Rhonda Bronte Brown is a National Board-Certified Teacher and retired teacher/counselor whose work has appeared in Better Than Starbucks, The Trouvaille Review, Meat for Tea, The Orchards Poetry Journal and The Best Haiku 2025 international anthology and several online journals. She holds both a BS and a Master’s degree and writes children’s literature and poetry exploring nature, SEL, and STEM.
Breathe the sunlit air, uproot weeds watered by tears.
Take a chance; sometimes you pass, go and collect $2. (My grandson and I play junior monopoly.) Sometimes you get sent to Park Place with a hotel that isn’t yours. “Pay up!” Sometimes I feel like Jimmy Stewart with Mommy Dollar and Papa Dollar by the end of the game.
I have a precious grandchild whose Mom and Dad are divorced, which isn’t very pleasant between them. But my ex-son-in-law has turned his life around and is now preaching. He is having a very positive influence on his son. My grandson, for his birthday, asked for a suit to wear to church. His dad wears a suit every Sunday. And yes, we bought him a suit, shirt, tie, and shoes. So never give up, take a chance on people and always be willing to give them a second chance. God may surprise you. He answered my prayer through my son-in-law, not my daughter.
Jonah, Samson, David, Moses, Peter, Mary Magdalene, Disciples, and more.. second chance people. God is in the business of second chances.
Philippians 1:6 “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
William wears glasses and loves dogs. I painted this for him.
I loved the way Kate began her post today. We have several things in common with the exception of time. It is hard to write four decades. Wow.
At twenty I went overseas to serve as a missionary beginning on the island of Guam to the Philippines and then on a tour into China. The year 1980. I too thought I was going to lead the world to Christ but God had so much more planned.
I shared Christ with a young islander, (every which way, time, scriptures, etc) yet, she never prayed to receive Jesus. I made a friend, think of her and off and on still pray for her. I learned humility.
I lived with a family in the Phillippines and shared their everyday life. Boiling water to drink, watching their daughter studying hard to pass an exam to enter sixth grade. If she didn’t pass, her schooling was over. I learned the value of education. I became a teacher.
When asked what I wanted to eat for breakfast, I suggest an egg. I didn’t know how expensive eggs were. Once I knew I ended that. I remember the family meal of rice, one fish, and pea dish which we all shared from a turn-style from the center of the table. I learned the value of family.
So much of what I write today is still tied to that year. I was in training for the battles to come.
I hope I gave half as much as I received. God’s blessing comes in so many different ways that at times we cannot see. My students would ask why so many people come to America, I replied for the water, it is clean, drinkable, and ready to serve.
So is God’s Word, which is clean, drinkable, and served every day in America under the blessing we received.
They come here for the water,
they come here to be free,
they come so son and daughter
won’t fall to slavery.
They come here in the springtime,
they come here in the fall.
They come here, knowing it’s a crime,
but still they risk it all
to die in a hot desert place,
with home so far behind,
hoping for a simple grace
and a gentle mind
that will give, at least, Christian aid
to those who flee the murder blade.
This isn’t a political statement; I just think we have to look clearly at the motives of those who’d leave everything behind to reach a refuge, and see them as being a lot like us.
What a beautiful reflection, Rhonda! I appreciate how you shared your life’s journey thus far…I learned humility as a missionary; I learned to value education and became a teacher; I learned the value of family; all of these laid the foundation for my life…training for the battles to come.
Such inspiring and encouraging thoughts/reflections. Lessons learned that last a lifetime…..certainly some of the greatest blessings we have. I will pray that your Guam friend has accepted Christ…or soon will.
“This was written as a haiku, but I trashed it and started over. The haiku may have captured the essence (‘esse’) of Louisiana’s swampland but missed its vibrancy.”
Across the boot parishes, a vast swampland exists where the Cypress reign as keepers of the river forest.
Underneath a feathery dome, robed in reddish-bark with shields of twisted branches, resides the age-old kings.
Gators serve as sentries guarding the murky waters below, instilling respect for life and doom for the ignorant.
Sinkholes, shifting sand, watchful eyes always stare, ever mindful of a changing landscape.
A river basin teams with bass, crappie, and crawfish, full of beauty and wonder. Its esse seeps into a Cajun's soul.
Stagnant water breeds relentless mosquitoes. Yet, the yellow warbles and purple martins feast.
Host to mink, otters, muskrats, bears, deer, and bobcats, this bayou exists for life and shares in its hardships.
Standing between worlds is a glimpse of immortality, a time passage that remains under the Cypress' rule.
es·se
essential nature or essence.
"two traditions, each of whose esse is opposition to the central tenets of the other"
Across fourteen parishes, the longest swamp river flows, the Atchafalaya River. The Cypress tree reigns as king in the sleepy waters of the Atchafalaya and Chitimacha rivers. They stand tall and proud, untouched by time.
This ecologically rich heritage is as diverse as the cultural peoples who have come to make it their home. European, African, Caribbean, and Native American descendants dug their roots deep into the bayou. The bayou blends them all into a Cajun or Creole cultural mix.
Real magic is the time
and effort you put into
something.
The difference between a fable and a fairy tale is that in a fable you succeed by your own efforts. That is the essence of real magic.
thunderous speech showers from the sky
pattering the earth's surface
liquid sunshine seeps into the crusty dirt,
nourishing deep roots.
Showers of thunderous speech
oozing liquid sunshine
splattering the dirt
Sun captures glistening vapors
snapdragons retreat
pods of rebirth
Seeds are coming early this year. Hidden in Nature Pic by RLBrown
(WIP)
Hidden in Nature
Dangling treasure
for avid adventurers,
hidden in nature.
Dangling treasures
hidden in nature
for seekers to find......sought by
Tenacious trekkers
journey through a rarely seen
ribbon of time.
Wanderers capture
moments of discoveries
and lasting memories.
Capturing moments
of discoveries
and lasting memories.
The patterned pathways of
speckled sunlight guiding
avid adventurers.
As evening wanes
sunlight etches closer to
twilight's shade
Speckles of sunlight
Sunlight etches closer to twilight's shade
as the evening wanes.
emits pastel hue (cool Hue) Pastel hues color the evening sky.
long summer evenings
forest and child
refuse to sleep.
Fireflies hover
tealights glow
keeping darkness at bay
Cicadas sing
tree shadows creep.
Silence and night merge.
Yet little ones play in evening's twilight.
little ones frolic
on moonbeams silvery stream
till stillness comes.
Moonbeams
little ones frolic
under silvery moonbeams
till stillness comes
vanishing, tranformed by a moonbean ---stars shine, night receds behind the stars.
light infused into the night lighting a new path
till moonbeam
cast a sprkled light or an infused ligh
shadows and light play againtill the night hush comes
to pour a sleeping draft,
draws the sleepy eyes
darkness comes with a peacful rest.
Night's hush pours it sleeping draft
Life frolics on the moonbeam.
It plays till Night's hush
moves stillness in and
draws the sleepy eyes
shut, all rest.
{Plays till stillness comes.
The hush of night,
draws the sleepy eyes,
rest.
Yet in the darkness
life does not sleep
It frolic till Night's hush
moves in stillness,
all rest.]
Dayshadows shines Pattern Pathways
on twisted trails
of speckled sunlight
patterned pathways
of speckled sunlight
on twisted trails
designed for
rambling rovers,
giddy gadabouts,
avid adventurers,
dogged drifters,
and
tenacious trekkers.
fun to play with-
Tenacious trekkers travel twisted trails through time. time turns memories into laughter.
Twisted trails of speckled sunlight and patterned pathways traveled by avid adventurers, dogged drifters and tenacious trekkers.
Wintry winds
whistling a ceaseless
threnody
Haiku Music Challenge
1. sunlight etches closer
to twilight's shade,
evening wanes
2. long summer evenings
forest and child
refuse to sleep
Rhonda L Brown - USA
http://stardusthaiku.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html submission instructions
submission - Stardust - August
A friend and I above the clouds swinging free on a porch in Mountain View, AR. #haikusaturday I hope to visit one more time before she sells. pic.twitter.com/CMSuHM4BJ9
A troubled matrix
dewdrops of torment
stains
#HaikuSeed
Mildew
Time spins memories into laughter.
Summer Solstice
Solstice's rays stretch to reach Night tide's inner boundaries Summer bows Nighttide catenates
Guess, guess, guess again, kid-giggles on the inside guessing games.
Time spins laughter into memories
"The planetary team will meet again soon," says Coach Moon. "Will you be joining them this year?" Mrs. Gallivant asked. "Wouldn't miss it," says Coach Moon, "and you shouldn't either." "There you have it folks. Coach Moon confirms the upcoming alignment of the big five. Gallivant reporting live from Earth Watch Station.
patterned pathways speckled sunlight
Dangling treasure For avid adventurers Hidden in nature
Tenacious hikers Roaming twisted trails Of speckled sunlight
tenacious trekkers traveling patterned pathways of speckled sunlight
Photo by RL Brown fun to play with- Tenacious trekkers travel twisted trails through time.
Twisted trails of speckled sunlight and patterned pathways traveled by avid adventurers, dogged drifters and tenacious trekkers.
stormy days torrential rain evening settles to walk in the clouds
stormy days settle to walk above the clouds
Summer colors vibrate, the wind hums, the sky swishes, and our insides, giggle.
a view from a hammock
The wind hums the clouds dance soft kisses, in the cool listening to the wind hum watching the clouds dance
the sky swishes the hammock sways under a zenith moon, untroubled.
Certainly not the misinterpretation of a Founding Father’s letter by one man in the sixties that has reek havoc on our nation, just like one man’s decision in the Roe vs. Wae, stating that the Constitution didn’t protect a child in the mother’s womb. Jefferson’s letter assures this pastor and future churches in America that they would not suffer the persecution by the government as they had in Europe and England. Jefferson’s letter implied that our government would always protect churches and religious freedom. Read Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, every one of the Founding Fathers believed
2 Timothy 2:15
King James Version
15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Thomas Jefferson's letter was written to a concerned pastor about the overreach of government into the church, not as it has been missed applied. Today the gov't has overreached into the church, our schools, and our daily lives to the point of infringing on our God-given inalienable rights and even trying to shut down churches, charging thousands of dollars a day for staying open. God was not to be removed from our daily lives or our society.
Mountains of precipitous words echo constant reverberation. Reach into the WORD to find perspicacity (clear insight). Today, politicians and news media constantly reverberate the same talking point, spout opinions as facts, and shut down free speech if it is contrary to their talking points.
God calls us to know our foundational truths; to think freely is an inalienable right given to us by God, not man. That made this country so different from others in the past and today.
Side note: Thomas Jefferson didn't believe in tax dollars for education, welfare, money for illegal immigrants (actually, that started with President Carter), planned parenthood, SSI, and more. Those things were the responsibility of the states.)
We live in a bubble created by all those who have forged this country, and it is disappearing into the chaos as seen in Portal and yesterday into NY, where someone runs up and shoots a mother in the back of her head, totally unaware of the danger. Many people today are unaware of the risk of a socialist regime and the loss of freedom they now enjoy because of our right to protect ourselves. Sorry, this was long; just a heartfelt concern.
I don't know how in the '60s and '70s, people accepted the misapplication of Truth. Ignorance, afraid to speak up, is that true, busy with daily life, etc.; their argument stood so long that the fight to challenge it seemed insurmountable. But I think it was good people not paying attention and evil people pushing an agenda that started over a hundred years ago. I know I'm guilty of not paying attention. Good people have sounded out from the patriot act to the crazy bureaucrats controlling your actions. Study to show thyself approved. I have so much to learn.
Awarenesscomes by knowing scriptures. First by reading or hearing the word of God.
Romans 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Mindfulness comes by memorizing- God begins by writing His Word on your heart.
Hebrews 10:16
This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.
The Holy Spirit Informs us as we listen with our heart, mind and soul.
In 2 Timothy 3:16, Paul states, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.”
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Act 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
and
John16:13;
the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13).
Be Watchful as you are being watched
Ephesians 5:8
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.
Acts 20:28
Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says: "Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father."
Pictionary, Wordle, Charades, Scramble, riddles, knock-knock jokes, and more. Games that keep us guessing.
What is black and white and red (read) all over? Why did the chicken cross the road? Knock-Knock. Who’s there? Lettuce! Lettuce Who? Let us in, and I’ll tell ya. Knock-Knock. Who’s there? Orange! Orange who? Aren’t you goin’ to let us in?
Guessing games keep you giggling on the inside, waiting to tell a joke or guess the answer. I have childhood memories of playing cards, pick-up sticks, old maid, etc., trying to outguess my cousins, then rolling on the floor laughing.
God wants us to have fun with our families and keep guessing, laughing, playing, and enjoying life.
People love to guess!
Kids love to guess and figure out the answer. Even more fun is when the answer catches you by surprise.Guessing games bring laughter, silliness, and fun.
God creates us to love living, whether working, resting, or playing—I love watching a Jewish or Greek wedding or family members at a reunion, especially kids. The most fantastic family reunion will be in heaven, and we’ll be like kids.
Families grow and change and keep us guessing but are supposed to keep us centered in God’s love.
God created us to live, love and laugh. He designed families to protect, guide, and develop us into God-loving people who stand firm on the TRUTH. We don’t have to guess who we are. WE don’t have to guess about our sinful nature. It is clear and defined. It is by His power, not mine, by His name, not mine, by His blood, not mine that I stand affirmed, loved, and forgiven.
Now, that makes my insides giggle.
JOB 17:8 “Upright men shall be astonied at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite. The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.”
Job is sad that he, a godly person, must suffer such pain and insults, but his sufferings make him more determined to do right and oppose wrong.
Act 2:16-18 “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.”
Why bring these two seemingly unrelated verses together? Job did suffer the loss of his wealth, family, and health. His friends came to offer comfort but only accused him of sin in his life. His friends personally attacked him. We look to the church for guidance yet, are condemned by our peers, not given the whole truth. “Romans 13:12-14 The night is almost finished. The day is almost here. So we should stop doing whatever belongs to darkness. We should prepare ourselves to fight evil with the weapons that belong to the light. We should live right by not participating in wild parties or getting drunk, doped up, etc. We should not be involved in sexual sin or any kind of immoral behavior. We should not be malicious gossip on social media. We are to speak the Truth by calling evil, evil. “
God spoke to Job directly and brought a clear understanding of His love for Job and through it a deeper understanding of Himself. How would you like to have had this conversation?
Astonied is to be filled with consternation or dismay. When people’s hearts are stirred, God will pour out His Spirit. We will not be lost, nor will our hearts remain heavy at the evilness around us. God will pour out His spirit upon the stirred souls of the righteous, and God will give you discernment through His Word to recognize the counterfeiter.
God will speak to us as He did Job by pouring out His Spirit. …on your sons and daughters, (they) will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy (the Truth).
We are to be a bulwark for the innocence. Pic by RL Brown
I’m smart, you’re dumb; I’m big, you’re little; I’m right, you’re wrong, and there’s nothing you can do about it. (Movie/ Matilda)
7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. John 8:7King James Version
I think of how we Christians lord church doctrine over other churches, non-Christians, etc., yet think my sin is not as bad as theirs. WOW! Certain sins may excommunicate you from the church, while every sin not washed by the blood of Jesus keeps you out of heaven. Sometimes our point of view needs adjusting.
Yet, from a Jewish perspective, if a Pharisee had cast the first stone, he would be guilty of claiming equality with God, the very reason Jesus hung on the cross. The Pharisees saw themselves better than others, their sin less dirty, but Jesus changed their perspective upward. I sometimes get locked into a western view of the bible, which is dangerous. I heard a pastor say once, how can a bridesmaid, the Jewish Nation, be the bride of Christ, the church. Matthew 24 is written to the Jewish nation, not the bride of Christ. It is about the second coming, not the rapture. I would like to add here of how many times I thought if the church is the bride, how is it that I’m the bridesmaid? Or where did Enoch go? Why are all of David’s failures told?
God’s Word has so many layers that I’m learning to adjust my point of view upward. God’s Word rings true for every believer to meet them where they are in the Christian walk. God reveals Himself in His Word. It is up to me to seek, and know Him.
brontebrown2 
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