For Better Things

by Alice Woodrome

In the beginning was love,
and because I loved,
you came into being.

I love each of you, my children
and desire that you love me,
but I am most pleased when
you love one another.

I am delighted when you dream,
but I am proud when you dare
to follow your dreams.

I am encouraged, dear ones,
when you face the defeats of life
and continue to dream -- and love --
after you have tasted pain.

I am proud of you when you persevere,
for life is sometimes very harsh.

It is my wish for you, my children,
that you see beauty in life --
to search for it when it is hard to find,
to embrace it, and make it yours.

Be true to yourselves, my children,
for to betray oneself is a great evil.
I have created you for better things.

I belonged to an online writer's group for a long time, and each day we were given an "assignment." The idea behind the prompt was to give us a little push. It is said that you can only become a good writer by writing every day. So we did "free writes" for ten minutes using the prompt of the day. This was what came out of the spout when the prompt for the day was, "If you were a god/goddess writing a book of scripture to present to your children on a world you created, and you wished for them to know something of you, how would you begin that book? Freewrite the beginning of it without falling back on familiar verses in the various scriptures of the world today."