Poems, Personal Stories, and Observations

Posts tagged ‘forgiveness’

Motivations

[Here I am imagining (sometimes about myself) the deeper motivations people
have for their actions, the motivations that we might not be aware of.]

When I turned my face away from you,
Maybe I just didn’t want you to see me cry.

When I didn’t speak,
Maybe I was afraid I would yell at you.

When I laughed loudly and annoyingly,
Maybe I needed attention.

When I hurt you with my words,
Maybe I hadn’t dealt with my own hurt.

When I seemed to ignore your pain,
Maybe I hadn’t let God heal my pain.

When I got violent,
Maybe I was extremely frustrated,
And no one had ever taught me how to deal with it.
No one was there to guide me,
To help me find better ways to deal with anger.

When you listened to me,
I began to heal.

When I asked your forgiveness,
I began to heal.

Category:

Poems

Tagged with:

Don’t Throw It All Away

Don’t throw it all away …
So you’ve messed up,
You’ve screwed up —
Keep your head up.

Don’t throw it all away …
In your anger, in your pride,
Don’t allow the pain inside
The truth to override.

Don’t throw it all away …
Life’s too precious,
Infectious;
God’s perfecting us.

Don’t throw it all away …
God still loves you,
He’ll protect you;
Don’t listen to what others say.

The backbiters,
The infighters,
The naysayers,
The faith slayers.

Don’t listen to the “no” sayers.

It’s not up to them or you.
Surely God’s word is true.
Don’t believe lies
And don’t compromise.

The fact that He loves you,
The truth that He died for you,
His heart surely burns for you,
You must let Him live in you.

Category:

Christian, Hope, Poems

Tagged with:

Only a Shadow

Today I see Your beauty,
An ever-changing sight,
But really just a shadow —
Creation mirrors Your light.

The wonders You have fashioned
Are merely slightest glimpse
Of Your majestic glory,
Your awesome pow’r intense.

The roaring river waters,
The waves that rise and fall,
The quietness of shallows,
The soaring eagle’s call.

But sure Your greatest wonder,
The utmost height of all,
Is how You love Your creatures,
Though oft’ we gravely fall.

Category:

Nature, Poems

Tagged with:

The Gift of Guilt

I once was amazed by a statement in a book by Peter Kreeft (can’t recall which book) that “The Jews gave us the gift of guilt.” In current times, most of us avoid the idea of guilt and find it very negative. To think of guilt as “a gift” was thought-provoking.

Here’s my take on it, but I am not an expert:
1) Guilt is a gift when I have broken one of God’s laws. This might be thought of as the Ten Commandments, or the “two greatest commandments”: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind,” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Have I done evil, or have I failed to do the good I had the means to do?
2) It is a gift if I allow the guilt to bring me to repentance.
3) It is a gift if after repenting, I freely accept forgiveness.

Guilt can be a gift like a cancer diagnosis. You did not perhaps know you had cancer until the doctor informed you. Now that you are informed, things can be done to destroy or remove the cancer. The guilt is the impetus, like the awareness following the diagnosis, to take action.

Category:

Commentary

Tagged with:

In Wretched Stable

Light in the darkness,
Peace in the storm;
In wretched stable
Our Savior was born.

Forgiveness for sinners,
Hope for the lost;
Hatred now broken —
At unmeasured cost.

Love brought to sinners,
The ugly made whole;
To broken and battered
He shows heaven’s door.

Friend to the unlovely,
The lost and forlorn —
Caught now in sin’s prison,
The fetters are torn.

Come, all you people;
Sing now His praise.
The One who will save us
Is Jesus by name.

Category:

Christian, Poems

Tagged with:

What Do I Do?

What do I do
With the pain inside?
Do I try to hide?
Do I run away?
Do I try to hang on
for one more day?
Do I pray,
and pray, and pray?

What do I do
With the pain inside?
Do I thank my God
For what He’s allowed?
What do I do
With the pain inside?

What do I do
With the dreadful hurt?
The answers curt,
The putdowns, letdowns,
Sarcastic laughter,
Disapproving frowns?
What do I do
With the dreadful hurt?

What do I do
When he turns away?
When he doesn’t say
A thing to me,
And I want to scream,
“Please talk to me!” ?

What do I do
With the pain I’ve caused?
Do I try to hide?
Do I run away?
Do I face the fact
That I’m inexact
In my love for others?

What do I do
With the hurt I’ve caused?
Do I see my flaws?
Will I run to God,
And to my neighbor
To ask their favor?

What do I do
With the love inside?
Do I try to hide?
Do I run away?
For fear of pain,
To express it refrain?

What do I do?
Do I turn it around
‘Til I find my ground?
Do I look inside
And listen for the sound
Of peace profound?

What will I do?
Will I learn a way
Of peace, of prayer,
Of listening for
The other’s pain?
What will I do?
Only God can tell.

Category:

Poems

Tagged with:

For the Children

For the Children

There can be an ache inside
Truly cannot be denied
We try to hide the pain inside
But pretty soon the hurts collide
With others’, and the wound gets wide

I had two mommies, don’t you see
They really didn’t think of me
And no one ever thought of them
The cycle it goes ’round again

I only had a mom, you see
My dad and her could not agree
And so he left; they could not see
A way to be in harmony

I had two dads; ’twas really sad.
Wondered who my mother was;
I cried sometimes at night because
She never was

I had a mom and dad, you see
But dad was gone emotion’ly
He read his paper, watched TV
Didn’t have the time for me

Oh, who cares for the children?
Who really cares?

Dads and moms, they were abandoned.
Never learned to love, it saddened
Their hearts, but they could never see
What it did to you, to me

The only way to get beyond it
Is seek God’s way; you’ve got to find it.
Move beyond the pain and anguish
God’s way for life we must establish.
Forgive, let go, and let it show
God’s joy in time you’ll get to know.

Category:

Poems

Tagged with: