Lost Sunsets

by Cheryl Merrick

Wearing her busyness
as a badge of importance,
she spends her days meticulously
tending her possessions.

A woman of responsibility,
she rushes and bustles from thing to thing,
all the while complaining
that there is never enough time.

She hardly notices as sunsets and seasons
disappear into a speeding blur
of furious activity,
til in her winter season,
she is left to ponder her lost sunsets.

Reflections On

by Cheryl Merrick

Three Months of being a Church Service Missionary*

Day after day they send me their requests.
Half are polite, reasonable questions on how to use the LDS.org web site.
The rest are prideful criticisms and demands, and a few are pleas for help.

Preferring hearsay to the Lords’s invitation to study, ponder and pray,
Many drift aimlessly; confused and unsure.
While others want only to return to the comfort of the familiar,
refusing to learn anything new.

Grasshoppers in Our Pantry

by Cheryl Merrick

Wanting to help them

We invited them in--

They were so cold and hungry. 

so we offered them food and warmth.

Though aware of their past 

spent squandering resources,

We assumed their stressful situation

had now kindled a new desire to change 

causing them to value

 frugal living and saving for the future.