness what was mine to unveil?
Look at you now! Capturing all my cries.
Why blind a blue soul when you are my braile?
Blue blind eyes, I was blind but now I see.
What I see is “we,” blue and blind and breath.
I have seen enough to know that it’s “we,”
blue blind eyes and me, until we are death.
Sometimes all we have are those gentle sighs.
Thank you, “Miss Misty,” for your blue blind eyes.
“Father God, help us to choose lucky over yucky. It is so easy to get into the ‘muck of yuck’ when we are focusing on the yucky and forgetting the lucky. Lucky are we all that we have Your Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Lucky are we to have the breath of life and the freedom to walk and talk and make a way in this world. This is not the case with so many of Your nonhuman animals, Father God. They don’t have a voice and they don’t have the freedom to walk and talk and make a way in this world. Instead, they are kept in captivity and prisons of man’s making, whether it be for food or not for food. Please help us to set the oppressed free from their captivity and prisons, as Your Word instructs us (Luke 4:18). On a more personal note, Father God, I’m having a ‘yucky day’ in Kentucky, as I miss my pets, Blue, Conrad, and Groucho, something awful. Help me, Father God, to know that instead of yucky, I can experience lucky, knowing that they are safe and serene and, by Your Spirit, let them know that Daddy will be home very soon! Let me know, too, that it is the ‘clutch’ (attachment) I have to my pets that is causing me to feel yucky. Help me loosen this ‘clutch’ (attachment) so I can give BOTH my pets AND myself the freedom You desire for us BOTH and for BOTH humans AND nonhuman animals. I pray all of this in the Wonderful and Precious and Lucky Name of Jesus Christ, and this prayer is answered by my faith and my belief. Please help me, Father God, where my faith and my belief are lacking. Amen.”
(God’s Sonnet by Timothy J. Verret; “it’s how I cope to hope in choosing lucky over yucky in Kentucky this daily leavened [Jesus is Clutch!] bread.”)
You’re feeling yucky ’cause you can’t admit:
Without Jesus, there’s nothing of meaning.
It’s gonna take surrender and submit,
BOTH, to God and Spirit for convening.
I’m feeling yucky, forgetting lucky.
Lucky am I to have all God all day.
If I could remember in Kentucky
is where God needs me now for square away.
“What is yucky is you uncount lucky,”
says Jesus. “You look at the ‘yuck’ too much.
Look lucky when God removes your ‘mucky.’
You get cleaned of ‘yuck’ when you loosen clutch!”
“Father God, help us to remember it’s the small things and not the big things that allow us Your Grace. If we ignore what You bless us with small, we ignore what You bless us with Big. And nowhere is it Bigger than to wake up and have the life of breath. It’s the small things that make us humble so that Your Son and our Savior can be made More, King of Kings. Show us Your Face today, Father God, in all we do that is small for the Grace of Scripture. Moreso that it means we crawl is moreso that it means You lift us Up on High. Thank you, Father God, for loving BOTH small/big humans AND small/big nonhuman animals. On a more personal note, thank you, Father God, for allowing me to make this road trip up to Good Acres Sanctuaries (https://goodacres.us). There is nothing like a road trip to allow small me to put You Big on Cruise Control and see just how small I am really am in the face of big trees, big buildings, and big people. I will be going to see some pretty big farm animals today at Good Acres Sanctuaries, so allow me to remain small and humble in their big presence, Father God. Help me to listen to them who are big moreso than I, who am small, would speak. I pray all of this in the Wonderful and Precious and King of Kings Name of Jesus Christ, and this prayer is answered by my faith and my belief. Please help small me, Father God, where my faith and my belief are lacking. Amen.”
(God’s Sonnet by Timothy J. Verret; “it’s how I cope to hope in not ignoring the small things for the bigger splash of More God’s Grace of Face this daily leavened [Jesus Bigger the Picture!] bread.”)
It’s the small things that make a bigger splash.
It’s waking up to have the life of breath.
If the small things are not treasured, how stash?
Save them up for when bigger things spell “death.”
“Father God, help us always not to run away but run in’2′ You. ‘For where 2 or 3 are gathered together in My Name, I am there in the midst of them’ (Matthew 18:20). If there are 3 (God, Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit) and 1 is me, then there are 4 fathered, and that indeed is my spiritual number! We can never escape You, Father God, by running away from who we are; we only know who we are by running in’2′ You. Nothing is more difficult than to be just ‘1’ in this world. We never have to worry about that, Father God, for we have You and we have Your Son and Our Savior, Jesus Christ (‘2’). Each of us is on a journey of Your Calling. Help us to heed that Call all the hours of all our days until That Hour when Jesus comes, when ‘2’ no longer ‘through a glass darkly’ but known ‘face to face’ (1 Corinthians 13:12). On a more personal note, Father God, I am making my last leg of the journey in’2′ Good Acres Sanctuaries today. Help me run in’2′ everything You need from me on this last leg of the journey. I won’t make it by flesh but I will make it by Spirit. ‘Let the healing begin,’ as I’m always fond of saying. I pray all of this in the Wonderful and Precious and ‘2’ Name of Jesus Christ, and this prayer is answered by my faith and my belief (‘2’). Please help me, Father God, where my faith and my belief (‘2’) are lacking. Amen.”
(God’s Sonnet by Timothy J. Verret; “it’s how I cope to hope in running in’2′ Jesus today this daily leavened [Jesus is ‘2!’] bread.”)
“Father God, we are all traveling from dust to trust. We are all traveling to trust You no matter our circumstances. When we travel to escape and leave behind our pain, let us travel with Your Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ, so that our trips will never be us ‘lone. The pain will be healed when we accept that Jesus is bigger than our pain, bigger than our fear, bigger than our ‘unclear.’ On a more personal note, Father God, what is clear to me is that You love BOTH humans AND nonhuman animals on this trip to trust. And on an even more personal note, Father God, I do believe You had me write this God Sonnet for the trip I am taking today as a wanderlust. Please protect me on this trip and may I travel it never ‘lone but only with Jesus for all I need all my ways all my days. When I come back home, Father God, let what will ‘take shape’ be all those who welcome me back home and still love me. May I return from the trip refreshed, renewed, and ready to trust you even more. I pray all of this in the Wonderful and Precious and Traveling Name of Jesus Christ, and this prayer is answered by my faith and my belief. Please help me, Father God, where my faith and my belief are lacking. Amen.”
(God’s Sonnet by Timothy J. Verret; “it’s how I cope in traveling my trip today to trusting God and traveling with Jesus for all I need all my ways all my days this daily leavened [Jesus Travels!] bread.”)
Without trust, you travel a trip to fear.
Without a trip to freedom, you’re nowhere.
The hours you travel all ‘lone are unclear.
With God, the trip to trust is The Lord’s Prayer.
I travel a trip often to escape,
to leave behind what threatens who I trust.
When I get back home, what’s there is “take shape.”
“Father God, thank you for making me a seer (a person who is supposed to be able, through supernatural insight, to see what the future holds).That said, Father God, I leave my future to YOU! I only want to be a seer for the supernatural that is from a Supernatural God with a Supernatural Son through a Supernatural Love. ‘Nohow’ can I Love any other way than this Supernatural Way which is a Love Day all day long. Help us all, Father God, to forget our past and future and just Love here and now through Your Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Can animals sense the supernatural? All I have to do is be in the presence of Your nonhuman animals, Father God, to know that my supernatural soul comes alive and I’m bonded in a healing way that no other way can quite heal my supernatural soul. On a personal note, Father God, THANK YOU SO MUCH for allowing me to take a vacation to Good Acres Sanctuaries (https://goodacres.us) in Kentucky, where I will be in the presence of farm animals that have been abused, neglected and abandoned, but who are here and now living precious and free, all thanks to Diana Shaffner who runs the Good Acres Sanctuaries. I am SO grateful to You, Father God, for this blessed opportunity to visit the sanctuary and receive that precious-and-free healing my supernatural soul needs here and now. I’ll be leaving my ‘fur kids’ behind on this vacation but, Your Will Be Done, I’ll be returning back to them all refreshed, all rested, and all my supernatural soul preciously and freely healed. I pray all of this on this Love Day all day long in the Wonderful and Precious and Supernatural Name of Jesus Christ, and this prayer is answered by my faith and my belief. Please help me, Father God, where my faith and my belief are lacking. Amen.”
(God’s Sonnet by Timothy J. Verret; “it’s how I cope to hope in this Leavened-Bread Love Day all day long through the Supernatural Love of Father God and His Son, Jesus Christ.”)
You can’t mystify what’s no mystery:
You were made for greater things than “of world.”
“In world,” you are free to leave “history.”
You’re no longer your past that leaves you curled.
“Father God, there is nothing more ‘be’autiful to me than Your nonhuman animals looking right at me in this picture. When I look in their eyes, I see everything I need to see and everything I need to be. What I need to be is their friend, their advocate, and their voice because they have no voice. You have placed Your Voice in me to be their love, compassion, and mercy you desire me to extend to them and ask others to join me to be their voice. And if this picture had Your humans looking right at me, I would hope and pray that I would extend Your love, compassion and mercy to them, as well. It is BOTH humans AND nonhuman animals who You love, Father God; neither are ‘less than’ or superior or inferior in BOTH Your Eyes. Your Word tells us, “Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; humans have no advantage over animals” (Ecclesiastes 3:19). I pray that one day, humans will come to realize that they have no advantage over Your nonhuman animals and thus, like us, are on an equal playing field. BOTH are we to be equally protecting and never harming. I pray all of this in the Wonderful and Precious and ‘Be’autiful Name of Jesus Christ, Your Son and my Savior, and this prayer is answered by my faith and my belief. Please help me, Father God, where my faith and my belief are lacking. Amen.”
(God’s Sonnet by Timothy J. Verret; “it’s how I cope to hope that I will be My ‘be’autiful! in God’s Eyes this daily leavened [Jesus is Start Being!] bread”)
“Father God, as this picture shows, this precious pig of Yours has done nothing wrong to deserve the cruelty inflicted on him or her on a factory farm. There is absolutely no shame that this precious of pig of Yours need feel; it is only the shame of the ones who are inflicting cruelty on him or her that need feel this. “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). As far as our own shame, Father God, let us go to The Tree where Your Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ, waits for us and is more than willing to take our shame away. In fact, it is why You sent Your Son to us in the first place. Let us never turn our face away from Him, for You never turn Your Face away from us. If shame shows up, let us forgive, let us forgive, let us forgive. On a more personal note, I know it is me, Father God, who needs to forgive myself for all the shame I’ve carried and, if I’m being honest, I still carry most days. ‘Cause of Son’s Love, turn not Your Face from me, Father God. I pray all of this in the Wonderful and Precious and Son’s Love Name of Jesus Christ, and this prayer is answered by my faith and my belief. Please help me, Father God, where my faith and my belief are lacking. Amen.”
(God’s Sonnet by Timothy J. Verret; “it’s how I cope to hope in never I need carry shame and never turning my face away from Who forgives me this daily leavened [Jesus High on The Tree!] bread.”)
You turn your face away for fear of “seen.”
“Seen” in your shame is something you know well.
God tells you of shame, “I’m not One who’s mean.
I turn not my face away when you’re ‘fell.'”
My face falls away when I’m in my shame
which, if I’m being honest, is most days.
God says, “Stop that, Timothy! Your name
is My Love, your shame is never My Ways.”
“My God, My God, why Your Face turned away?”
asked Jesus. God replied, “My Son, My Son,
never I turn My Face from You! Their slay
of You to take their shame was too much ‘stun!’
At that moment, I was pained by The Tree.
‘Cause of Son’s Love, turn not your face from Me.”
“Father God, help us in balancing BOTH. The main BOTH is that it is BOTH The Father AND The Son that are The One. We are talking about how we are “growth” through BOTH Your Son AND our Savior, right? If it be so, then we must grow as the beloved chicken in the picture to be BOTH in our hourly AND daily lives. And nowhere does this show up for me more than when I always write about extending love, compassion and mercy to BOTH Your humans AND nonhuman animals. When I am dead, gone, and buried and the tombstone is not etched with “BOTH/AND,” I give anyone permission to remove the tombstone, contact the etcher, have him or her etch “BOTH/AND” on the tombstone, and then return it to my resting place. And speaking of “tomb,” thank you, Father God, for rolling that stone away so that I could BOTH finally leave the tomb of my ego AND be made free by Your Holy Spirit. I pray all of this in the Wonderful and Precious and “BOTH/AND” Name of Jesus Christ, BOTH my Lord AND my Savior. This prayer is answered by BOTH my faith AND my belief. Please help me, Father God, where BOTH my faith AND my belief are lacking. Amen.”
(God’s Sonnet by Timothy J. Verret; “it’s how I BOTH cope AND hope to….well, you know the rest 😉)
You are BOTH the sincere AND the hurt back.
You are BOTH the agree AND the offend.
Without balancing BOTH, you got the “crack.”
“Fix” the “false” by the truth that BOTH you blend.
