The Apple Doesn't Fall Far {gn26:7}

The sins of the fathers
are visited upon the children
unto the third and fourth generations.

/raise a child
and learn firsthand
the awful truth/

     The Sins of the Fathers
     silently transmitted (like DNA)
     proudly passed down (like family heirlooms)
     meticulously cultivated (like cherished hobbies)
     systematically served up (like three meals a day)

Words /like birds/ fly
up down and around
in out
alighting departing
flitting
fluttering
fleeting

Actions
settle in
take root
cement

That Isaac weaved
his father's tangled web
is no surprise.

The miracle would have been
a son of Abraham
who didn't practice the deceit
that had permeated the air
from the first moment
he drew breath.

Table Turner {gn25}

The first-time father
at eighty-six.

The bastard child
also blessed with twelve tribes.

The barren woman
gifted with twins.

The birthright
given to the baby.

The servant
becoming the master.

The poor
suddenly
rich.

The weak
suddenly
strong.

The inconsolable
suddenly
in-high-spirits.

God has been overturning tables
long before He
whipped the temple
into a frenzy.

An Ordinary Life {gn24}

Photo © Unsplash/Patrick Fore

Nobody plans to win the lottery.
Not really.

The unexpected doesn't arrive
when it's expected.

Nobody goes to the well for water
supposing to find a husband instead.

And nobody who goes to the well for a wife
imagines the answer
before the Amen.

Instead, we assume an ordinary life,
quickly forgetting (did we ever know?)
that ordinary
is the largest part of extraordinary.

The miracle always comes
in the midst of the mundane,
the exceptional
in the midst of the everyday.

In a world conceived by the Supernatural,
there are no natural moments.

Even if you're
on your same way
down the same road
to the same well
with the same jar
in the same shoes you were wearing yesterday
and every day for the last ten thousand days,

this is
no ordinary day
no ordinary shoes
no ordinary jar
no ordinary well
no ordinary road
no ordinary way.

Expect.