Beyond the Page

You pen this wondrous life for me,
Each line by line, my dreams conceived.
And as I walk each stanza’s end,
You’re there to help me comprehend

The meaning of all words displayed,
That flow with grace around my days.
And I am blessed through love and light,
Your choice of ink brings much delight.

Made free to live within the song,
Your love guides all these words along,
To places where life’s poem transcends
Beyond the page, where my days end.

I one day hope to meet You then,
My favorite poet, my faithful friend.

In Every Moment

In every moment there are worlds
Where inspiration thrives,
Just waiting for discovery
Beyond the naked eye.

Sometimes I’m led to mountaintops
To kiss majestic hand.
At times, the humble surface
Of a single grain of sand.

Sometimes I float upon a breeze
That’s shared by all content.
At times I swim in deepest blue
Where lover’s days are spent.

Sometimes I hide within the grass
Beneath my children’s feet.
At times I swing upon their smiles
Then chase them into trees.

It’s all a taste of heaven’s grace
Like raindrops on my tongue.
My inspiration starts with this,
Enriching all that comes.

Returning to Dust

One day, to dust,
I shall bring my inquiry,
with load supported –
not mine upon our last meeting:

Will you too,
make naked all that was unanswered,
Or will a robe of white,
deep with pockets,
be filled with questions pending?

I would imagine,
its splendor becoming
sufficient distraction –

as heaven,
by graceful sleight-of-hand,
has picked my pockets clean.

The Promised Child

Old father stared across the night,
Into the light of promised grace.
And his descendants, like the stars,
Blessed from afar for his great faith.
Thus, Abraham beheld first light
Revealed to man, the coming Christ.

The prophets looked ahead to Christ
And warned the people, flee from night.
God moved men with dreams of light
And peace, despite the need for grace.
The spoken word made way for faith;
Redemption waits for shining star.

From outer lands in search of star,
The wise men came to find the Christ.
And by surprise the child of faith,
Became the Great King over night.
For God extended hand of grace
To every race who sought His light.

In Bethlehem, salvation’s light
Was born beneath a hopeful star.
God’s gift to men, an act of grace,
Behold, the face of love, in Christ!
The shepherds danced with joy that night,
For freedom came to live by faith.

Young parents fled the world by faith,
Through darkest times to reach the light.
With evil on their heels by night,
God brought them from their plight to star.
How far they’d come to see the Christ,
Believed, endured, for Son of Grace.

The angels marveled at God’s grace,
Announced his place: the Child of Faith.
Triumphantly they praised the Christ,
Revealed to all, salvation’s light.
Then sacrificed for all us stars
From near to far, thus ending night.

Amazing grace, eternal light,
Lift up your faith upon bright star.
Behold, the Christ child blessed that night.

Merry Christmas Everyone 🙂

I Feast With Pigs

I feast among the sow and dung
On scraps of desperation.
Abandoned Father’s house of love
To be my own sensation.

I took for granted all He gave,
Enslaved to worldly cravings.
Then wasted everything I owned;
A failure not worth saving.

Within humiliation’s fall,
Dark clarity has shown me:
A foolish man who ate with death,
At table for the lonely.

I leave this loveless place to face
A family I’d turned from.
With nothing left but humble tears,
My Father’s there to welcome.

(Inspired by the Biblical story of the Prodigal Son found in Luke 15)

We Give You Praise This Day

We give you praise this day for never quitting
On all your stubborn children proudly set.
For taking of your heart and always giving,
When often we so easily forget.

We add up every blessing that we’ve tasted,
And give you thanks for sunshine in the rain.
For salvaging some good from what we’ve wasted,
When by our choices, we invited pain.

Thank you , Lord, for keeping families whole,
When strife waged war and tried to tear apart.
Your love endures to keep our plates still full,
While granting endless chances for new starts.

We come together now by blessed grace,
And give our thanks to you, each in our way.

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone and God bless 🙂

In His Name

We of free will
Do not dare drink His cup,
Nor choose to bear the weight
Of a fallen world.

God’s grace is in question,
Salvation from what?
As man builds again
Monuments of Self.

Vultures are mistaken
For angels of Light.
Performance proves false;
Blame is placed at God’s feet.

Up for interpretation
Are the things that are right,
While the bankrupt of soul
Always do as they please.

People are dying
By perverse mankind’s ways,
As they come in His Name
Like a plague.

God’s voice goes unheard
Through the lies of this age,
While the righteous of heart
Turn to pray.

Where are you Lord?
The victim’s heart pleads.
By deception
Such hearts are deceived.

For this is man’s world
Turning away as God weeps,
Speaking out, sowing death,
Sprouting weeds.

In His Name, evil hides
Behind all cunning and pride,
While salvation’s a whisper
In a grateful sinner’s song.

God uses the foolish,
The weak and despised,
To show that man’s strength
Won’t last long.

Hold fast to the Truth
For many will dispute.
There are no absolutes
In a world full of I’s.

Believe in the Name
Of the Son rising in you.
One day we will join Him
In the twinkling of an eye.

~~~~~

“Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”

As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.

“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:1-14

Have We Learned the Secret?

No matter where we find ourselves in this crazy, ever-changing life, it is a great comfort to know that we are never alone. Whether we face economic hardships, major transitions, difficulties in relationships or personal battles within, our glorious Lord is there to rescue us in every storm.

This leads me to raise a question: If we have Almighty God on our side, who will never leave us or forsake us, why do we struggle so much in this life?

Answer: We have not learned a very important secret.

Through the inspired words of God, spoken through the apostle Paul, we are told the wonderful secret of contentment in every circumstance, whether living in plenty or in want. Paul sums it all up with this powerful truth found in Philippians 4:13:

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

To speak this from the heart, is the ultimate declaration of complete trust in the one that we love, who first loved us. It is a truth we come to know wholeheartedly through our incredible relationship with Christ as we witness his protection, deliverance and unlimited blessings in our daily lives. When circumstances threaten to overwhelm us and we quickly reach the end of ourselves, Christ is there to carry us through the fire.

In the lines previous to this verse, Paul calls this a “secret” he had to learn, and this secret is something each of us must also learn, until our stubbornness yields to Gods’ grace. Why is this a secret? Because the simplicity of God’s love eludes us so many times, and instead of turning to our loving Father, we complicate our relationship with him, striving in our old, independent ways until we reach the edge of defeat and only then, call upon our God for help.

This scripture, is a liberating revelation for each of us to take hold of Christ and refuse to let go. If we would choose to take our eyes off of everything in this life that disappoints, including ourselves, and fix them entirely on Christ instead, we would begin to understand such a secret. We would begin to see clearly that our walk with God is not about what we have or what we lack; or what we want or think that we need to maintain happiness based on emotional highs and lows. It’s not about fixing the wreckage of our past that we bring before the Lord, accompanied by our shame and never ending guilt. The Lord has saved us from this. It’s not about someday arriving at a mythical place of perfection where we take pride in our own foolish attempts at a righteousness that is unobtainable by man and only achieved through the blood of Jesus Christ.

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

But apart from Christ, I can do no good thing.

This is what we need to comprehend in order to find that place of contentment; that place where we are satisfied with our lot, whatever that is, because through Christ, we can do anything. We can crawl through the barren places in our lives with the same satisfaction we have when basking in God’s glory on the mountain tops. We can rejoice in our sufferings as easily as we rejoice in our victories. We can live in God’s perfect peace in the worst of circumstances. We can do all this and so much more because of our incredible love affair with God that overshadows all else. We’ve all known at one time or another what it felt like to be so enraptured by someone that all our concerns simply faded into the background of life. Imagine, if we came to Christ in such a way. That is the secret.

Only then, can our hearts echo what is written in Psalm 23: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.”

What do we really want? Do we want to learn the secret of being content with our daily lives through a rich and deep relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, or are we still trying to rekindle a dead romance with the world, continuing to support an abusive marriage?

We should strive with all our heart to know Christ, and the power of his resurrection, letting him nurture within us blessing upon blessing from such a powerful and loving relationship. Let us hunger and thirst for the righteousness that finds us in Christ alone, where we are rescued daily from this world and all its troubles, even while we rejoice in the midst of such troubles, looking them in the eye, and saying in complete confidence, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

The Temptation to Take Offense

So easily we claim offense when tempted
By words that have no life, but offer death.
Emotion roused to wrath, we draw our weapons
And in return, to war, with every breath.

Our patience is the first one slain, in fields
Where fires blaze upon the restless tongue.
Fruitless words hit home where none raise shields
Against incitement to become undone.

Help me not to fall beneath such swords of men
And in return become what I despise.
Lord, help me not to give or take offense
When tempted by such words that strike inside.

Real love can render useless, words of hate
If we would learn to not reciprocate.

~~~~~
Lord, grant us the wisdom and the strength to not return evil for evil, but to return evil with good instead, when someone tries to rile us up with words. Help us battle our own pride and not take offense to words that do not matter. In Jesus name, amen.

I can’t begin to tell you how often I’ve fallen into this trap. Someone just grinds me the wrong way and then says something that gets my blood boiling…lol. Next thing I know, I’m on the defensive. One day I hope to keep my tongue in check, but I have the feeling that this will be the last thing to go before the end…lol. I will keep trying though (by the grace of God.)

~~~~~

“We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.” James 3:2

The Great Quest (The Way)

There is the Way I seek,
unheard of in the wisdom of this world,
hidden from the proud,
overlooked in the boasting,
lost in the words.

There is the Way I seek,
unseen to the naked eye,
feared by the doubters,
excused away by the fearful,
lost in the excuses.

There is the Way I seek,
not traveled by the greedy,
unprofitable to the selfish,
obscured by the hoard of the hoarder,
lost in the materialism.

There is the Way I seek,
unsearchable to the rational mind,
unexplored by the spiritually dead,
underestimated by mere emotions,
lost in the confusion…

…Found in the simplicity of God’s unfailing love:
Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

There is a road I walk,
from the outside,
inwardly.
Deeper and deeper,
into the mercy of God.
Deeper and deeper,
into His loving kindness.
Deeper and deeper,
into the heart of Christ Himself.

This great quest continues toward infinity,
into the very depths of the Father’s heart.

~~~~~
Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:5,6