My writing friends, Mavis Jarrell and Marilyn Johnston, exhibited our recently published books at the Dauphin Way Baptist Spring Expo on Friday, March 6. Here is our picture taken by Jo Anne McKnight. It was a great experience.

To order Daystar send check or money order  for $10 + $2 S&H to: Betty Spence, 3466 LeCoste Rd., Mobile, AL 36618 or email me at wordsmitty@bellsouth.net for other arrangements.

Good news! After several years of writing effort, Daystar, my 40-day devotional book of reflections, prayers and poems has arrived. Take a look at the first devotion below to help you decide if Daystar would be a good Easter gift for a loved one.

Send $12 which includes shipping to the following address:
3446 LaCoste Road, Mobile, AL 36618. Phone: 251-649-4892.

Is That You, Lord?                                                      Day 1

   Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.  Matthew 5:8

     The risen Christ revealed himself to his followers in ways that were meaningful to them.  For Peter it was the empty tomb.  For John it was grave clothes folded and laid aside.  For Thomas it was the wounds

of Christ.  For Mary Magdalene it was a familiar voice calling her name.   

     Others among Christ’s followers also became persons of witness, believers for whom the resurrection was made real.  In each instance Christ’s followers were taken by holy surprise, which changed their plans not only for their day, but for their lives.

     What about you and me?  Have you, have I, become so familiar with the Easter narrative, do we know it all so well, or think we do, the mystery of faith no longer takes us by surprise?  Surely, the death and resurrection of Christ is a sacred ordeal which demands constant reexamination and reaffirmation of faith.

Afterglow:  The mysteries of salvation through the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ will

never be fully realized in this life where at best we see through a glass darkly.  God is faithful, however, to help us grasp the mystery of mysteries in meaningful ways. 

                                                                             *******

Discovering the Daystar

John 20:19

Groping  towards dawn

Mary comes to the palest of gardens,

stoops low beside the open tomb

and looks into the abyss.

Like an unenlightened stargazer

whose concentrated stare

overshoots a million suns,

she cannot believe her eyes.

But when One  she takes

 to be the keeper of the garden

whispers  “Mary”,

she turns to see who calls her name

and the Daystar rises.

     It's a new year, and I am blessed. My book of poetry, Traces of Presence, published by Dr. Sue Walker, Negative Capability Press, is now available. Poet friend, Joe Whitten, author of Learning to Tell Time says:

    Betty Spence chooses words for her poems as carefully as a master quilter chooses colors for a prize-winning quilt. She sees the joyful pattern of nature as “red feathers dusting green feeder” and longleaf pines that “needle point a piece of Alabama sky.” For her, Vincent van Gogh “paints not what is, but what seems/ in seeming swirls of yellow and orange.” Betty’s faith is stitched into the fabric of her poems, for she hears the pink and blue asters “telling the glory of God” and sees the coast of Main as “God’s Rock Garden.” Be inspired by the poems in Traces of Presence.

     Here are a few short poems from the book.

Uncurtained Window

What-cheer, red feathers
dusting green feeder swinging
on black shepherd’s hook.

Call For Calendar Reform

Tell me Spring’s not the time
to ring out the old; ring in the new.

Tell me the time of white blossoms
with a hint of pink is not the time

for bees to buzz the cup; not the time
for meadow grass to throw serpentine;

not the time for Yellow Jasmine
to trumpet strains of Auld Lang Syne.

Hey, you! You in the party hat.
Tell me the calendar didn’t say that.

Stitchery

as open and airy

as stanzas allowing

a sky blue canvas
to show through,
one evergreen stitch
at a time
Longleaf Pines
n   e   e   d   l   e   p   o   i   n   t
a piece of Alabama sky.

To order books:
Betty Spence
3446 LaCoste Road
Mobile, AL 36618
251-649-4892

$15 + $2.50 S&H