Weeding

weedingI was reminded again today,
How important it is to weed
My own garden and
How difficult and even dangerous it is,
To try to weed,
Someone else’s ground.

Not knowing what is planted in that soil,
It is easy to pull a flower in its beginnings,
Mistaking it for a weed.
Leaving a gaping wound whose
Healing takes such time
And effort that one tires into exhaustion.

In the heat of the moment,
One is served best by
Searching out and extracting,
Personal weeds as carefully as possible,
Leaving the care of another’s plot,
Safely in the owner’s loving hands.

Cerita M. Hewett
July 2009
Revised November 2014

Knowing

girl-scriptures-flowers-1257297-gallery

There is a difference between
Knowing with the mind
And knowing with the heart.

For the Lord has told us
He will teach us in our hearts
And in our minds.

Our thoughts and feelings become
So intertwined it is often hard to tell
Which is thought and which is feeling.

Together they act as a duet,
For they are welded to each other
By the Savior’s love.

Cerita M. Hewett
September 21, 2015

Reminders

Field of daisy flowers

The daisy with its golden sun center
And white radiating petals,
His light and eternal knowledge.

The daffodils first blooms,
Of the first spring for all mankind,
When He arose and came forth.

The rose with the sweet fragrance of
Life, not of the tomb,
His glorious resurrection.

Well then, all things remind me,
Trucks pulling heavy loads
His cross.

Bucket loaders
Lifting dirt and rocks to higher places,
His lifting of our sins.

Cars speeding down the straight away,
The eternal path, narrow, but well-marked
By His treading feet.

Graders moving rocks aside,
Smoothing the way,
His gentle voice calming hearts.

Airplanes soaring up and over mountains,
His lifting, climbing,
Carrying all who come to him upward.

Yes, all things can remind us of Him,
When we look through the lens of spiritual lives
At mortality.

Cerita M. Hewett
September 20, 2015

Hope

jesus-christ-blessing-children-nephite-158467-gallery

When I think of the Savior
Teaching the common people,
With the Widow of Nain,
Healing the sick,
In the garden of Gethsemane,
With the woman at the tomb,
Appearing to the Nephites after his resurrection,
Letting each one of the multitude
Touch the marks in His hands, feet, and side,
Holding and blessing each child,
I feel sure hope that He knows me.

I know He loves me,
When I let Him come into my life,
He reaches out to me,
Though there is turmoil in the world around,
Through Him I smile each day,
And with this hope I pray and work,
I try to be a little kinder,
Then follow Him.

Cerita M. Hewett
Revised 2015

Easter Hymn

easter-pictures-resurrection-mary-magdalene-1242543-gallery

The Savior in Gethsemane,
And on the cross of Calvary,
Paid all my debts,
And set me free.

By this great gift I surely go,
Forward and upward day by day,
To live, to serve, to see my way
Back to my Father’s home.

With gratitude I bow my head,
And now remember what Christ said,
For all mankind my blood I shed,
Come follow me, rise from the dead.

Cerita M. Hewett
March 28, 2013

English Class

Daily Dose

Funny, Great, Friendly

We   learn   pronunciation

We   learn   a   lot   of   words

We   speak   a   lot   of   English

The     time     goes     by     fast

We feel the Spirit of Jesus Christ

   We go to our houses  feeling good!

 

Crockett Branch English Class
2015

Time Out

               Woman with crutches

                I have experienced a few “time outs” in life,
                Some illness or injury that took me out of the active game,
                A loss or disappointment that paused my busy days,
                These “breaks” have been well springs of deeper reflection,
                Benevolent “rests” in my perpetual music and dance. 

                Though uncomfortable, even painful,
                They have enriched my soul and drawn me
                Closer to friends,
                Closer to my family,
                Closer to the Lord.

                They have made me more compassionate,
                A stronger, more joyous player.

Cerita M. Hewett
March 2013

Contradictions

Ecuador, Ethnic Latin Woman

                 Ocean, rivers, desert,
                       Verdant mountains, volcanic rock,
                                    Tropical jungle,
                  Whales – millipedes.
                           Humming birds – great parrots,
                  Changing surfaces – changing people.

 

                  Large cities – tiny villages,
                           Supermarkets – open markets,
                                    Stairwell shops – modern malls,
                  Sidewalk cafes – food courts,
                           Street venders – department stores
                  Flower gardens – dirt yards.

 

                  Painted and unpainted homes dot the land
                           Mansions, high-rise apartments,
                                    Cinderblock, adobe, cardboard dwellings and huts,
                  Painted gray and black by the earth,
                           Or by cheerful people
                  Green, pink, orange, or blue.

 

                  Cement highways – dirt streets – narrow pathways,
                           People riding in cars, airplanes, buses,
                                    Trains, vans, pickups,
                  Ships, boats, dugouts,
                           Or on burros and horses,
                  Some walking, walking, walking.

 

                  Agile young soccer players competing on dirt,
                           Cement, or sparse yellow grass surfaces,
                                    And on sandy beaches,
                  Professionals playing in giant
                           Manicured stadiums,
                 Cripples with canes, crutches, wheelchairs.

 

                  People spread across the land
                           Smiling young faces with sparkling white teeth,
                                    Sober, wrinkled, toothless, faces.
                  Crying babies, shouting venders, whispering breezes,
                           Brass bands – classical orchestras,

 

                  Traditions of home learning,
                           Training from the fathers and ancients,
                  Schools of private or public education.

 

                  Men, women, and children working the land,
                  Terraced corn, beans, and potato patches,
                                    Spacious rice paddies – Cane fields,
                  Banana plantations.

 

                  People filling shops and offices,
                           Wearing jeans, suits, or native dress.
                                    Living off the land,
                                             Living off the streets,
                  Clean and dirty.

 

                  Tourists looking on,
                           Old people looking back,
                                    Young people looking forward!

 

                  Ecuador, a land of contradictions,
                           Ecuador, a land in flux,
                                    A place to live, love, and serve.

 

                                                                       Epilogue

 
                  Traveling we experienced something of this land’s
                           Ugliness and beauty,
                                    Sound and silence,
                  Perfume and odor.

 

                  Then we returned to the peace,
                           The studied formal gardens,
                                    The refuge of the temple grounds,
                  Here we found the same peace
                           That the people of this land find as
                                    They come one by one
                                             Family by family,
                   To worship in our Father’s house!

                                                            Cerita M. Hewett
                                                            August 16, 2009
                                                            (revised Oct. 2014)

He Lives

                                             I do not know why

                                                      Christmas came

                                                               So fast.

                                             In other days

                                                      It always came

                                                               ‘At last!’

                                             And yet its sounds

                                                      And smells,

                                                               And light,

                                             Are welcome to this

                                                      Mortal’s ears

                                                               And sight.

                                             Because that Holy Baby’s

                                                      Birth and

                                                               Cries

                                             Awakens once again my heart,

                                                      And pries it

                                                               Open wide,

                                             Until I smile,

                                                      And laugh,

                                                               And give

                                             My heart again to Him,

                                                      Who lived and died,

                                                               And yet still lives.

                                                                                                            Cerita M. Hewett

                                                                                                            December 2, 2013

 

Reminder to the World

                             Cold in the mountains of Idaho or

                             Hot in South America, still we are

                             Reminded of the tiny

                             Infant son born in a humble

                             Stable

                             To a loving

                             Mother on that holy night when all the

                             Angels of heaven

                             Sang with hope and joy!

Peace on earth, good will to men!

Cerita M. Hewett

December 1, 2001