Creator of the seas
how vast,
immense your creation
as it rolls and thunders
rages and storms
wave after relentless wave.
From rolling breakers
to crashing
briny mountains that
shatter peace, calm
and rocks.
I see your majestic hand,
Your mysterious ways
and omnipotent vastness
in the foaming waters.
On other days,
still days,
ripple clear and glassy days
the waters reveal
a gentler heart,
a healing hand,
but Your grandeur
never disappears.
Poem
Creator of the Seas
Creator of the seas
how vast,
immense your creation
as it rolls and thunders
rages and storms
wave after relentless wave.
From rolling breakers
to crashing
briny mountains that
shatter peace, calm
and rocks.
I see your majestic hand,
Your mysterious ways
and omnipotent vastness
in the foaming waters.
On other days,
still days,
ripple clear and glassy days
the waters reveal
a gentler heart,
a healing hand,
but Your grandeur
never disappears.
Categories: christian, Christianity, Devotional, Faith, Poem, poetry
Tags: Christian, Christianity, Poem, poems, poetry
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Why Poetry?
I was asked the other day,
“Why bother?
Why write poetry?”
Good question.
Why?
We can play with words and worlds,
build and shape
amazing images in the mind,
ask questions that puzzle, perturb,
settle
and unsettle.
The poet can arrange
rearrange,
change and change again
until the thought is
precise, pointed, polished.
The joy is in playing,
with sounds
– phonic orchestrations
not worrying
if it is ‘good’
… or ‘bad’.
The wordsmith’s heart
exalts with choruses
of phrases and words
that books and essays
could never complete.
The thought, the phrase,
idea and pearl
never stand still.
Always morphing
with reading and rereading.
The poet is
priest and prophet.
Interceding and declaring!
Heralding caution and hope.
Why write poetry?
I’ve only warmed up!
Taking a PE Class
There are times
when my pedagogic versatility
is limited.
As when
I am asked to take
a PE class.
My age,
hand-eye coordination
and
my lack of passion
all conspire against me.
To run, jump
throw and kick
without any evident purpose
inspire no joy –
no thrill
in my soul.
The scores,
cheers,
shots for goal,
dashes to the finish and
shouts of elation,
leave me,
deflated.
But when a perfect word,
articulate phrase or
beautiful sentence
springs to life
in a student’s hand,
my heart rises and
soul sings.
This IS life!
This IS being truly human!
Animals can run faster,
fish swim further and
birds fly higher,
But only we,
bring ideas,
and thoughts,
abstractions,
wisdom and dreams
to vibrant life …
with Words.
Categories: christian, Devotional, Poem, poetry
Tags: Christian, Christianity, Poem, poems, poetry
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Compass
The needle quavers,
and haltingly points
northward.
Magnetic North
not
True North.
We all need to follow,
take a path,
begin a journey.
There are different “truths”
with degrees of difference.
Choosing one
or
the other
can have
magnified results
miles into our journey.
Destinations lost,
journeys wasted,
hope not realised.
What needle do you follow?
What pointer guides you?
Is it an
approximation
or truth?
Will it lead to
promised hope
or disillusion?
Fulfillment
or emptiness?
Joy or
despair?
Your journey,
is it directed
by a cross shaped
compass?
Categories: christian, Christianity, Devotional, Faith, Poem, poetry
Tags: Christian, Christianity, Devotion, Faith, Poem, poems, poetry
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Rock Heart
“The LORD your God is with you,
the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
but will rejoice over you with singing.” Zeph 3:17 Cold, hard
fist clenched heart
wrapped in its dark self.
Closed.
Nothing can pry
open
the steely fingers.
Unprised,
unmoved,
unrelenting,
mute.
Your Word,
Your song,
soft,
calling
persistent,
love soaked.
The interior,
warmed,
moved,
spark kindled,
song filled.
Heart unwrapping,
unwrapped.
Opening, opened.
Eternal lifesong filled.
Christ bought.
the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
but will rejoice over you with singing.” Zeph 3:17 Cold, hard
fist clenched heart
wrapped in its dark self.
Closed.
Nothing can pry
open
the steely fingers.
Unprised,
unmoved,
unrelenting,
mute.
Your Word,
Your song,
soft,
calling
persistent,
love soaked.
The interior,
warmed,
moved,
spark kindled,
song filled.
Heart unwrapping,
unwrapped.
Opening, opened.
Eternal lifesong filled.
Christ bought.
Categories: Christianity, Church, Devotional, Faith, Poem, poetry, Uncategorized
Tags: Christian, Christianity, Devotion, Faith, poems, poetry
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Activate Sim
Insert Sim in device.
Change access point
Modify settings.
Ensure carrier selected.
Switch data roaming “on”.
Go to website.
Enter code
… and personal details.
Test settings.
Congratulations
Your Sim is activated.
You are now connected.
But life
is not that straight forward.
The number is sometimes smudged
on its plastic case
and the code hard to enter.
Testing the settings,
and activating
Life
and achieving high data rates
and clear reception is not always
that easy,
or clear.
But Lord,
thankfully
your “helpline”
is always available!
Categories: Devotional, Faith, Poem, poetry
Tags: Devotion, Faith, Poem, poems, poetry
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Answers
There was a time
I had an answer for everything.
Theology, Life,
the “right” thing to do,
and I had an
“informed” opinion.
I was quick,
(now I say, hasty)
to bless others with
my astute and “learned” mind.
And then life came.
Real life.
With dilemmas and conundrums
grey areas,
tough and impossible choices.
And life came with
death, and pain,
sorrow and grief,
parting and separation.
My earlier answers didn’t fit,
or work
or fulfill.
The words just added to the
emptiness.
Now I find that
faith and hope
contentment and security
family and friends
outweigh
past certainties.
Childlike faith
outshines
adult arrogance.
Categories: christian, Christianity, Devotional, Faith, Poem, poetry, Uncategorized
Tags: Christian, Christianity, Devotion, Faith, Poem, poems, poetry
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It’s Windy Today!
It’s windy today.
Very windy.
Trees are buffeted,
with branches flailing about.
Leaves scurrying.
Walking home
(I’m on a fitness binge)
I was thrown about
by its punchy fury
feeling like a rag doll
in the hands of an angry child.
It is strange
how
the wind
causes unease and discomfort.
Not just physical
but also emotional.
Dare I say,
“Spiritual?”
For no apparent reason
uncertainty
and paranoia
creep about
in my heart and mind.
Wild winds
like wild waves
make me feel small
and frail in the world.
But then I remember a wind
and flames
that said,
“God is here!”
It calms me
once again.
Categories: christian, Christianity, Devotional, Faith, Poem, poetry
Tags: Christianity, Devotion, Faith, Poem, poems, poetry
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Sorting Through Memories
My brother and I
sorted through our mother’s things today.
The big things,
not that there were many after years in a home,
were irrelevant.
The brooch I fiddled with as a child,
the picture that had always been
on the wall at home,
the tapestry sewn with arthritic fingers,
made me take notice.
My brother,
six years younger.
had memories with a different skew,
but memories all the same,
of times, events, words and warmth.
The photos and cards were carefully kept,
of birthdays, anniversaries and
other people’s holidays.
The precious letters
set aside, revealed so much,
about mum
… and us.
Categories: Family, Poem, poetry, Reflections, Uncategorized
Tags: family, Poem, poems, poetry
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A Week Before School Starts
It is a week before school starts,
So the cogs are slowly winding up,
Gearing up for the business/busyness
that is a “school year”.
“Curricula,” check.
“Course Outlines” (nearly) check.
“Resources”, always looking.
“Class lists”, check.
“Ah! ‘X’ is in my class.
That will interesting for him
and me.
The time table,
Yard duty,
The marking,
The discipline,
Those annoying sports days and
assemblies …
and parent meetings.
Diaries and homeroom.
Uniforms and chewing gum.
Is that what the new school year is about?
Or is it …
mentoring and example,
words of encouragement
and correction;
Growth and matuity
for both student and teacher.
Discovering gifts, talents and purpose
and crucially,
a destiny.
In all,
revealing our place
in God’s kingdom
and under His rule.
Categories: christian, Christianity, Education, Faith, Poem, poetry, Uncategorized
Tags: Christian, Christian Education, Christianity, Devotion, Faith, Poem, poems, poetry
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Travels from Ur 