Poems, Personal Stories, and Observations

Archive for the ‘Christian’ Category

Broken Today

Broken today
By my own sin.
Tears of sorrow
Fall like the rain.
Only Your love
Will bring a new day.

So weak without You;
Why do I doubt You?
Wandering eyes
Start looking at lies.
Inadequate soul —
Why my surprise?

Why all the violence?
Lacking godly reliance.
Too driven by lust —
In God we must trust.
We all have our fears —
To Him let’s draw near.

Feel so insecure,
But Your love is sure.
Yes, I am weak,
But Your strength I will seek.
Though sometimes depressed,
By You I am blessed.

You’ve won the war,
The strife for my soul.
Now I allow
Your grace to endow
Your new life in me —
And thus victory.

Category:

Christian, Poems

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I Need Your Healing

Lord, I need Your healing
From pride, from sin,
From jealousies within.

Please cleanse this broken heart,
Let me make a new start,
Give me Your Sacred Heart.

From fear, from hate,
Wipe clean the slate —
Your love demonstrate.

Help me look up above,
Focus only on Your love,
Fly free like a dove.

Then Your healing light
Will give my soul flight.
I am whole in Your sight.

Category:

Christian, Jesus, Poems

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A Thousand Ways

Your Love is told a thousand ways
As steady we traverse our days.
The fact that we exist is one,
And then the Father, Spirit, Son.

Each new green leaf, each tender stalk,
Each fragrant flower, as we do walk.
A tender touch, a kindly smile,
The one who says, “Come stay a while.”

Forgiving words and peaceful pardons,
Sustaining waters, grace-filled gardens.
Creation sings; Your love song rings.
The stars, the skies, let praises rise.

Majestic mountains, roiling streams,
Icy fountains, bright sunbeams.
And darkness too, can give You glory —
More brightly shines the candle’s story.

A thousand ways let hearts explore.
Your Love still gives a thousand more.

Category:

Christian, Creation, Jesus, love, Nature, Poems

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Come Walk with Me

“Come walk with me”, the Savior said
“Leave earthly cares behind
Leave all that comes twixt you and me
The sin and worry bind”

His heart was aching with such pain
He saw men struggle, strive in vain
When in His hand He held all things
The peace, the joy, that His love brings

He said, “You must the silence keep
The quietness, the inner deep
Close every door and go inside
To you My love I will confide”

“Each day go to the inner door
And listen as I speak, and more.
My inner peace I will impart
And make a fountain in your heart”

All men will one day bow the knee
To Him who hung upon a tree
‘Till then let us be well content
In silence, a true sacrament

Category:

Christian, Jesus, Poems

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This Ship I Travel

This ship I travel, on treach’rous sea
I often wished that I could flee

I did not choose this ship of life —
Of sin, of sorrow; sadness, strife

I felt alone, though many traveled;
In darkest ignorance my life unraveled

But now and then a Light would shine
And slowly came the gift divine

I am not here for self alone
My purpose through the darkness shone

And as this ship sails on or stalls
With others do I meet life’s squalls

And I have met an Unseen Friend;
His Presence here do not contend

And if I may but save one soul
From falling, jumping in the sea

My soul will thrill, my heart will sing
‘Tis purpose done; ’tis destiny

Category:

Christian, Hope, Poems

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Missing Men

Missing men and absent abbas,
Deadbeat dads and passive papas,
Men who have gone off to fight,
Men who seem to be off site,
Men who sit and read the news,
While their kids are so confused.

Men who don’t know how to be men,
‘Cause their dad was missing when …
As they grew up, there was an absence
In body, spirit, or emotional lapses.

God, our Father, we pray to thee:
Fill the gaps we cannot see.
Help the men who never learned
For family, wife, to be concerned.

Who might not know to show respect
To women — sometimes they in fact reject
The ones who dare to have a mind;
Some men have not learned to be kind.

Don’t get me wrong, the ones who fight —
The rough guys, tough guys, they’re all right.
I only hope they will include
Some kindness in the interlude.

Yes, dear men, you have a role
To care for wife and children’s soul.
And like us women who too have flaws,
To see God’s plan we must give pause.

Category:

Christian, Commentary, family, Poems

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The Twelve Steps Of Idiots Anonymous

Just in case people are not aware of the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, (for example, see
http://www.silkworth.net/aa/12steps.html ), this is a parody of that. I recently “joined” Idiots Anonymous, due to my mistakes regarding God’s love for me.

1) We admitted we were powerless over our blindness to God’s love — that our lives had become unmanageable.
2) Came to believe that His love could restore our sight.
3) Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4) Made a searching and fearless inventory of our blind spots.
5) Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our unbelief.
6) Were entirely ready to have God remove all the aspects of our blindness.
7) Humbly asked Him to remove our blindness.
8) Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9) Made direct amends to such people whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10) Continued to take inventory, and when we were blind or myopic, asked God for the grace to confess it.
11) Sought, through prayer and meditating on God’s word, to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12) Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to everyone we know, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Category:

Christian, Commentary, Hope, Spiritual

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A Different Road

So happy for you
That you’ve found your way,
But while I’m still waiting,
I hope that you can say,
“Take courage, be strong.
It may be short, it may be long.
Don’t lose heart, make a new start
Every day.”

While you smile in triumph
Don’t forget the ones
Who still have a long way to go.
They got late to the show;
They didn’t know the things you knew
When you were young.

For some, one step
Takes tremendous strength,
While you have already run the race,
Or you’re near the end.
Of course, it takes grace.

Don’t let me wallow in self-pity.
My gifts may be different than yours,
But still God-given.
Please just recognize
That to win the prize
It’s a different road for each person.

But I must thank you
For who you are.
Although it’s painful to see
Someone who’s always ahead of me,
How else could I grow?
Thanks for taking the time
To share your wisdom sublime.

Category:

Christian, Hope, Poems

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So Great A Savior

Oh, so great a Savior
Who shed His blood for me,
Who loves beyond all measure
And hung upon a tree.

Who washed the feet of creatures
With dirt and sin defiled,
Who saw in me, a sinner,
A soul to save worthwhile.

Who in most-desperate persons
Sees holiness and good;
The thief, the whore, the tax man
With Him to heaven could.

O holy One and mighty
So great a price You paid.
Endured abuse from sinners
And in the grave was laid.

Oh, mighty, glorious Savior,
Who from the grave emerged
Victorious over satan,
And new my soul has birthed.

Category:

Christian, Poems

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My mother’s last days

10/27/12 Saturday
Mom went to intensive care tonight, on a BPAP machine (helps her to breathe). She was having spasms due to lack of oxygen to the brain, I think. I’m hoping to drive to Kaiser Hospital in Roseville tomorrow to see her. Her health has not been well and it may be that all of us kids will be with her tomorrow. My husband Tom is on a trip, so please pray that everyone is safe in their travels, that God’s will be done regarding my mother, and that we will be a comfort to her.

10/28/12 Sunday
On Sunday, she had an about an hour of wakefulness at one point. She repeated three times, “Heaven is the only goal”. Then she blessed each one of us kids individually, with a special word for each one. I’m so grateful we had that time.

10/30/12 Tuesday (don’t know where Monday went)
Tuesday was a very good day for mom, emotionally and spiritually speaking. A person from the local church prayed with her, as they do every day. Also, a priest friend of hers called from Africa! I held the phone to her ear and she smiled. She seemed much more peaceful throughout the day. she would smile at us with love when awake, but could only speak one word now and then. Her smile lights up the room! More smiles than I’ve seen on the previous days.

10/31/12
Her best friend from El Cerrito visited her. Tom decided the previous day to cancel his trip and arrived a bit earlier. A harpist [part of the Kaiser Roseville chaplaincy department] came and played for about 1/2 an hour! Lots of prayer and thanks for yours.

11/1/12
Mom was still with us in the morning. She developed a fever and a problem with one of her IVs, but they got all that under control.

She passed away peacefully at about 3:30 p.m. A hospital chaplain had happened (?) to come in and realized that she was passing. I was out in the hallway and they yelled for me. All of her children (four of us), two spouses and two girlfriends were there. Amazing that we all got to be there.

Thank you so much for your prayers for her and our family. I am joyful in the sense that she’s now free of any suffering and with Jesus in heaven, but sad about her leaving us.

Category:

Christian, Personal story

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