This is for you, Jonathan. *winks and grins*

For the past year, HolyWorlds has been working on something awesome, and it has now come to completion - introducing, The Sword and Pen, a collection of poetry by the HolyWorlders!


It is available on Smashswords as an ebook, but it won't be long before it is on Amazon as an ebook, as well as a print copy! So overall, very exciting! :D

This is something rather weird and science fictiony that I had been wanting to try my hand at for a while after seeing a book cover at the Library that looked something similar. It is a steampunkish cyborg, or robot - whichever you like to call it. I was very pleased with how it turned out, even if a little creepy. Some of the concepts behind it made me think of how little time on this earth we really have and, if we don't spend the time we have now wisely, it is the same as killing time, because they are moments you can never get back. Hence, this sort of signifies time's death.

Can also be viewed at the new ArtVoyagers Gallery.

Coldsores are horrible. They are like a blister on your lip, and are highly painful. Often they swell so large that they end up making half of your mouth puffed up and swollen, with the raw skin sensitive to any touch. They give you feverish symptoms and headaches, leaving you feeling listless and lethargic as you try and deal with the - seemingly ceaseless - throbbing pain. Eating becomes a chore, as it tends to wipe away whatever ointment you have applied, and rubs the healing skin raw once again.


They are truly horrendous things.


And I get them really bad. 


Often it only takes something as subtle as a change in the weather for one to begin forming. Or if there is a flu going around, sometimes I will get multiple coldsores instead of the flu. They announce their arrival with a slight tingly swelling, and it is often enough for me to be overwhelmed by a deep sense of dread as I run to the bathroom and apply whatever ointment I can find that promises a speedy healing. However, by the time I notice the early symptoms, it is generally too late and I have to face - at the very least - an entire week recovering from a swollen mouth. (sometimes, up to a month to fully get over them) 


Sleeping becomes an agony, as I can't press my face into my pillow because the salve rubs off, and reopens the tender skin. The entire period of recovery is spent lethargically and sleep deprived. Often by the end of the whole ordeal, my lips become dry and cracked as a result of the ointment and it takes further time and remedies to return them to their proper state.


I know there are plenty worse things out there to have, but for me, coldsores are a worst nightmare. 

I've noticed most bloggers are posting about the new year: memories of this now past 2011, trials, triumphs, lessons, and joys. Also plans for the coming year: plans for drawing closer to God, learning more of His ways, spending time with family and friends, or pursuing various hobbies/professions more diligently. It is wonderful to see how the rolling over of a new fragment of time causes so many people to pause and reflect.

To every [thing there is] a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. - Ecclesiastes 3:1

To be frank though, I have never been one for making too much of a fuss about new year. To me, new year's day is simply another day, and my family has never really put it aside as anything special. (for example, today is new year's day and I hung washing) The passing of time is something of a mystery to me every day, and should I happen to stop and think about it then, it is much more of a marvel to me then in my own pondering than it is on the day given solely to its remembrance.

It is easy for me to look back and see all the things I've done wrong in my life. When I look at the times past, all the places I have erred are so easy to distinguish. At times, I wonder if I have grown more like Jesus at all. Yet though the Bible often reminds us to look back in time, it is not for condemnation, but to remember the lessons we learnt and the mercy we received in the times we failed.


[It is of] the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. [They are] new every morning: great [is] thy faithfulness. - Lamentations 3:22-23