Abundant rain

Rain falls like
tears
unceasing
vision blurred
by one more day of
too much
we look for a dry place
forgetting
how it feels
to thirst
so bloated are we
by excess

will the floods come
washing away
all we know of this life
forgetting yesterday
unable to conceive tomorrow
we live wet
in this moment

vision blurred
to even now

click over to One Stop Poetry for more Wednesday One Shots

Farming words

For this round of the One Word at a Time Carnival, Peter chose the word farm.

I am blessed beyond measure that eleven years ago God chose to relocate me from the urban jungle of the Chicago Metro area to the rural Canadian prairies.  I write often about the beauty I see and the lessons He teaches me here.

We have been playing with wordles at Tweet Speak Poetry, so today I have chosen to create a wordle from my blog posts about farming life.


Click on image above to enlarge

 And now I take the words from this image to form a new poem:

Another season's
sweat
drops on the soil
seeds scatterd
in the abundance
of rain
pray for sun
something like
trust
knowing God
let go
of fear

Join in the sharing at Peter Pollock's - talking about the word farm.

Saturday morning in May

I woke to a foggy view outside my window as I sat down to my morning time with the Lord.  As I picked up my journal and pen, a hummingbird came to the feeder, but seemed unable to relax.

Here is what the Lord had to share:

Just as the hummingbird continued the frantic beating of its wings until it finally realized it had landed on a perch that would hold it - so too do you continue to strive and fret even though there is rest and safety in My presence.

So I say - come and drink.
So I say - come and linger here.

When fog settles in, and it will, for the prince of the world loves confusion; instead of straining to see and make a way -

wait for Me to bring clarity and light, indeed it will break forth in My perfect time.

And you shall be secure and feel confident because there is hope; yes, you shall search about you, and you shall take your rest in safety.  Job 11:18 Amplified

Friday Poetically - His design

Can we see
as He sees
strokes of His brush
precise, intimate
creating each of us
bit by bit
unique
in colours we
don't notice
always busy
taking in
the bigger
picture
losing the perfection
of the Master's details
painted
for His glory.

You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something  Psalm 139:15 The Message

Brian challenged us to write a poem after viewing the works of Chuck Close.  Read more about him HERE at Friday Poetically and see what others have penned.

Praising His goodness!

To many of you living in warmer climates this may seem a bit delayed, but today, here in Manitoba,  I rejoice to see the fulfillment of God’s promise of Spring....

I'm rejoicing and thanking Him for Who He Is over at The Everyday Testimony Project today.

Come join us HERE to read more and let your praises resound.

Incomplete

We are artists here.  Writers, painters, photographers.
There is a drive to create deposited within us by the One Who created all.
We hold our works in progress tenderly, seeds in our hands, in our hearts.
At times we move too quickly, impatient to see the end result.
More often, we are slow, afraid to move, build, breathe, lest we make a mistake.
Fear builds fences, gates, walls of stone, prisons.

We too are works in progress,  in the Father's hand, clay on His potter's wheel
for He, even He, takes time and care to perfect that which He creates
He is jealous for His glory and will not share it, so that He alone is the Perfector

What we shape is incomplete, by His design
we are not meant to finish the work
but in submission, in surrender, bend to His plan

So I rejoice with the others here in the imperfection of our works
as offerings of worship
and the fire that drives us on.

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong 
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NIV

Stop by Emily's to join us, the imperfect


Jamming with Bonnie today about perfectionism

More poems hiding...

The exercise of finding what poems hide in the wordles of other poets is proving addicting!

Here's a little poem found in L. L. Barkat's wordle from her book InsideOut:

God wind burning
wild
tender sugar day
now remember
love.

and this found in Maryann's wordle:

Hands speak long
time turns fast
marking an ancient way

and in Joanna's romantic wordle:

Passions deep
Spirit irresistable
these feelings read
poetry
saying sweet
blessed joy.

There's more at the Facebook page of T. S. Poetry Press

He, not me...

Image via Wikipedia

This week we finish Book II of Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis with Chapter 5 - The Practical Conclusion.  Here Clive writes:

This is why the Christian is in a different position from other people who are trying to be good.  They hope, by being good, to please God if there is one; or - if they think there is not - at least they hope to deserve approval from good men.  But the Christian thinks any good he does comes from the Christ-life inside him.  He does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us; just as the roof of a greenhouse does not attract the sun because it is bright, but becomes bright because the sun shines on it.

Any good in me
is not me
but He
Who loves me.
Yes, this is
my heart's confession
yes, this is
what I know of truth.
It is not me
that shines
but a mirror
of His brightness
but oh, underneath
that light
what goodness grows.

Jason is hosting us this week at Connecting to Impact.  Come join us as we journey on.

Poems hiding in plain sight

Last week L. L. Barkat asked us to play and create wordles to share.  As we posted and linked she found poetry waiting in our word pictures and challenged us to do the same.

I found this poem hiding in plain sight inside Deidra's wordle:

Many golden minutes
found
shower of silence
listen well
let go
let rest refill
thoughts break
still
wisdom gives words

and in Sandra's wordle this poem took shape:

Glory breaks
morning sun
whispers beauty
hope begins to flow
look long
go deep
possibilities explode
hearts spill joy, peace
another day takes wing

Visit the Facebook page of T. S. Poetry Press to read what poems other's have found.

Hear my prayer

The noise
of the world shouts
long and loud
wild dogs nip
at the heels
of my spirit
teeth ripping
into a heart
that longs to listen
to You alone
do not be far from me
oh Lord, hear my prayer

As I wake to a day
new with gifts
scattered
waiting to be
opened, utilized
for a Kingdom cause
let humility
be my cloak
reflecting
not absorbing
glory that is Yours alone
let me not be far from You
oh Lord, hear my prayer

Let us reason together
Your invitation calls
quiet in a world
where reason alone
has reigned
and faith
has been stripped
from the rules
of a game
that I don't
want to play
keep my mind
fixed on You
oh Lord, hear my prayer.

May I disappear
that You
would be all
for the honour is Yours
the glory is Yours
for ever and ever
Yours only, Amen.

He must increase, but I must decrease. [He must grow more prominent; I must grow less so.] John 3:30 Amplified

Oh, Yes! The blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving, the honor and power and strength, To our God forever and ever and ever! Oh, Yes!
Revelation 7:12 The Message

Joining Jason HERE for Warrior Poets Circle where he asked us this week to pray in poetry

Visit One Stop Poetry to read more Wednesday One Shot Poems

Another morning...

As expected, it was all a hoax. 
And so we see another morning break, in this our earthly home

and as I rejoice and worship Him I can't but wonder
all we might have missed
and so look forward
with great expectation.

But friends, that's exactly who we are: children of God. And that's only the beginning. Who knows how we'll end up! What we know is that when Christ is openly revealed, we'll see him—and in seeing him, become like him. All of us who look forward to his Coming stay ready, with the glistening purity of Jesus' life as a model for our own. 1 John 3:2-3 The Message

Darkening skies

The ever darkening
skies touched
by His hand
streaked
with delight
in this northern place

I have known joy
for endings
welcome
new beginnings

calm even as
chaos
rattles the doors

peace
descending
on a storm

I am His
what more
is needed?

I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid  John 14:27 NLT

Gold

This weeks word was gold
come on over here to see views from Kelly, Claire, Sarah and more

Time to quit?

Today Bonnie gave us the following prompt:. 

To quit or not to quit. Share your thoughts or experience on quitting something or not quitting something.

This past year I struggled long and struggled hard. I needed to make a decision to step away from the leadership of intercessory prayer ministry, and also felt an insistant call to step away from a church body we have prayed for, worshipped in and fellowshipped with for the last ten years.

Words like failure, defeat and quitter banged about in my head.  Fears were multiplied by those who asked if I was stepping away due to offense, had I been hurt, did I think that I could find perfection somewhere else?  I spent long hours inquiring of the Lord, wanting to hear His voice and His voice only.  At the same time, in some misery, I continued life as usual, pressing in until I was certain I had heard the Lord's request.

I was hurting, confused, trying to keep everyone else happy, juggling too many balls in the air, striving in my own ability to understand and make things right.  If God was telling me one thing and everyone else was saying something else, could I be hearing wrong? 

God was saying "go" while I was expecting Him, like the people around me, to convince me to stay.  I believe I received His answer many times before I heard it clearly enough to act upon it.

If you shut the door to everything else - keep it open to Me and I will continue to enter. I will show when to fling gates wide or crack them narrow. When you feel without wisdom, lean on Mine, for I see and I know.  Even in correction, I Am your place of safety.

When we hear a call, to submit, to surrender, to make the hardest of choices, will we listen and obey?  Lead me then, blessed Lord, in the way that I should go, even when in doing so I may leave those I've loved behind, to find in You my strength, the call to rise for the glory of Your name.



Jamming with Bonnie about quitting

linking as well with Emily and others who write broken and imperfect prose

Moved by His hand

Our journey into Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis continues as Jason and Sarah lead us in Book II Chapter 4 The Perfect Penitent.  In the middle of trying to explain his views on why and how we need and receive salvation through Christ, Lewis penned these words:

Yes, but what do we mean when we talk of God helping us?  We mean God putting into us a bit of Himself, so to speak.  He lends us a little of His reasoning powers and that is how we think; He puts a little of His love into us and that is how we love one another.  When you teach a child writing, you hold its hand while it forms the letters; that is, it forms the letters because you are forming them.  We love and reason because God loves and reasons and holds our hand while we do it.

So stirs the desire of my heart
to be a willing pen in His hand

My heart is overflowing with a good theme; I recite my composition concerning the King; My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.  Psalm 45:1 NKJV

to surrender to His lead
as He shapes His will
within me, without me,
through me.

Anything of worth
or beauty
is that which He deposits
and what blessing
to be a vessel
where He might
choose His goodness
to dwell.

Not because of who I am
but to glorify His name
my spirit moves
to the beating of His heart.

Sarah is hosting us today at Living Between the Lines.

What do you see?

Flooded field near Dauphin Lake

Don't hold too tight

to what you think

you know.

Trust not your eyes

to show you

what is true.

Yes, a global

positioning  system

would lead you

here, programmed

to know

this is road

this is a meadow.

Still everything

you know, tells you

this is a lake

a swamp

a watery place.

Nothing is fixed

not time, or place

all waits

on the edge

of change.

Tomorrow

you might not

hear the calling

of the frogs

finding the field

dry and ripe

for planting.

Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding.  Proverbs 3:5 Amplified   

  

Come to One Stop Poetry for more Wednesday One Shots

His Road

As I sat down for my morning time with Jesus I was pondering the word Peter chose for this week - Road.  I knew that the Lord would have something to say, and I share His heart with you here:

Many claim to want to follow, to want to be like Me - but they don't really know what it is they are saying.

Few, if any would walk the road I've walked.

The hardest path, the way of sacrifice; each step an exercise in forgiveness and mercy; every inch an opportunity to grow ever more humble.

"Not My will but Thine be done" I cried out to My Father.

Will My people continue to pray "Lord, Your will be done, as long as it makes me happy - or wealthy - or powerful - or comfortable"?

While I wait, calling always in invitation "abide in Me".  I Am not hard to find - turn onto Surrender Road.

Join us HERE at Peter Pollock's to read more views on the word Road

The world awash

We had a winter of white, more snow than most could recall, and the heavy rains that followed washed it all away but left flooding behind.

Not a lake, but a meadow waits here for drying winds to blow.  The air is filled with songs.  Seagulls, ducks and frogs call out in their rejoicing.

What is inconvenient for man proves enjoyable to a group of pelicans.

As for us, we live on high sandy ground.  The excess moisture has created extravagance.  Lush. 

I will spend my afternoon in the breezy sunlight, riding the lawn tractor, nothing to do but worship and pray as I complete the first cutting of the year.

Another cycle of breath. Exhale winter weariness.  Inhale new life. 


Stop by L. L. Barkat's Seedlings in Stone to read more Monday views