The Verdant Vine

Are we happy, Or were we told we should be? Somewhere along the way we inherited a script. Go to school. Get a job. Earn money. Buy a house. Build a family. Retire. Hope it was worth it. People call it the American Dream. But who decided this was the dream? And more importantly... Is it yours? Every generation seems to inherit the same race without remembering who fired the starting pistol. Why does existing cost so much? Before we were born, we signed nothing. Yet from the m

If we stopped measuring our lives by society’s definition of success, how would we define a successful life from God’s perspective? Inspired by a question submitted by another Vine, Laura. If we stopped measuring our lives by society’s definition of success and by God’s definition and perspective, then lots of things would change for others and for me, and for the better. For myself, I find it difficult, I admit, to wrestle between trying not to care about finances and knowin

Life is unpredictable, no matter how predictable it looks. No matter how much you plan, it’s quite impossible to plan for unforeseen events. I mean, I experienced this firsthand. I take care of my car every 3–6 months with regular maintenance, and I still got surprised when my battery needed to be replaced, which affected my entire day. I usually pay around $105 for an oil change, get notified of any issues, and have my tires rotated. But then, on some random Wednesday, I sud

No, i'm not noncommittal, give my dividend, grab mine, work hard for mine, end it with the divine, no chance to be nothing else but vines. Growth like non ever seen, so ingrained, so AT to GC, nucleic but don't let me get acid because I stay placid. Cried upon days, distraught for a day, so many stages, but it ends, oh give thanks to the Lord, it ends, new arrives, what looked hard, what looked like tarred is charred, option, more like lone approach, is to thrive while im on

I just want to rip out this nonsense way of living. The cost to exist. The cost to need. The cost of being human. Trading nearly all of our time for what? One more month? One more week? Groceries until the next shift? A few hours of relief before the cycle begins again. It doesn't feel worth it. Sometimes it feels like modern-day slavery dressed in nicer clothes. One year of loyalty... **$0.80 more an hour.** A **$3 differential** announced like it's generosity. Someone's lau

Inspired by the atmosphere of the "Love Drought" instrumental. What is this life? What are we gonna do? What does it come down to? Walking. Pedaling. Slowing. Running. Moving. Searching. Finding. Losing. Beginning again. There is light— higher than before— until it isn't. The sky opens, then closes. Heavy tones settle in. Still... we keep going. Maybe that's what people call resilience. Or maybe we simply don't know what else to do. What is this life? What are we gonna do? Wh