poetry
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
2 Comments
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
Leave a comment
That Last Step
This journey
as long as it seems,
is only a pilgrimage.
We can try
to set our roots
deep in the ground
and hold fast
and tight.
The tighter we hold
the greater the wrench
when the journey
continues
into the
eternal future
of heaven
or hell.
If we journey
with a new
Christ bought
future life,
as a vision before us,
that last step on earth
will be far more gentle,
more hope filled,
and glorious.
as long as it seems,
is only a pilgrimage.
We can try
to set our roots
deep in the ground
and hold fast
and tight.
The tighter we hold
the greater the wrench
when the journey
continues
into the
eternal future
of heaven
or hell.
If we journey
with a new
Christ bought
future life,
as a vision before us,
that last step on earth
will be far more gentle,
more hope filled,
and glorious.
Categories: christian, Christianity, Devotional, Faith, Poem, poetry, Uncategorized
Tags: Christian, Christianity, Devotion, Faith, Poem, poems, poetry
2 Comments
Photos and Memories
Leafing through photos
jolts the memory
of past pleasures and friends,
even family from
times before my time.
The snap brings
fleeting sparks
of jumbled feelings and
uncertain emotions:
yearning and longing.
Old friends,
Long gone family,
Special moments,
Celebrated occasions
all swirl about
in sepia, black, white and faded colour.
But I can’t live there.
That land is beyond reach.
Today and tomorrow
beckon and demand.
Work, appointments,
even celebrations call.
All fodder for
future memories
of past pleasures.
jolts the memory
of past pleasures and friends,
even family from
times before my time.
The snap brings
fleeting sparks
of jumbled feelings and
uncertain emotions:
yearning and longing.
Old friends,
Long gone family,
Special moments,
Celebrated occasions
all swirl about
in sepia, black, white and faded colour.
But I can’t live there.
That land is beyond reach.
Today and tomorrow
beckon and demand.
Work, appointments,
even celebrations call.
All fodder for
future memories
of past pleasures.
As the Year Winds Down
As the year winds down
memories flutter in the breeze
like forgotten leaves
darting and spinning
along the park grass.
The hopeful start has met
reality.
The aspirations have,
once again,
collided with human frailty.
The daily news has regurgitated
another 12 months
of human foolishness,
vanity, greed, lust and anger,
with only the odd spark of hope
leaping momentarily –
a glow of life in a dark morass.
A kindly gesture,
a noble deed,
a generous gift have been witnessed
here and there;
Alerting hope and future.
As each year passes,
a certainty grows,
whether in my life or death
the Messiah will come again.
The cycle will stop.
Eternity will begin.
Categories: christian, Christianity, Devotional, Poem, poetry, Reflections
Tags: Poem, poems, poetry
Leave a comment
Nativity on the Front Porch
The Nativity stable,
a bale of hay
and a crib
sit on the front porch.
They have had their use.
The local schools have
sung their carols with youthful voices
and re-enacted the
Bible story
with a real live baby!
The church has performed its
obligatory “Carols” service.
And now the Xmas objects
sit,
waiting
to be stored in the garage
for another year.
Hidden beyond
A story,
A medieval carol,
Children playing angels, Joseph and Mary,
with tea towels and sheets,
and a stable made of scrap wood, is
an eternal miracle,
Of a life lived.
Daily.
Weekly.
Constantly.
Celebrating
the child/man/God
who lives still
through those who believe.
Revealing Christmas
as an enduring living
celebration of King
and His Kingdom.
Still, the stable sits
waiting
for the next innocent “Mary and Joseph”
for next year’s pageant,
and the next …
until the King returns.
a bale of hay
and a crib
sit on the front porch.
They have had their use.
The local schools have
sung their carols with youthful voices
and re-enacted the
Bible story
with a real live baby!
The church has performed its
obligatory “Carols” service.
And now the Xmas objects
sit,
waiting
to be stored in the garage
for another year.
Hidden beyond
A story,
A medieval carol,
Children playing angels, Joseph and Mary,
with tea towels and sheets,
and a stable made of scrap wood, is
an eternal miracle,
Of a life lived.
Daily.
Weekly.
Constantly.
Celebrating
the child/man/God
who lives still
through those who believe.
Revealing Christmas
as an enduring living
celebration of King
and His Kingdom.
Still, the stable sits
waiting
for the next innocent “Mary and Joseph”
for next year’s pageant,
and the next …
until the King returns.
Categories: christian, Christianity, Devotional, Poem, poetry
Tags: Christian, Christianity, Devotion, Faith, Poem, poems, poetry
Leave a comment
The Long Drive
Automatically turn the key.
Engine thrums to life.
Slowly edge out
onto the street.
The journey begins
but the real trip
is in my head.
What shall I say or ask?
Will conversation flow?
Will recognition flicker …
or fade?
The drive proceeds
and miles flow past,
but my brain chugs
hesitantly in first.
Thoughts rattle and bump.
Ideas rev and slow.
Fears rotate endlessly.
Will anybody be at home?
Prevenient Grace
Relentlessly,
chasing and pursuing.
Leaving no stone unturned,
You chased me and
hounded me.
Still, no stone unturned,
no thought un-pricked,
no glory in nature unspoken.
I ran,
but you ran faster,
I twisted and turned,
but you did it quicker.
I hufffed and puffed,
but you
were boundless,
unstinting.
And then,
I thought,
foolishly,
that I had found you.
But you
in hymnal words
“found me!”
Categories: christian, Christianity, Devotional, Faith, Poem, poetry
Tags: Christian, Christianity, Devotion, Faith, Poem, poems, poetry
Leave a comment
A Visit
Lids drooping,
eyes glazed
wandering lazily
unfocussed
around the room.
The words are clear
but not the meaning.
Ideas float between
reality and fantasy
and back again.
Memories
and people from the past
leap into the present.
The present fades.
Joys and sorrows
true and imagined
struggle for presence.
A fist clamped in frustration,
the face contorts
and the eyes narrow
but that memory,
that fact,
that important point
refuses to come.
The eyes wander lazily
again.
But this I know
and hold firm
that the heart and soul
behind those fading eyes
are in His hands!
Categories: christian, Christianity, Devotional, Faith, Poem, poetry
Tags: Christian, Christianity, Devotion, Faith, Poem, poems, poetry
Leave a comment
Advent – the joy of expectation
Advent
Coming and becoming.
Anticipating
and hoping.
Longing and
Rejoicing.
The ancient Words,
Promises
and pledges
Coming to Life –
Eternal Life.
The salvation plan
winding through
history and people,
kings and peasants,
obedience and rebellion.
Dim distant Covenant shadows
Given breath
and Voice
in starlit Bethlehem.
God made flesh.
Humanity offered life.
Categories: Advent, christian, Christianity, Devotional, Faith, Poem, poetry, The Christmas Poems
Tags: Christian, Christianity, Devotion, Faith, Poem, poems, poetry
3 Comments
Travels from Ur 