Poetry – Page 2 – Laurel Luehmann

Book Reviews, Journaling, Personal, reading

May memories – 2025

June 2, 2025by Laurel LuehmannLeave a Comment

Let your care and wish be to glorify God by your life here as long as He pleases, even though it be in the midst of toil, and conflict, and suffering, and leave Him to say when “it is enough”.
charles spurgeon

Things worth remembering…

finding rue anemone in the woods
a small road trip with my mom
COUSIN TIME!!!
guacamole
blossoms on the tree in the front yard
Reading Poppleton and Alfie with the aforementioned cousin
a random child at the lake sitting down next to me while I was reading
printing off a copy of Beauty Even Here for edits (!!!)
experiencing the temporary tattoo parlor that popped up around the dining room table one night
finding a solution for my lack of bookshelves problem…three cheers for double decker coffee tables!
watching Mrs. Miniver with Grandma and finding that it’s a new favorite
noodle soup and FaceTime with a dear friend
High, Low, No Goat
the first cutting of hay this year
an Anne of Green Gables movie night with friends
RASPBERRY CORDIAL ❤
hiking and good conversation

Now through a frosted pane we trace
The outline of His perfect will,
Content to trust His love until
We know and see Him face to face.
Amy carmichael

What I’ve been reading…

If I Live – Terri Blackstock

This was the final book in the If I Run Christian mystery and suspense trilogy. I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as the first two…it got into the mind of one of the villains while he was doing his bad things and that’s something I personally don’t care for. I was grateful for resolution at last, though!!😅

Disclaimer: due to thematic elements, I personally will not recommend this series to anyone younger than 18.

The Lost Rose – Victoria Lynn

I got a hundred pages in (it’s ginormous!!) and it just wasn’t clicking with me yet so I set it down. I definitely want to come back to this one of these days because I’ve enjoyed the previous two books in The Chronicles of Elira, but I guess that day is not today!

The Cost of Discipleship – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Still on my end table, hehe!

Do Justly, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly: How Ordinary People Can Change the World – Savannah Jane McCrary

I did a book swap with Savannah, and her book has been my tractor companion recently!

you only live twice – Hosanna Emily

Still reading through this one!

Dead and Buried – Cydnie Trenholm

Ahhh!!! I’m so glad I’m finally into this book. It’s a YA thriller, and a sequel to a book I really enjoyed. The banter is so. much. fun.

The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD,
Like the rivers of water;
He turns it wherever He wishes.
Proverbs 21:1

From the journal…

My life is not my own. It rests in the hands of my omniscient, omnipotent Father, who loves me so deeply, more deeply than I can be loved by anyone else. Therefore I don’t have to wonder if there is meaning or intention in where He has me now. I don’t need to fear that I’ve somehow missed an exit or an on ramp. I am not overlooked or crowded out by other items on His to-do list.

May I pursue You as You pursue me, day after day after day, filled with Your goodness, lost in Your love.

I thank You that Your goodness and Your mercy are truly running after me every day of my life…even on the ones when I feel that I’ve botched it.

O royal Giver, blessed be Thy choice.
Amy carmichael

What made your May memorable?

❤ Laurel

This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase something through one of the links I share in this post, I receive a small commission…at no extra cost to you.:)

Book Reviews, Journaling, Personal, reading

April memories – 2025

May 5, 2025by Laurel Luehmann2 Comments

Our own humour and appetite must not determine our practice, but the honour of God and the good and edification of the church. We should not so much consult our own pleasure and interest as the advancement of the kingdom of God among men.
Matthew henry

Things worth remembering…

my sister’s cinnamon rolls…AHHH!
announcing my next poetry collection
writing a bit more poetry
a race with my sisters
thrifting with sisters
playing Sorry with sisters
basically any time spent with sisters…XD
leading worship with a dear friend again
the firecrackers my brother set off outside my window
working in the woods with the aforementioned brother
the Christian Seder meal shared with family
listening to this album on the drive home from a Good Friday Service
Easter morning at home with the traditional Easter morning songs
walks and hikes and chats with friends
watching the world green up again
for some reason having a coffin recommended on Facebook Marketplace??
the smell of freshly-worked earth

Happy are they who know that discipleship simply means the life which springs from grace, and that grace simply means discipleship.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

What I’ve been reading…

If I Run – Terri Blackstock

I listened to this one in two days during work. XD I hadn’t read a thriller/suspense novel in a while, and this was a fun one to get me back into that genre. You can read my full review here!

Disclaimer: due to thematic elements, I personally will not recommend this series to anyone younger than 18.

If I’m Found – Terri Blackstock

Of course I had to listen to the sequel…

The Cost of Discipleship – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Still reading through this one very slowly and sporadically, heh!

The Boys in the Boat – Daniel James Brown

I’ve come back to reading this one and am almost done!! It’s gotten me so interested in rowing that I’ve looked up videos of Olympic regattas on YouTube. XD

you only live twice – Hosanna Emily

One of my dear friends released an Easter-y poetry collection this April!! I’ve been enjoying reading through it…I love both her imagery and her heart for Jesus!

and the waiting will be remembered as
a very little while.
hosanna emily

From the journal…

Lord…You know what must be done, and You are never short on time.

I was struck yesterday by the poetry in John’s gospel of Jesus drinking sour wine before declaring “It is finished.” He drank to the dregs the cup from which He had begged to be delivered. Thank You, thank You, my precious Jesus. “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.”

Oh, Father! May it be enough for me to be held in Your hand, smack-dab in the middle of Your will.

…the demand and the gift of Christ.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Stay the course!

❤ Laurel

This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase something through one of the links I share in this post, I receive a small commission…at no extra cost to you.:)

Poetry, writing updates

a new poetry book is on the way!

April 27, 2025by Laurel Luehmann1 Comment

I announced this in my newsletter and on Instagram, but neglected to share it here on the blog…

The next poetry collection is coming this summer!

Beauty Even Here has been in the works for a couple of years now, and it’s finally looking like it’ll be ripe soon.😉

After spending some time with beta readers, it’s headed into another round of edits, and it’s on track to be in your hands on August 26th.

I’ll share a cover reveal and a blurb one of these days, but for now, that’s all! I just wanted to keep you in the loop.

❤ Laurel

Poetry

homeward bound – a poem

July 22, 2024July 22, 2024by Laurel Luehmann2 Comments

Hello friends!

I was flipping through a book of my handwritten poetry the other day and found this poem I wrote a few years ago. It’s just a little thing without a ton of meaning, but I like it, anyway. If you’re familiar with the song “Homeward Bound” it might mean a bit more to you.🤭

you didn’t bind me to the pasture,

never chained me to the plow.

you set me free to find my calling…

I returned, for I bleed rain,

the wind is in my heart and soul, and

I am restless till I’m working,

my feet rooted in this ground.

you set me free to find my calling…

I returned to you somehow.

Poetry

tapestries + timelines – a poem

May 27, 2024by Laurel Luehmann5 Comments

Hello, friends!

Since sending Project Redemption off to an editor, my brain has been freed up to actually write poetry again! Here’s one of my recent favorite pieces…

I can trust my paltry timelines to

the hand of the God who crafted time

and set within this heart His mark:

an ache for the world unsullied by

a death-driven race for

desire unslaked.

behold

He is making

all things new…

untainted by the sin-stained clock,

the God who rules outside of time

is weaving tapestries of tears

and heartbeats – and His story’s end

wastes not a racing one of them.

Poetry

spring’s gift – a poem

April 22, 2024April 19, 2024by Laurel LuehmannLeave a Comment

Hello, friends!

It’s spring in my corner of the world…on the ridges and in my soul. Here’s a new poem to commemorate these days.

the world is coming alive again,

and so

I…

spring is yawning green,

pushing its delicate fingers through the loam

that knew death with such intimacy…

but it breathes again,

racing to meet a cloud-studded sky

at the horizon to dance a jig

where death has died.

words flow, inky black

yet so alive

from my pen.

funny how, in the months where

the world stretched barren,

my pen was barren, too…

and now,

as the fields are wooing my heart,

my fingertips spring to life with the words

I fought to snare all winter.

a gift, a gift,

it’s all a gift…

the chorus echoes through my mind

and thunders through my ribcage.

all these God-formed hands can do is

plant,

water,

weed,

gather the increase that comes

from the heart of God and never

from my own sweating brow.

fear melts with the last of the snowdrifts, and

I poke warming fingers into the grasp

of an Almighty hand…

grateful,

eager,

in love.

P.S. I had to revamp my newsletter because I was running into some issues with my hosting site…so if you were subscribed to receive my newsletters, you’ll have to re-subscribe here if you’d like to continue receiving them!

(And, hey…if you weren’t subscribed in the first place, now’s your chance. ;))

Poetry, Uncategorized

entry – a poem

March 25, 2024by Laurel Luehmann4 Comments

Hello, friends!

This is my first poem inspired by the Holy Week prompts I posted on Instagram! Happy reading…✨

what causes a crowd who

welcomed You with praise

to turn on You within a week,

demanding blood?

oh, the power of delusional expectations…

You entered and I answered with joy,

making way for You into the fortress of my heart,

laying down my cloak and willing to lay down my very life

for the King of majesty.

but something changed in my loyalties when

You walked a rocky path spattered with Your own blood

and bid me walk beside You.

this, You whisper, is the test of my love, begging it to become

a love that is not contingent on bloated expectations,

but a love that trusts even when

blood runs into the eyes

and pain carves canyons in the heart.

You ask for humility, not royal robes…

my loyalty, not only my cloak.

Poetry

Holy Week poetry prompts!

March 18, 2024March 18, 2024by Laurel LuehmannLeave a Comment

Hello, friends!

I just wanted to pop on the blog and let you know that I have some poetry prompts for you all.

Lent and especially Holy Week is one of my favorite times of the year as we look back on what Christ has done for us and look forward to an eternity with Him. It’s a reflective time of year for me, and that usually means poetry!

I put together some poetry prompts for each day of Holy Week, and if poetry is your thing (or if you want it to be your thing…) please feel free to join me in using them to inspire some new poems!

I’ll be sharing some poetry each day of Holy Week (hopefully!) over on my Instagram account and will post a roundup of my favorites on the blog after Easter.

Happy writing!

❤ Laurel

Poetry