Two, 2, More Minutes More with You!

Two, 2, Minutes More with You

We are early for school drop off 

Twelve years has past

Like yesterday we walked together holding hands, jumping in puddles

Now, well on his way in all different great directions in life

Oh, I don’t mind waiting with you

Two, 2, minutes more with you 

Thoughts of our early lives together 

Our children from birth to now

Seeing you now with your own family,

careers, homes and kids young to pre-teen, and teens 

Oh how we long, yearn for, desire 

Two, 2, minutes more with you 

Thoughts of those we love and loved and now gone before us

The example, drive, hopefulness, sparkle in the eye of joy 

What we feared was gone with their brief life, even 100 years is a brief life, 

Lives on in those we see before us this day and every day we have on earth

Yet it gets me thinking deeply- how I pine for, cry out for, and dream of

Two, 2, minutes more with you 

I write this down

for the next generation to [pause]

To lift up one another as we wait- for the dream, for the job, for the dx, for the answers, the clarity

So as we see the plan unfold, more beautifully than we could’ve created ourselves, 

We will praise the Eternal, 

and the next, and the next generation will see the value, 

and what ancestors held to heart 

The most important thing in this brief, fleeting  life is always and forever and  shall be

Two, 2, More Minutes More with You!

About this poem: Two, 2, More Minutes More with You is a poem about this brief, fleeting life and how we would give anything to spend more time together even two minutes waiting for a drop off at school.

[We get to hear your voice. We get to see the sparkle in your eye, and hope in your actions to a better future together!] 

Long after you and I are gone, those to come after us will remember and follow hard after God, family, and getting all out of life possible for their good and the good of others!

- Joe  and Jayne Holuta

“Write this down for the next generation

so people not yet born will praise God:” 

Psalm 102:18 (message)

“It you have a friend who is struggling, come close and enter the messiness of their pain.”- Vaneetha Risner

2 clouds watching over me

Your Story and Lake Anna

Your Story and Lake Anna

Travel to the LakeHouse is filled with anticipation 

To be with family again - far and away from the race of life 

Lake Anna waters bring calm to the spirit and soul 

Cloudy day and cool breeze- pockets of sunshine and blue sky -still the mind from the busyness of life 

Thoughts of future generations and if she will see them 

Hearts filled, tears flow, song playing in the morning-

“Rain came and wind blew

But my house was built on You

I'm safe with You

I'm gonna make it through…

He's faithful through generations

So, why would He fail now?”1

Morning dawns,

Oatmeal -her joy In the morning

Beginnings - important to any story 

Fishing until he catches a few 

Looking for clams in the shallow -her braids skitter Lake Anna water as she leads the way for the younger

Spectacular sunset and conversation on the dock

Endings - purpose may change

 Our story endures.

“God made you and your story. Your story is His story.” 2

I thought about the table and the lavishness of God towards us

“The world begins” at the table

Breakfast- bacon and pancakes

Lunch- fresh chicken noodle and peanutbutter soup

Dinners together, holding life itself

Pasta, fresh vegetables,salmon and the cedar planks,

Shrimp and grits 

I think about the table, the laughing, the sweetness 

Fireside games, laughter, marshmallows and quinoa chocolates 

Sparks fly upward as their eyes smile wide with wonder and stories birthed new

“With our own ears, O God, we have heard the stories

our ancestors recited of Your deeds

in their days, days long past-how You saved the day.” 3

“So brand it on my mind

So I don't forget

Let it shine…I'm blinded by the lights

Of October skies

These postcard memories” 4

About this poem: Your Story and Lake Anna is a poem about family time at the LakeHouse.

October refreshing times together. So thankful they want to spend time with us! Building core memories.- Joe Holuta

LakeHouse 2023

LakeHouse again 2024

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1 Firm Foundation , (He Won’t), Cody Carnes

Firm Foundation , (He Won’t),

2 "The harvest at your feet- is what it is. Yet, in all of this there is hope because your Lord is the Lord of new seasons.

God made you and your story. Your story is His story. 

(Tripp, Paul David. Lost in the Middle- Midlife and the Grace of God. Shepherd Press. 2004.)

3 Psalm 44:1 voice

4 October Skies, by Mumford & Sons

The Paths I Walk

The Paths I Walk

The paths I walk are now well worn 

Decades of walking the same trails and paths 

What makes it new again each time

Looking for something that sparks a new thought or memory 

The Rock where she sat and seeing her the one I love 

Walking a little slower now

I see the leaves dropping 

They fall more slowly than years before 

The woods a bit more restful at dusk 

The sounds of summer echoing in  the air, calming my anxious heart 

What was the breath and the height of the day today? 

Was it talking with a friend along the street? 

Or was it seeing old photographs - my heart skipping beats? 

The call, beauty on the call, the image of her in early life now today cariried on 

or the text -requesting help for uncommon times, or just to let me know, -thinking of me

Was it the words I read this morning in the quiet, the sun coming up over the hill, 

“Think of it, the sky, the Earth, 

and everything on it” 

Choosing you to be His own- the wonder

Wind blown trees uprooted across the well worn path 

Can’t see very far ahead, but unearthed a new way

“You’ll get there, a light breeze against my face

Detour and turns, fragrant pine and earth in the air

Anxiety sinks down, straight on to the circumstance; calmly, faith rising, sinking deeply into my heart

The sun setting, footsteps along the path

Hope all around, walking together, remembering 

“the best is still yet to come”

The Paths I Walk, Glimpse poetry by Joe Holuta

About this poem: The Paths I Walk is a poem about a path I frequently walk in the woods. Jayne  and I walked this path when we were first engaged, and after I gave her an engagement ring we took pictures on a rock near the path.

That was forty-four years ago. We still walk this path, but the woods have changed- trees have fallen, and a wind shear early in the year block the path with fallen trees unearthed at the roots. More recently, I took a walk and was just thinking about how many times obstacles are placed in our way in life and many times our path is not a straight shot, but there’s turns, and high cliffs, and deep valleys that we go through, but we need to know that God is with us and cares for our welfare and lowers our anxious cares and points us to a future and a hope and  “the best is still yet to come!”

“And He will be leading you. He’ll be with you, and He’ll never fail you or abandon you. So don’t be afraid!” 

(Deuteronomy 31:8 voice)

“And the Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; he will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear, or be dismayed” (Deuteronomy 31:8).

- Joe Holuta

 

Walk along the path