Connoisseurs of the fine line:

To bang the gong for the end of our CotM series, here's a quick video highlighting the winner, and, like all the other pieces in this Challenge, it was seasoned and made for another tough call for the panel, as any one of these posts could have easily won.

With all the updates and upgrades in sight, continuing the Challenge of the Month wouldn't make sense like it has. That stated here, we're still bringing Challenges like these, only less scheduled, so we can expand the breath a bit.

A ton of talent keeps signing up here, and a ton of my time is spent in the minds of you writers, so thank you, and keep it coming. Never enough.

Here's the link for the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYPWYjXOAu4

And.

As always...

Thank you for being here.

-The Prose. team

At my very lowest I was musing the following poem to life in a crowd of friends meeting for a birthday party a few years back. This is only part of the poem but it immediately came to mind when I read this challenge.

Here goes:

When you lose your dignity,

the world does not know

and does not care.

Because you are alone in this part of hell.

Where others also dwell.

But it wouldn’t be true hell

if you knew

you weren’t alone,

now would it?

Thanks to all who entered my challenge. I truly enjoyed reading each imaginative and magical post.

This was an exciting, “win by likes” race; we even had a three-way tie for a bit. However, Huckleberry Hoo and Rhiannon3 just barely got edged out at the end by Misschevivon.

Congratulations!

Thanks again, all you beautiful word smiths. I hope to see you again soon in my next challenge <3

Do you ever just get so frustrated? So frustrated that you just want to scream at the top of your lungs? I was recently passed over for a promotion at work, I know it happens to everyone, but do you ever just feel so alone? Like no one understands what you are going through? This particular promotion was for the job I’d been doing for the past year without the pay and without the title. I know that was stupid of me but do you ever just feel like you’re doing the right thing? Like maybe doing more will take you to the next step? My co worker who got the promotion decided they wanted it less than two weeks ago meanwhile I have been doing this role interim since august of 2022. It is now September of 2023, do you ever just feel used? Like no one respects you, your ideas, or your voice, and they just needed to take advantage of someone and you're the lucky person? It feels so difficult to continue, I feel like I might quit my job at any given moment. I have to remind myself, though, the last time I had a hurdle this big was at my last job when I was getting cyber bullied by my own employees, and I got through it, but do you ever just feel like you can't get over something? You keep trying to remind yourself of the past and where you've been and where you're going but it's not working. Breathe - in - out, tell yourself it's alright. Pick yourself up like you always do, and keep going. Do you ever just move on?

I have no home.

I was raised in a delicate balance of languages, cultures, and religions, used to changing addresses and phone numbers too often to count. Certainly, I have met many people, and have had a multitude of experiences. This allowed me to have something in common with almost anyone, and yet never finding someone like me.

As I nonchalantly watched other people living, somewhere down below in the mundane world of stability and routine, eating lunches with coworkers and enjoying weekends with their families, it occurred to me that their mere physical presence makes their houses grow and become homes.

Their neighbors saw them buy this house, their coffee shop waitress knows their name, their friends from high school invite them to basketball. They have a community; they are a community.

Ties, even those of blood, can only be forged if you spend time together, if you’re there for each other more often than not, if they saw previous versions of you. For the sake of belonging, I was willing to try this “immobility”. I moved to my birth town, facing my ancestry, adapting to my culture that over the years was but a shade of myself.

In my house, I did not find what I was searching for. But I became a community for others. Giving a space to those who want to be fully understood, even if they will never understand me.

We helped each other.

We changed each other.

Right now, my house stands empty. I travel, like I used to. But now there are people waiting for me to return.

"I gave you land you had not worked on, and I gave you towns you did not build—the towns where you are now living. I gave you vineyards and olive groves for food, though you did not plant them (Joshua 24:13 NLT)."

Today's Scripture, along with recent Crossroads Anywhere messages about grace, remind me of how lucky I truly am. I can claim that I have my family, career, talents, hobbies, and blessings from hard work and persistence, and while that isn't completely untrue, it isn't the full picture. God put my loved ones and opportunities into my life, designed me to enjoy the things I enjoy, and gave me the grit and abilities I have to achieve the goals I sought (and still seek). Everything has been given to me by God, and at times I get prideful and full of myself, forgetting this. I try to thank God when I do think about good fortunes when they occur, but I can always do better.

Thank You Lord for everything - yes everything that fills my life up. Thank You for the reminder that I need to give credit where it is due. Please help me to be more aware of all that You have done and continue to do for me, and please help me to improve at showing my gratitude. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

Upon arrival

a child picks an elder

to be his mentor.

Dream, dream, dream, young one -

effort and work brings alive

adventures to come.

Intensity jumps

when potential unlocks drive!

No regrets now, dear.

You’re the Maestro now –

orchestrate a symphony

from tough lessons learned.

Bring that young dreamer

and that old man together

for their last goodnight.