Fairy Tale Dream
I lived in a fairy tale dream
Of mostly sunny days —
Little disease and little pain —
Then reality came.
I felt accused of misplaced trust,
Defensive, and defend I must.
The hopes of wanting to believe,
The criticisms ill conceived.
And cancer struck, not once, but twice.
These unexpected enemies caused
A leeriness, and gave me pause.
Life wouldn’t go on as I had thought —
Events could happen, unannounced,
Nothing seemed safe; nothing sound.
The sunny days had turned to dark,
The world, instead, became more stark.
I had to be ready; I had to be armed.
And then to move o’er 2,000 miles,
Uprooted, after 67 years –
Somehow, that caused a lot of tears.
—
Each day that passes, I come aware
Of tragedies, of people’s cares —
That lead some people to despair.
Evil spreads, or so it seems,
Yet parallel, a good perceived —
Incomprehensible battle screams.
And then He said, “Take up your cross,”
“With Me,” He said, “Must count the cost.”
“Without the cross you will be lost.”
I learn to hear His voice each day,
And trust He’s with me in the fray,
And good, o’er evil, wins the day.
clarakatalin 
The Good Thief
One of the criminals, a thief, who was crucified with Jesus, said to him, “Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom (Luke 23:42)”. Somehow he knew Jesus’ name and that Jesus had a kingdom!
Was Jesus that famous? Did everyone in Jerusalem know about him? Perhaps it was because of the sign above Jesus that Pilot had ordered placed there. The sign declared, “Jesus, King of the Jews”.
In another gospel, it states that, “And the robbers who were crucified with [Jesus] also reviled him … (Matthew 27:44).” Either the two gospels are inconsistent, or there was a transformation in one of the thieves. He went from reviling Jesus, to, in effect, asking his forgiveness. He realized his sin and that he deserved punishment, whereas Jesus was innocent (Luke 23:39-41).
It is interesting to imagine how “the good thief” came to this conclusion. He may have known something about Jesus before the time of execution. Or, perhaps observing how Jesus bore his own suffering, he realized that Jesus was not just a man, but God also.
Category:
Commentary
Tagged with: