Back at work after the weekend
on allotted tasks my time to spend.
Running fast, I hit a wall
for politics I take the fall.
Alliances sometimes shifting sand,
Unstable edifice of command.
What is said, some might offend,
lacking ambition to comprehend,
issues beyond influence and power,
intended to make us inwardly cower.
Beyond my ability to understand,
is why the game so futilely planned?
Conflict for things not with us long,
striving for what is here and gone,
while deep inside dies love's song.
Instead, renew my soul in wonder,
richest imagination plunder.
Bring forth the essence of my life,
drawn in vibrant colors rife.
Apply my hand to a creative outlet.
Better than this, it does not get.
So many ways to pour out my passion,
give voice to my joy in the living Son,
enlarging upon what God is the start of,
lending my strength to what God is the heart of.
Supportive hand is under mine,
as I the shape of beauty find.
Energy gained from anger turned,
channeled through hard discipline learned.
Satisfaction displayed for all to see,
Expressing the poetry God gifted me.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
A Trail of Cookie Crumbs
My fickle heart's working overtime
during hectic demands at work today
the pressures of supervisiory deadlines
unsatisfied customers who don't want to pay.
The familiar frustration of endless effort
energy flagging, insufficient for the task,
equilibrium not broken, just gone missing,
my cheer and competence but a concealing mask.
While seeking a way to maintain focus
occurred an image, a smell, a taste
evoking emotions of peace and warmth
inurring my soul against a world of desperate haste.
Nostalgic memory, veritible jewel in my mind
the chocolate chip cookie my mom used to bake
starts me planning a sacred mission
to find a piece of home for sanity's sake.
A local market has an ad on tv
saying "We're like family" with smiling faces,
but a bite of cookie was like dust and ashes
with disgruntled clients fighting for parking spaces.
I remembered a chic corner coffee shop
with fabulous, elegant morsels for sale
soothing surroundings, efficient, and fast
a distinctly odd flavor made my heart quail.
Pulling up in my driveway with a void in my heart
bracing myself to complete one more project
signs of activity meant the kids had come home
a filling, nutritious dinner, they expect.
Surveying the damage left over from dinner
I got an idea, changed our usual drill
to embark on a collabrative, creative, conspiracy
while towers of dishes encircled us still.
Children dusted with flour and bent over their toil
glowing faces intent, warmed my heart with their chatter
That's when I learned even cookies burnt in the oven
if made from the heart, have the flavor that matters!
during hectic demands at work today
the pressures of supervisiory deadlines
unsatisfied customers who don't want to pay.
The familiar frustration of endless effort
energy flagging, insufficient for the task,
equilibrium not broken, just gone missing,
my cheer and competence but a concealing mask.
While seeking a way to maintain focus
occurred an image, a smell, a taste
evoking emotions of peace and warmth
inurring my soul against a world of desperate haste.
Nostalgic memory, veritible jewel in my mind
the chocolate chip cookie my mom used to bake
starts me planning a sacred mission
to find a piece of home for sanity's sake.
A local market has an ad on tv
saying "We're like family" with smiling faces,
but a bite of cookie was like dust and ashes
with disgruntled clients fighting for parking spaces.
I remembered a chic corner coffee shop
with fabulous, elegant morsels for sale
soothing surroundings, efficient, and fast
a distinctly odd flavor made my heart quail.
Pulling up in my driveway with a void in my heart
bracing myself to complete one more project
signs of activity meant the kids had come home
a filling, nutritious dinner, they expect.
Surveying the damage left over from dinner
I got an idea, changed our usual drill
to embark on a collabrative, creative, conspiracy
while towers of dishes encircled us still.
Children dusted with flour and bent over their toil
glowing faces intent, warmed my heart with their chatter
That's when I learned even cookies burnt in the oven
if made from the heart, have the flavor that matters!
Thursday, April 16, 2009
We are the Work of His Hands
Where does love come from and how is beauty created? The wise man knows that the source is God, but how do His processes work? Is there a limit to His power and control? Answering this question will have a direct effect on how much confidence we feel we can place in Him. I am convinced God is in total control, even of the most seemingly irrelevant circumstances. I also believe we have total freedom of choice in the accepting or rejecting of Him.
The crucible of decision is where our wave of obstinacy is broken apart on the shoals of God's improbability, the audacity of hope amid the twisted wreckage of our rebellion. We witness the evidence of death and destruction, our heart swallows darkness until we come to understand it. That is when we cry out for something more. He is that more.
Our bondage is temporary. Evil, no matter how powerful it seems, is but a fleeting affliction. Creation itself has been ransomed and all things will be restored. We lose nothing in this conflict, if we believe in Him. We have only gain from it in the areas of wisdom, understanding, and love.
You see, He knew us, those that wear His name. He has seen us, His likeness, through the long corridor of years, from before the laying of the foundations of the earth. He knew everything about those who would respond to Love's calling. He has used everything: Himself, our circumstances, the physical world, and those around us, to provoke us to dialog with Him. The dance of the cosmos is orchastrated to bring about our freedom so that we would be overcome with love for Him, and because of that, our total redemption would be accomplished in Him.
Because of His efforts, our life becomes a poetry of praise and glory to Him. The beauty of the image of His Son is developed in us. He will be satisfied with nothing less than that we will share in His joy. "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."
The crucible of decision is where our wave of obstinacy is broken apart on the shoals of God's improbability, the audacity of hope amid the twisted wreckage of our rebellion. We witness the evidence of death and destruction, our heart swallows darkness until we come to understand it. That is when we cry out for something more. He is that more.
Our bondage is temporary. Evil, no matter how powerful it seems, is but a fleeting affliction. Creation itself has been ransomed and all things will be restored. We lose nothing in this conflict, if we believe in Him. We have only gain from it in the areas of wisdom, understanding, and love.
You see, He knew us, those that wear His name. He has seen us, His likeness, through the long corridor of years, from before the laying of the foundations of the earth. He knew everything about those who would respond to Love's calling. He has used everything: Himself, our circumstances, the physical world, and those around us, to provoke us to dialog with Him. The dance of the cosmos is orchastrated to bring about our freedom so that we would be overcome with love for Him, and because of that, our total redemption would be accomplished in Him.
Because of His efforts, our life becomes a poetry of praise and glory to Him. The beauty of the image of His Son is developed in us. He will be satisfied with nothing less than that we will share in His joy. "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Why Hell is Necessary
By becoming a message of reconciliation and practicing forgiveness, we defer matters of justice to God's all encompassing understanding. In Proverbs 25:22, it says that when we are good to those who abuse us, we heap burning coals of fire upon the abusers heads. By doing this, we become a living epistle of the love of God. We become a visible example of God's self sacrificial and giving nature.
Be warned. Jesus said, "No servant is better than his master. The world has hated me, it will also hate you." Our soul will become the crucible of fire. Evil can only destroy, never create, so superficially, it will look like evil is winning. "For Your sake we face death all day long, we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." When persecuted, and yet forgiving, we offer others the image of the dying Savior in ourselves. When our pain and humiliation are on public display for the world, as His was, then the willful sinner is offered a visible example of his actions come to fruitation. The writhing, dying face of the Savior is set before Him for consideration. Perhaps the rebel will revise his conception of reality and change his perpetual question from "Why does God allow evil to exist in this world?" to the more applicable observation that "My own evil is what has made this happen." Faced with the inevitable conclusion of his lack of submission to the gentle leadership of the Savior, if astonished love is not the response, then the rebel becomes one with the Jewish leaders who cried out, "We will not have this man to rule over us! Crucify Him!" If the rebel thinks he can do things better on his own, without the "interference" of God, then he has committed "Deicide", the murder of God.
Be warned. Jesus said, "No servant is better than his master. The world has hated me, it will also hate you." Our soul will become the crucible of fire. Evil can only destroy, never create, so superficially, it will look like evil is winning. "For Your sake we face death all day long, we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." When persecuted, and yet forgiving, we offer others the image of the dying Savior in ourselves. When our pain and humiliation are on public display for the world, as His was, then the willful sinner is offered a visible example of his actions come to fruitation. The writhing, dying face of the Savior is set before Him for consideration. Perhaps the rebel will revise his conception of reality and change his perpetual question from "Why does God allow evil to exist in this world?" to the more applicable observation that "My own evil is what has made this happen." Faced with the inevitable conclusion of his lack of submission to the gentle leadership of the Savior, if astonished love is not the response, then the rebel becomes one with the Jewish leaders who cried out, "We will not have this man to rule over us! Crucify Him!" If the rebel thinks he can do things better on his own, without the "interference" of God, then he has committed "Deicide", the murder of God.
There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands,
no one who seeks God.
All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.
Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit.
The poison of vipers is on their lips.
Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.
Their feet are swift to shed blood;
ruin and misery mark their ways,
and the way of peace they do not know.
There is no fear of God before their eyes.
The Lord will allow this person to make his own decision. He does not compel, but provides information about the alternative He has provided. When someone refuses their responsibility, denies their accountability, God will not forever burden His people with the horror of evil. His people will not be held hostage forever, but will be delivered by Justice Himself, who will consign evil to darkness and everlasting punishment.
this burden I have chosen.
My legs tremble and my mind reels.
Surely the Mighty One is stronger;
this sorrow will not bear Him down.
My eyes tire of all their tears,
for who can hear the cry of the wicked?
The one who has refused to see
the angry countenance of their God.
The have turned from acknowledging their debt,
From the One who has given them life.
What is their portion, save darkness?
Confined to the cell called despair?
No relief from loneliness is there
and wisdom turns to rend them.
The innocent will not remember these
the ones who sought to devour them.
None can deliver them from distress.
They have chosen to be cut off.
Might I be the one to speak?
To ask that mercy and compassion
place obstacles to halt the rush?
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Why I Forgive
Some inspiration from our Lord on this matter of justice. Certainly an oppressor owes a great debt. Impatience to see retribution enacted upon him is ........inappropriate. Vengence belongs to the Lord. Debts accrued are owed to Him alone, to whom belong all things. Not to anyone else belongs the role of spiritual accountant. Is there anyone else who knows, better than Him, how to collect genuine repentance? Having our own agenda, apart from His will, causes us to resist the implementation of what is best for everyone involved, namely those things that He already has in mind.
If we hold on to the could-have-beens, cling tightly to the SHOULD-have-beens, we miss the transition to the hope that God has provided. We give up the blessing of God's ministry of reconciliation. Forgiveness is the vehicle that brings about the rebirth, like the tamarack pine that sheds it's foliage in wintertime. Only when we eject the dead detritus of unworkable passions, during the cold, barren time of pain, can we then burst out with new growth and extravagant beauty of the kind most precious to God. It is the birth of grace towards others.
Make no mistakes here. Only the mentally strong can possibly forgive. It is not a field of play where the weak can participate. That is why God makes sure we get plenty of practice. The strength required is spiritual, and this one act uses the most of it and matures us the most. Why? It goes against our natural desires, against what everyone is telling us to do. It even makes us look weak. Yet,"My strength is made perfect in weakness", says Jesus.
You see, all those traumas, all that anguish past bearing, will become a gift that blesses. Shed the blindfold on a hardened heart and see that, one day, He will let us understand that these things were allowed to happen for our good and His glory, and that we will thank Him and praise His holy name for just these very things.
When we forgive, we bring that day closer. When we forgive, we participate in His ministry of reconciliation. We become a part of the spreading of the message. We become the message, like Jesus is. Standing beside Him, we will rejoice with Him and be satisfied when everything is completed.
If we hold on to the could-have-beens, cling tightly to the SHOULD-have-beens, we miss the transition to the hope that God has provided. We give up the blessing of God's ministry of reconciliation. Forgiveness is the vehicle that brings about the rebirth, like the tamarack pine that sheds it's foliage in wintertime. Only when we eject the dead detritus of unworkable passions, during the cold, barren time of pain, can we then burst out with new growth and extravagant beauty of the kind most precious to God. It is the birth of grace towards others.
Make no mistakes here. Only the mentally strong can possibly forgive. It is not a field of play where the weak can participate. That is why God makes sure we get plenty of practice. The strength required is spiritual, and this one act uses the most of it and matures us the most. Why? It goes against our natural desires, against what everyone is telling us to do. It even makes us look weak. Yet,"My strength is made perfect in weakness", says Jesus.
You see, all those traumas, all that anguish past bearing, will become a gift that blesses. Shed the blindfold on a hardened heart and see that, one day, He will let us understand that these things were allowed to happen for our good and His glory, and that we will thank Him and praise His holy name for just these very things.
When we forgive, we bring that day closer. When we forgive, we participate in His ministry of reconciliation. We become a part of the spreading of the message. We become the message, like Jesus is. Standing beside Him, we will rejoice with Him and be satisfied when everything is completed.
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