it’s hard to live here
this intersection of an eternity’s worth of hopes and
a hundred years’ worth of days
when the heart of God stirs deep soul-waters
ripples flow on and on, I chase them with my eyes
blinking reluctantly as they pass my horizon
into hearts and years beyond me
it’s hard to trust here
my line of sight broken by dark valleys
each switchback offering just a glimpse
up into a country I can scarcely imagine
knowing the way, I long to know the road’s end
my endurance comes up short-sighted
listening to the echo of each footfall
it’s hard to love here
where every beautiful thing seems to die
sin crouches to devour my best intentions
tenderly laid plans harden and crack with neglect
even so, your Love’s weight hangs in the air
I find no way forward but the demands of Love
and no way back at all
it’s hard to leave here
heart nostalgic for where your touch first awakened me
from this cleft I first adored you, Beloved!
your footprints guide me through the shadows
my eyes are dim now, but your face I will seek until I find
one day years must flee before the rising sun
eternity laid out, bright and horizonless
Continue reading “a hundred years of eternity”
Tag: Christian Life
Teacher, Student, Self
Long ago, I forgot you were a person
Loving this friendship for the pride of being noticed
Look closer! Whispers a deep-inside voice
At what you have neglected
The mixed-up motives and tender hurts
Real life is hard on those who lead
Long before you arrived in my life
Loving others like you made me tired
Look at how long I’ve put up with all of you!
At the same time, these joys and foibles are uniquely yours
The path to maturity is old and worn, but for you it just became
Real, and it’s right where you belong
Long years blur into fleeting decades
Loving well this week, poorly the next, pressing on
Look at all that fell away in the refining fires!
At how mettle outshines accomplishments
The dross skimmed off year by year, this is living
Real purity of heart the distant prize Continue reading “Teacher, Student, Self”
Loving this friendship for the pride of being noticed
Look closer! Whispers a deep-inside voice
At what you have neglected
The mixed-up motives and tender hurts
Real life is hard on those who lead
Long before you arrived in my life
Loving others like you made me tired
Look at how long I’ve put up with all of you!
At the same time, these joys and foibles are uniquely yours
The path to maturity is old and worn, but for you it just became
Real, and it’s right where you belong
Long years blur into fleeting decades
Loving well this week, poorly the next, pressing on
Look at all that fell away in the refining fires!
At how mettle outshines accomplishments
The dross skimmed off year by year, this is living
Real purity of heart the distant prize Continue reading “Teacher, Student, Self”
Reality
Illusions fall and shatter
Thorny shards scatter
Look carefully
Step carefully
Soul-silence sweeping
Reality’s unveiling
It is rambling, infant chatter
undermined self-importance
It is unending, unseen chores
doorways to humility
It is traveling to teasing chants of “Betrayal!”
bear-hug forgiveness upon return
It is satisfaction overflowing
ambitions quietly simmering
It is quietness and trust
strengths drawn from repentance
Crystal slivers bagged and gone
Deeper truth glitters on
Surpassing value of You
Surpassing value of Them
Precious stones strewn
These fundamentally true
Thorny shards scatter
Look carefully
Step carefully
Soul-silence sweeping
Reality’s unveiling
It is rambling, infant chatter
undermined self-importance
It is unending, unseen chores
doorways to humility
It is traveling to teasing chants of “Betrayal!”
bear-hug forgiveness upon return
It is satisfaction overflowing
ambitions quietly simmering
It is quietness and trust
strengths drawn from repentance
Crystal slivers bagged and gone
Deeper truth glitters on
Surpassing value of You
Surpassing value of Them
Precious stones strewn
These fundamentally true
©2025 Jacqueline Tisthammer. All rights reserved.
Continue reading “Reality”The World Whole
Child of mine
a child only a little longer
If I could send you back to Eden, I would
though it would break my heart for you to be away
Today I felt the burden
Today I felt the burden of my calling
My time felt too short
Capacity too limited
The barriers too high
God in all the Wrong Places
In the interest of simplifying Advent, this week is a re-post of my favorite Advent blog from last year! Blessings to you as you find small ways to rest in this season.
“Oh no, for real?” I thought to myself as the band began to play. “Of all the Christmas songs, why this one? Can’t we sing “Oh Come Emmanuel” or something? This is a kid’s song…”
Despite my internal protests, the drums beat steadily, soon followed by the incessant refrain: “PA RUM PUM PUM PUM.”
And then I started to cry. Continue reading “God in all the Wrong Places”
A Load Less Carried
What do you call a man who has found a great treasure
and then left it in a ditch
to a catch a lift
when it didn’t fit in the backseat?
Do you call him
A madman?
An idiot?
Hell-bound?
Pitiable?
Or do you simply call him lost Continue reading “A Load Less Carried”
Rest Begins
Rest begins with things undone.
I sit down and every undone task joins in a Siren call:
On the Nature of Desire
What is desire?
Is it to have one’s mind set
against one’s Creator?
To be governed by death
lost in pursuit of the flesh? Continue reading “On the Nature of Desire”
Manger Song
When we find our wells of Peace have run dry
The world, within and without, misaligned
Into despair, the Incarnate Child
Brings his Hope and his Way Continue reading “Manger Song”
In Pursuit of More 