His Eye Is On The Sparrow

His Eye Is On The Sparrow

Through Death’s Door

Hope lies through death’s door-
Death to self, death to dreams,
Death to ambition’s striving efforts.
Hope hides in the heart
(Though despair thinks it has won),
Then blossoms like a rose with
The scent of love, the color of faith. 

Hope brings new light to blind belief
Till all the darkness vanishes and
Clarity of purpose stiffens resolve.
But… One must be willing
To walk through death’s door,
To step from the finite into the infinite…

Transitions

So many goodbyes
So many hellos
I’m weary of changes
Weary of losing loved ones
No energy to love new friends
But I keep trying
The gaps need filling

More absences
More additions
It’s all so confusing sometimes
Sapping my strength with cold
While the warmth barely suffices
But I keep moving
Just to stay alive

All the bare trees
All the winter blossoms
I’m torn between death and life
But bareness will blossom again
Winter flowers fade to spring colors
So I keep looking
Present life, future beauty

Somehow I praise
Somehow I worship
I’m mindful of Creator’s will
Relying on His strength in me
When I have nothing left inside
Still I keep trusting
Faithfully hoping in Love

Mental Rest

Pausing just a moment for mental rest,
I find a small place inside of me quiet,
Waiting for Your presence to manifest
In a way I can grasp-body, soul, spirit.
It’s not often my soul stills itself for You,
As rightly I should do more in this riot,
But now, unexpected, I linger anew
Because deep inside I can hear it…

Your voice speaking softly,
You whisper my name-
Calling me closer, wooing my will,
Lord, help me to focus again.

Hangin’ Out in the Fire

John and I were discussing the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. I love it when someone not as familiar with a story gives me a new perspective!!!

I read the part where Nebuchadnezzar ordered them thrown in to a furnace heated seven times hotter than normal. The guys who threw them in died from the heat, but there go our three guys into the flames and then they started walking around with the fourth man who just suddenly showed up. Nebuchadnezzar is so astonished at seeing a fourth person (who, by the way, looks like the Son of God) that he double-checks what he’s seeing with the other spectators, THEN he walks right up to the furnace, where he should have been killed like all the other men, and hollers in at Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to come out.

Right about this point, John stopped my reading and exclaimed, “You mean, those guys didn’t try to run OUT of the fire? They were just walking around in there until Nebuchadnezzar called them?” This gave me a whole new perspective. I responded, “Better to be IN the fire with the Lord, then out of the fire without Him,” and I had to stop and think about what I said.

So, the three men just hung out together in the flames and the fire with the Lord, then when Nebuchadnezzar calls them out (putting his own life in danger to do so), they saunter out… no sweat, no smell of fire or smoke, not one hair or item of clothing singed. No wonder the king is floored!!

So when I’m in the fire, as I truly seem to be right now, I don’t need to be in a rush to get out. As long as I’m trusting and hanging out with the Lord, as long as He wants us to be together in here, I won’t get any part of me singed or smelly from the furnace of trial. When God says it’s time to come out, then it’ll be time to come out and I don’t have to worry about the heat in the meantime.

I’ll be chewing on this one for a while, but I thought I’d toss it out there for some other people to ruminate on as well.