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: Walk with Me
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”
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
Of Rainbows and Mud
(Part 4 of 4 in the “Grief in a Season of Joy” series)
Why do we never enter
the dripping, wild woods
As the rain starts to fall?
We fear the wet, the mud
The fallen leaves’ decay
Never noticing the fragrance
of new life they exude.
In our concern for comfort
Our endless quest for beauty
We do not look in such a way
As to see the foundational
Workings of new life
Leaf litter on the damp clay
Fallen timber awash with rain Continue reading “Of Rainbows and Mud”
Go in Peace
(Part 2 of 4 in the “Grief in a Season of Joy” series)
How long, O Lord, will we live in fear of Pain
Wary of being weighed down forever by it
I want to arrive in the city of Hope and dwell in Joy
But Pain will not be left behind while I journey
It clings to my legs, refusing to be forgotten,
And becomes a stumbling block Continue reading “Go in Peace”
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”
I Still Remember
I still remember the day
I first put on glasses
Everything looked so crisp and clear
But what I didn’t expect
Was the color
The way it jumped into my vision
The brightness of the clarity Continue reading “I Still Remember”
Walk With Me
Walk with Me awhile, beloved
This is what I made you for
To feel the breeze upon your skin
And linger here at Glory’s door
Where every breath is peace inhaled
And heav’n itself but thinly veiled Continue reading “Walk With Me”
On Being Present with Fear
“Will I be OK?” he asked, sitting on the edge of the pool.
“Of course! Mommy and Gammy are right here!” To myself I thought, “Even on the bottom step the water would only reach your chest. Why is this such a big deal?”
We were swimming for the first time in a long time. He only came to watch his baby brother swim, but something in him still remembered the exhilaration of moving through the water. So, he consented to wear a swim suit, and then decided to put it on in advance. When we arrived, he put his feet straight in, bottom firmly planted on the side of the pool, kicking and splashing.
But now we were asking him to go all the way in.
“Will I be OK?” he asked again. Continue reading “On Being Present with Fear”
Isolation
If I can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge,
and if I have a faith that can move mountains,
but do not have love, I am nothing…
Nothing but a drawing on a page
Flat, indifferent, unmoving
Forgetful of my missing dimension Continue reading “Isolation”
In Pursuit of More 