Author: Teresa Norman

Married to the love of my life and my partner in everything for almost 42 years, proud mother of three amazing adults, grandmother of some high energy little angels. Grateful child of God.

God, I’m trying to be reasonable, but….!

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A thief has come creeping in the silence of night
To steal serenity, vitality and maybe my life.
I thought I could deal with this new situation
But my mind is imploding with great consternation.

He wasn’t invited, he has no real claim
So I’ll try asking him to leave in Jesus name.
I’ve met his cousin years ago – his name – breast cancer
But chemo and grace made him go.

I know I’m not righteous, that I don’t deserve
God’s blessing, protection, or any good thing
But I’ve come to trust that He’s good and kind-
(Until Job, world news and genocide come to mind).

Job didn’t deserve it, but he lost everything
Because God and the Liar played a game.
Job and his family suffered for a challenge from evil?
Is God really good? The world doesn’t look the same.
I believe, help my unbelief.

Broken Ways

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Creator God, Giver of life
You see how we struggle-
Create hardship and strife,
We lash out in our anger
Breaking hearts as we go
Feeling wise when we’re foolish
Thinking You don’t see or know…

Our broken ways separate us,
Draw walls around our hearts
We think we’ve reached the ending
When You long to give a new start
Forgive us, God, we need You-
(We are not so wise at all!)

We think we have the answers
But on our faces we fall
Help us learn to listen to you!
Let Your Spirit speak words on the wind
Let the seeds of truth be planted
Make our hearts good ground again.

You’ve pulled the weeds so lovingly
(Although there still was pain)
As we clung to the things that hurt us
And refused to let you in
Help those whose pain is hidden
In the darkness of their fears
Give them hope that You are listening
When they’re alone and think no one hears.

Come, Great Holy Spirit, breathe life
Into these bones that feel broken and dried
Bring order, redemption, salvation
To this barren place within us –
Oh God, be glorified.

6/19/2023

Porpoise Without A Purpose

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Wild fish, swimming freely, gracefully, quickly…
Unrestrained by civilization’s rules and expectations…
Time suspended…in his element.
Free to swim, free to jump, free to glide –
Free to experience life on the wild ocean.
No farm raised fish, not this one!
No carefully domesticated trained seal.
This one is made of frontier material –
Made for up where the northern lights shine,
The air is pure, the salmon abundant
And life is not in a cage.
How to revert to the wild?
How to become himself again?
God, give him direction.
You know.

Teresa Norman July 2007

Picking a Tombstone

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This is a weird way to spend a day -trying to decide what kind of tombstone to purchase for my friend. She had been estranged from her blood relations for quite a few years, but had many friends in her community. An amazing person, in some ways, and a bit of a cactus in others….

For some reason she trusted me to be her “executor” although there wasn’t much to execute. One of our other friends who still lived in her community was the resident angel who. visited her regularly in the nursing home and cared for her lovingly, consistently and with great dignity and grace. She is an angel.

So, my job is to select a tombstone and get the ashes from the cremation company and have her ashes buried and the tombstone installed next to her husband’s spot. But, for some reason, I keep putting this off. I don’t know what to say on this marker. I have the dates she was born and died, and her name, but I don’t feel like I know her enough to make the final statement on her tombstone. She was a deeply religious person (Christian faith), and talked often of heaven being her real home and of her Father there who loved her and would welcome her. Her life had been lacking a lot in the loving and welcoming part….she lost her mother when she was young. Our friend, the angel, shared how touching it was to see the nurses caring for her in such intimate ways and how she softened as she soaked up the kindness and love she found in this not so deluxe nursing home. She became gentler with people….there are gifts even in the dark places.

I guess what I will say on the tombstone will be her name, and the dates of her earthly existence, and that she is forever loved….

Making Peace with My Body

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My disordered, divergent mind
Has been calmed, restored and refined
But to live in my body is new
I have not really liked this view
The temple God filled with his grace
Was abused and degraded, defaced
The next thing on the list of to do’s
Is to learn to love it like You do
To give it the sleep that it needs
To give food that is fuel to live free
Father, forgive what I’ve done
Help me honor you, live in your love

April 2023

A Momma’s Courage

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The quiet young woman stood on my front porch

One evening as I came home

Dog walking beside me.

He little son was playing in the grass.

She was approaching the home of a stranger

Asking if we would give her shelter

A friend of hers had seen our trailer in the yard…

Knew no one was living in it…

Apple translate (love it or hate it) was our new friend –

She showed me how to find the program

So we could bash a hole in the language barrier

And give us a space to peek through at a path to walk together

I woke my husband to join the conversation

He got a neighbor to help translate

And suddenly, we had a temporary new neighbor

Who would have a place to sleep for a few weeks.

Our new friend has moved on

But my respect for her courage remains.

To leave your homeland with nothing but hope…

A very hard journey behind her and ahead of her as well.

How do you tell a story?

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I don’t have any answers on this one….just questions. I recently read a book called “The Girl Behind the Gate” that was a total surprise. I stumbled onto it on Kindle Unlimited and could not put it down until I was finished. In non-overly dramatic fashion, it told the story of an unmarried young woman who got pregnant in the days where her society did horrible things to her, where (as always) it was her “fault” and her “moral failings” and never mentioned she didn’t do it herself. This is personal to me, since one of my ancestors went down that road with horrible, tragic disastrous results that have left consequences subsequent generations are still impacted by. It took my breath away to see the parallel to my relative’s story but to see this woman walk out of hell with the help of a courageous therapist and find a measure of peace and stability and worth and LIFE. A worthwhile but dark read….

The other story that totally floored me and made me seriously consider the art of storytelling was called “The Old Man” – a popular TV show that came out recently (only seven episodes so far). This is fiction and drama but the breadcrumbs the story teller weaves through this forensic tale of family secrets, hidden agendas, buried details and the strengths and weaknesses of the characters with their ability to sacrifice, deceive, and delude themselves….so well done. Dark drama, somewhat violent without showing heads being lopped off (implied, not displayed violence), but SO well done.

The grip of these two stories on me got my attention. I am usually given to poetry (telling a story in a snapshot, not a novel) – giving a glimpse of a picture, a feeling, a relationship. This got me thinking – how do you tell a story? Some things don’t fit in a poem. In my life there have been many of those things. Times where grace has invaded my space, even in the midst of tragedy and loss and shame…where a person has shown up out of my past to confirm things I had no way of finding answers to on my own. There are people who have told me my story is worth telling. I just don’t know where to even start….

Suggestions? How do you approach telling a story?

Wind from Heaven

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Lord, we are scattered, tribal and confused
We shout aloud and louder trying to be heard
It’s as if we are speaking a different language
And no one is listening -we wound each other…
It bears no good fruit. We wonder what went wrong –
Why can’t the “other guy” just know we are right….

But your Word gives us hope –
At Pentecost, you sent your spirit
Those gathered heard a loud noise, like a wind from heaven.
Tongues of fire rested on their heads
You touched them and then
They spoke language your spirit gave-
Language understood by those gathered from every nation…
The people marveled that they could understand

Our words, our actions, our Christian cultural thing –
It’s so foreign to so many…are they “lost” or are we?
People of every nation listened to the words of God
In language they could understand because the Spirit came…
God, breathe on us,
Wind from heaven
Fill our mouths with words
that will be understood by those who listen…
Pour out your spirit on every nation
Help your sons and daughters speak your word…
Breathe on us, wind from heaven.

Give us strength to walk the good road with you
Release us from our broken, twisted ways.
Give us humility to learn from and hear one another.
To see the beauty in the variety of humans you have made.
Together we meet at the foot of your cross
Together we take the bread and wine and remember who you are
Why you came…we remember you.

Teresa Norman 6/7/2022

Dear Southern Baptist Leadership…

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It is with almost unspeakable grief that I read the report of how you, like SO many other church leaders, have covered up the abuse of women and children and made excuses for the abusers.

The destructive power of intimidating those who try to tell of what happened to them and how their lives are impacted appears to be beyond your comprehension.

Let me try to help you out on this…

Years ago, I wrote a collection of poems sharing what child abuse looks like from the child’s perspective. While the circumstances/details of each person’s abuse are different, these glimpses into abuse through a child’s eyes have helped some people see a little bit more. The view gets SO clouded and SO dark when it is clergy who abused you. I know, because the youth group leader in my church was a serial molester. He started with his owns sisters as a young man and graduated to the “sheep” he was supposed to “shepherd.” Here is a sample of the poems:

Child of Mind

Look, you child rapist, what did you mean
When you made that saintly sick little scene?

In your nice blue suit, oh SO “righteously”
You sang in “tribute” of your mom’s memory.

The church was full of people you knew,
But oh, you fraud! if they only knew you!!

Instead of your smiling religious face
They’d watch you roast and twist In Hot disgrace.

Perhaps your victims would cut off your….
And nail them up to a handy wall….

We’d get revenge for what you’ve done
In the “name of God” – (May His Kingdom come!).

We’d shout your secrets nice and loud –
Tell what you did and broadcast how
In the name of “love” and a “Shepherd’s concern”
You screwed your sheep, each one by turn.

And those who needed God’s love could find
A pastoral pervert to mess up their minds.

You hypocrite!! I wish you knew
Just what it was you put us through!

We paid a price for believing your lies.
Most of us still live and hope you die
Slowly!

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For more poems “From the Child”. please see fromthechild.wordpress.com

Hope Will Rise Again

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God of the paradox
Lion and lamb
You came as a servant
But hold the world in your hand

Through your death you bring life
At such terrible cost
The Shepherd who searches
For all who are lost

They tried to take your life
But you willingly laid it down
To make a new beginning
For these humans that you love

You carried our sorrows
You felt every one
Paid the price, bore the pain
For all that’s been done

You made a way
For hope to arise
In those who’d been buried
By the enemy’s lies

Messiah, Redeemer
Creator and Friend
You hung in our place
Now we live again.

Thank you.

Teresa Norman 2022

Shabbat Shalom

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Shabbat Shalom

Gray fog dissipates on the horizon
Torrential rain beats on the roof-
Drips with splashy drops into the gray canal
Seagulls squack, more gray and white color
In a shaded collection of potential gloom.

Slowly gliding by, a seal fishes for breakfast
As I have coffee and watch the gloom rise….
December…a strange time of year.

Hustle and bustle and jingle bells
And dashing through the snow
Searching for things and bargains
And happiness in places it can’t be found
Seems so unrelated to my world today —
(a simple world of slopping through the rain
as I try to get my dog to do her thing so we can go back inside)

I give thanks for being removed from the bustle
Even for a moment
As my puppy snores blissfully back on the bed
And we get ready to meet with people we love
And celebrate how far so many have come
To be here today in so many ways….

Shalom….

A Lament for the Displaced

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See the mother as she’s running, tiny baby in her arms,

Fleeing from the soldiers and their tanks and guns and bombs… 

She’s exhausted, cold and desperate, her children hungry, full of fear –

How can she know You love her-that You walk beside here there?

Her enemies surround them. Her city’s being burned,

The bombs fell on the church as well… So many have been killed.

Their food and homes are taken because the government wills

To destroy them as a people and make them disappear.

God of justice, are you hiding? Can you hear these people cry?

Where is Your wrath and anger as the bombs fall from the sky?

Are You sleeping or on a journey? (This mother waits to hear.)

Help us welcome You and her family if injustice brings them here.

In her, I see You hungry, 

Clothe her children, we’re clothing you.

Her husband is a warrior 

Fighting evil to bring rescue

Protestors go to prison

Please God, hear their cry

Let them know they’re not alone

Let Your people cry with them…

Lord, forgive us for our silence as dictators scheme and bomb

Forgive us for our silence as the weak are crushed by the strong.

Let us cry out against this evil, loud enough so that you hear, 

Help us quit arguing with each other

About what doesn’t matter, making ourselves important

As you stand and wait….

As hungry, displaced, frightened people

Seek help….we argue about laws and who is worthy

You are the truth – banish our lies

You are the light-drive out our darkness

You are the way. Help us! We are lost!

We ask for your mercy, which we don’t deserve.

Help us stand with those who need to know You are near.

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Lament for the Lonely

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She sits hidden in the darkness
Of her well-appointed home
The Lies she has believed
Make her heart feel like a tomb
She says she’s not a “victim”
That her mind is “doing fine”
But hates all those around her –
Says they’re hateful and unkind.

God, can’t you feel the anguish
As her children hear her rage,
As they try to bear the burden
Of making their mom “OK”?
Oh God, where is your comfort?
Why do you seem so far away?
Are you on vacation?
Is there nothing You can say?

You are the loving Savior,
Redeemer, Sustainer, Friend
Who died to free the captives;
Be the light that brings life again
Please free this lonely captive
From the Liar’s choking vines
She is drowning in the darkness –
Let her breathe in Your Light again.

March 15,2022

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(Haven’t been writing for a while….I know the world right now is so FULL of incomprehensible trauma, and war and war crimes and racism and power-grabbing, life crushing, country destroying evil and sadness, but last week the sadness and pain of one young woman I carry about was where my heart was most focused.) Nobody deserves the crap going on in Ukraine.

Bread From Heaven

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Like the Hebrews in the desert,
I look at the bread You provide
And ask “What is it?”
So often (like the disciples of old)
I do not recognize You…
In spite of your provision
Your presence
Your goodness
I think I am alone
Abandoned.
I remain blinded by my unbelief,
My hardened heart, afraid.

Help me see who You are-
The living bread
That came down from heaven
Help me see You-
Your body broken for me.
Help me see You
In Your body,
Many members,
Though broken and scattered
Bound together as one loaf in You.

You have fed me in my wilderness
Open my eyes
to see those who are also hungry
Abandoned, alone, afraid
Bread of heaven-
You’ve given me loaves and fishes
They are not much in this world of need
It’s all I have, Lord.
But I offer it to You.