Is like a warm blanket on a cold winter’s night,
Sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace.
“I am the blanket enfolding you.
I am the warm stone beneath you.
I am the fire before you, providing light and heat.
I am the crackling flames and the singing wood being consumed—
I am the music in the silence.�
The light You bring can sometimes mean
Things come back round again.
New grief pours out and tears fall down
For once forgotten pain
Thought left behind and pushed aside,
And buried underground,
But my God ne’er forgot; Your mercy never stopped!
Once more I am undone.
Now seeds long carried, in anguish buried
In barren years called “wait”
Have taken root and show their fruit
In unexpected grace…
And maybe, Lord, I’m learning more
The depth of grief denied—
The sadness deep, the tears I weep
Now ambush me inside.
Please, wash through me till finally
I turn once more to You.
Let grief be done; give me Your song
And heal my heart anew.
Broken—
Sliced open
By living, breathing Sword.
Pierced through
By Your truth—
Divided and restored.
No guise,
In Your eyes,
Can hide my heart from You.
I stand
By Your hand—
Sustained, alone, by You.
Toward the risen Son I set my face
To see Your glory in this holy place,
To hear the voice of Truth within my heart,
To move within the grace that bids me start
Each new day with mercies unforetold,
Except that they eternally unfold.
We are restless, Lord.
Uncomfortable with the status quo,
Tired of business as usual,
Yet unsure of where to go from here.
Holy God!
Make us aware again,
Not of what You can give us,
But of WHO YOU ARE!
Stir in our breasts an earnest longing
For a knowing rather than a hearing,
For a revealing beyond a mere teaching.
It is no longer enough
To have walked in Your precepts before,
Or to have felt Your brief touches before.
Yesterday’s manna is no longer sufficient
For us, Your children.
We need the Bread of Life—every day!
We need the Living Water—every day!
We need the Light of Your presence…
When we wake in the morning,
When we sit down to eat,
When we rise up from the table,
When we walk in the world,
When we talk with our neighbors,
When we lie down to sleep in Your arms…
O Lord,
Thank you
For not letting us be complacent…
Words
Sharp fragments
Embedded in the mind
Cutting into imagination
Until it bleeds frustration
Vision breaks apart
Distorted by intellect
Words
Concepts confined
Into tiny lines and curves
Doorways to a broader reality
Barriers to the same
Visible pathways to
Invisible truth
If walked carefully, correctly
Words
Healing, soothing
Bandages on broken heart
Medicine for wandering mind
Bridging the gap between the two
Intellect withdraws
Vision reunites, reignites
Words
Just words, but
Integral to heartfelt communication.
This oppressive heaviness weighs me down
Pressing me into silence again and again.
Words fail me—mind, tongue, and pen—
Until I feel like a bird whose wings
Are bound tightly against its body
Unable even to struggle for flight,
Much less fly.
Somehow I must…must…MUST…
Force myself to words again—
Say what I feel when I let myself feel;
Let myself feel when I acknowledge the hurt;
Acknowledge the hurt, the sadness, the anger…
No longer can I accept this mental solitude.
It is killing me in a different way
Than I have ever experienced before, and
I refuse to let myself be killed
Or to let myself go softly into the night!
I will live loudly, freely, even joyfully!
Be reminded, O my soul:
The Most High God is my secret shelter,
Surrounding me at all times, in all places.
He is my strength to fight depression
When I have none.
He is my willingness to fight the silent emptiness
When silence is all I know.
He is my life when deaf and dumbness
Try to crowd me into a corner of despair.
HE IS MY GOD!
The tenderest prayer flies on the wings of desperation
Over the yawning chasm of doubt and disbelief
Till, like the butterfly with borrowed veins of steel,
It lights upon the finger of God
Unfolding all the beauty of a faith-filled heart.
I sit, perched on the wall,
Dreaming of things to come,
Outwardly unseeing as my inner eyes take over.
The battlefield in front of me
Lies littered with casualties of an unseen war
While the afternoon sun shines brightly
Over a city unaware.
People go about their days
Consumed with the details of life as they know it,
Blind to this unseen realm, yet
Crippled on the inside–emotionally, spiritually.
A deep sadness shadows my heart, but
With vision and purpose I can move again–
Standing, walking, praying as I pace the wall.
As Your Spirit leads, I cry out,
“Freedom!”
Raise up Your warriors again, O God.
Reach in with Your mighty, healing hand.
Send Your heavenly armies to break down enemy barriers.
Uncap the wells, Holy Spirit, and
Let Your fountains flow freely
Watering our thirsty ground.
