Posted in Different Thoughts

The War Within (A poem)

I know others have experienced this too.

It is stirring now, the war within. metallic blades each reducing their opponents.

Enforced humility is their harsh reality.
It’s no humility at all.
It is harsh.
The vast expanse before me stirs to life,
Recognizing that which has not met this land for some time now.
There is no time to bow.
It is time to be broken.  
This war is no respecter of persons.
Creatures great and small (mostly small) flee as the war approaches.
Encroaches on the peace they’ve known.
No white flags are flown.

I smile a bit.
Authority surging through me, as I have power to shape my own environment.
Time well spent.
In my wake, a path rent wide,
I look back as pride wells up inside.
Order from chaos, these tiny worlds lost
Without me.
Before me, another creature stirs
Flies away and blurs into nothing.
I wish him well in his new endeavors.
Politely aware that this environment and I exist together symbiotically. 
Even that precious bee, needed me.

And then, I am stung.

  

Posted in Different Moments

Because I was forced to spend time in quiet…

There is quiet.FullSizeRender

It’s not far, but it’s often a world away.
Today, I’ll say there’s no way it could be near. It couldn’t be here.
Because here is noise, busy, and hurry. Here’s worry. The scene is blurry,
And clarity? The lens hasn’t been cleaned for a while. You smile,
Holding tight the commitment you’ve made for tonight.
“I’m doing alright.”

And so are we all, but as Fall turns to Winter you realize,
There might be lies in the Truth. The Truth lies bare when given a moment to spare.
And there, in slow breathing and heart beating, you find it.

There is quiet.

Leaves have turned, and are falling. The silence is calling
For those willing to press pause on the pace, and face a world less moving.
Less proving, and more being. More seeing. Freeing you from shackles unfelt.
Moments melt into Sabbath. You catch your breath. There is life. There is death.

There is quiet.

Breathing deep, drenched in nothing.
Absence that feels like more substance than you’ve had in a while.
You smile, remembering what it’s like to wander.
In body and thought, you’re caught up in wonder, staring at the clouds
As if they contain a story you’re anxious to hear.
You stumble, lost in your surroundings,
A leaf-covered path, the aftermath of Autumn.
Emerging to a lake, you take it all in with a grin
And begin to lose yourself in the wealth found in the surface
Of water undisturbed.

There is quiet.

Heavens reflected in smooth glass
Trees stretching deep down into the sky
Fooling the eye, you sigh.
This is why

There is quiet.

You can’t stay in this place
But you scoop up the pace, and put some in your pocket.
Commit to remember, as you head into November

That there. Is. Quiet.

Posted in Different Scriptures, Uncategorized

a poem – from John 19:26-27

Jesus, the Holy One, God’s only Son,

It had all been done, but not yet complete.

Not enthroned with the Father, on His mercy seat

But still hanging, what seemed like defeat, blood pumping pain through his body with every beat.

As each breath comes as painful sigh, out of the corner of his eye he sees…Mother.

Not like any other, so much more than a brother, because family had become more.

More than names, and DNA pumping through veins

More than strained awkward moments of gathering at holiday tables

More than Cain and Abel, or filling empty stables

 Because “Family”, Jesus said, shares more than a home – they share God

So even though it seems odd to not give the nod to those who share a name, Mary doesn’t complain

Because she’s come to believe, started to realize and see with new eyes

That God has a pretty big picture in mind, and it doesn’t even stop at human-kind

But for all of creation, the offer of “NEW”

So much bigger than fitting into the hearts of me and you

But not so big that he overlooks the least – the bullied, the voiceless, the powerless and freaks

The orphans and widows, are for whom his heart still beats, and so he reaches out again

In love to a friend

But so much more than a friendly other, a beloved brother, and introduces them for the first time

as Son and mother.

Saying much more than words in one simple introduction, like an induction to a new way of living

a way of giving up what we thought we knew for something capital “T” for True

And upon further review we hear something for us to do too.

 You see our painful lives tend to blur those around, like headphones, shutting out the sound and letting us drown in oceans of self absorption, and having our portion, we’re content to pray for our needs

 But even as he bleeds, the God-man leads us to old ways made new, challenging us to change our view and have hearts transformed, to let go of the norm.

To shed our obsession with self, and see with God’s eyes, and to be surprised by the people and things

Right outside our door, way outside our walls, or maybe. Even. Inside.

 So what happens when we let go of self, and reduce our emphasis on wealth or even health

Because true health won’t come from drugs and regiments to follow,

not having more surgeries or more pills to swallow

And true family doesn’t happen simply by being born

As we look out on a procreating nation, still torn

Truth only comes as we fix our eyes on Christ. And allow the author and perfecter of our lives

To speak His words that cause mountains to move, and holding palms open, having nothing to prove

To the King of All, to follow his way,

and like those who were near heard him say, as he was crucified on that day,

Words that came as a flood of love to obey

And living this way without caution, this situation offered no other option,

than the first Christ-centered adoption.

As new mother and new son saw each other and smiled

They realized they were both actually his child…