Poems, Personal Stories, and Observations

Archive for the ‘Poems’ Category

You Planted the Seed

An allegory of God’s Love

 

You planted the seed of Love in my heart
You watered it
You waited patiently

One day I broke through the ground
You sent the sun and rain

You watched over me
I continued to grow

Flowers appeared
You sent the bees and bugs to pollinate

Sometimes I fell ill
You tended me until I mended

You fertilized the barren soil of my heart

Fruit began to show
You fertilized my heart again

When the fruit was ripe
Others picked it
It was sweet and refreshing

Sometimes you would prune me
At first I was angry —
How could you hurt me that way?
But then I noticed:
After the pruning, I would bear more fruit

I grew older
There was less fruit now
But still good

Sometimes there was bad fruit
You returned it to the earth
To be transformed and to nourish other plants

Sometimes fruit fell to the ground
To begin new plants

I am old now
Dry and shriveled
Soon I will return to the earth

But the seeds that fell
Will continue to grow
Watered by Your Love

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Poems

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Asking of God

Has He healed you?

Has He loved you?

Then act like it.

Has He comforted you?

Has He forgiven you?

Then act like it.

Tell your story;

Give Him glory.

If you don’t know Him – ask.

If you can’t trust Him – ask.

If you want to be closer – ask.

Have men betrayed you?

Have harsh words slayed you?

Has hate unmade you?

Then ask –

And you will receive.

All you need, not all you want.

Not what you dreamed, but more.

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Poems

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Some People

Some people don’t have it together.
Their home is a mess,
Things everywhere —
Do they not care?

Some people don’t have a car.
They walk everywhere,
Or maybe on bike,
Or the bus not on strike.

Some people don’t have a living.
They’re tired of giving
All of their energy.
They need a strategy.

Some people still haven’t learned,
They often are spurned,
They don’t have a life,
Their life full of strife.

Some people need so much hope.
They don’t need the dope.
They need Jesus Christ,
Who alone can give life.

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Poems

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The Humble Gardener

I love the humble gardener,
His hair unkempt,
Holes in his shirt,
So down to earth.

[I say, “How have you been?”
He answers, “Just trying to survive.”]

I had an uncle,
His teeth stained, some missing,
From smoking too much.
At least he was real —
Are we real?

The little people,
Struggling to survive,
Just to keep alive.

Do we know them?

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Poems

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Paradoxes

I swallowed the bitter pill,
And it became sweet in my mouth.

I lowered myself,
And I was exalted.

I forgave my prison warden
(from the prison that I and others had built for me),
And I was liberated.

I cried tears of grief,
And God put a new song in my mouth.

Category:

Christian, Poems

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Perspectives

So painful when we misunderstand each other.
Different ways of seeing things;
We grew up in different worlds.

I’d like to listen to your pain,
But it hurts too much
To add another pain to my own.

Education helps –
Exposed to different perspectives.
But can I keep my identity
And still cherish yours?

——————-

I used to think that
When we disagreed,
You didn’t love me.

——————–

Are you a liberal or conservative?
I’ve decided that I’m a libative.

——————

There is One who knows all our pain —
Yours and mine –
But do we know His?

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Poems

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Silent Hours

The streets silent and still.
Families away: spring holiday –
Or is it a resurrection?

No shouting voices,
Nor school buses.
No parents patiently waiting
For school to get out.

I meet more people
Out for walks.
Perhaps they’ll
Take the time
To smell the flowers.

How healing
Are the flowers
And the silent hours.

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Poems

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Unruffled

Beyond the hills,
I sense the ocean,
Miles away.

Fish frolic in rolling waves,
Sun glances off glassy waters,
Seagulls wheel recklessly in cyan skies.

How do the mermaids feel?
Are they free as the wind,
Though beneath it?

Deep, deep down,
There are no waves –
Maybe God is like that –
Unruffled by the world
Above / below Him.

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Poems

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Woman at the Well

No one else could make me see,
My faults, my failings,
Without embarrassing me.

I suddenly
Came face to face
With my selfishness.

I still don’t know
If I see it all.

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Poems

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Breath of the Spirit

Breath of the Spirit,
Refreshment so deep.
Sanctified waters,
‘Midst noonday heat.

Sharpening dullness,
Bright’ning the dark.
Lifting the lowly,
Humbling hearts.

Without the Spirit,
There’s naught we can do.
Please fill us, dear Jesus;
Make hearts one with You.

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Poems

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