Holding Us Together

From Psalm 25:4-5:  “Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths.  Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long.”

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Looking to God above

Reading His Holy Book

Holding us together

Opening life’s guidebook

 

Witnessing Father’s hands

Creating and molding

Holding us together

Seeing lives unfolding

 

Abiding in Lord’s faith

Building each step with trust

Holding us together

Escaping evil’s lust

 

Searching for God’s footprints

Discovering His love

Holding us together

Finding mercy above

 

Praying to our Father

Knowing He always hears

Holding us together

Overcoming heart’s fears

 

Following Lord’s teachings

Accepting divine grace

Holding us together

Leading to heaven’s place

 

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From Psalm 25:20-21:  “O guard my life, and deliver me; do not let me be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.  May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you.”

Encouraging Times (Haiku Series #174)

Daily Workout

Lighten up life’s load

With joy-filled exercises—

One laugh at a time

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Harmony’s Navigation

No ship divided

Can survive life’s story seas—

Seek calmer waters

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Journey’s Maturity

Learning from mistakes

Life’s positive stepping-stones—

Adventures in growth

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Monday’s Memories: A Mother’s Light

[From January, 2020]  This poem is written to honor one of my daughters in Montana.  She celebrates a birthday this week with her husband and three children.  May God continue to fill her home with His blessings.  

girl writing on the paper photograph

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A mother’s heart fills the world with light

Born on a winter day, her life takes flight

 

Her loving and caring mother nurtures each day

Providing a Godly witness, with richness to say

 

God fills this young girl’s life with amazing gifts

Watching her exciting life mature, never adrift

 

God prepares a woman to be an attentive mother

Gathering life’s essentials, she is like none other

 

Christ walks at her side, creating genuine smiles

Feeling His presence, her life goes the extra mile

 

A young man catches her discerning eye with love

Unifying this couple, under blue skies from above

 

Their lives moving forward, with a balanced pace

Witnessing marriage and family, God as its base

 

This mother through it all, feels God waiting nearby

Striding ahead, her Lord’s Word glorifying the “why”

 

With each generation, a mother shares her light

Inspiring her children, to grow under God’s sight

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From Isaiah 60:1:  “Arise, shine; for Your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.”

Hope in Darkness

From Daniel 12:1-3:  “At that time Michael, the great prince, the protector of your people, shall arise.  There shall be a time of anguish, such as has never occurred since nations first came into existence.  But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book.  Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.  Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.”

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Darkness invades man’s world

Painful times filled with loss

Perilous tragedies

Yet, hope calls from one Cross

 

Shattering brokenness

Heartache knowing no end

Grieving trauma scalds hearts

Yet, hope shall never bend

 

Prophets carry message

Few bothering to hear

Lasting shame and contempt

Yet, hope’s time coming near

 

God’s promises hold truth

Times of anguish shall fade

Deliverance knocking

Hope in darkness, now paid

 

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From Isaiah 9:6:  “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Destiny Unknown

Everyday heroes share the spirit of many as Ukrainian citizens deal with the daily burden of war.  Taken from recent news and photos, many images fill the following verses.  

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Flood of refugees

Fleeing their homeland

Agony fills hearts

Life’s movements unplanned

 

Others staying behind

Daily grind consumes

Helping in war’s effort

Trauma always looms

 

Lives turned upside down

Seeing each child’s face

What future beholds?

Hope’s welcoming place

 

Every day breathes

Transforming each life

Anguish in real time

Never-ending strife

 

Air raid sirens blare

Witnessing war’s tides

Overwhelming scene

Stress never subsides

 

Women and children

Facing world alone

Husbands serve in war

Destiny unknown

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Life’s Journey (Elfchen Series #96)

Divine Solution

Life’s

Puzzle pieces

Scattered and missing

Grace recovers through love

Forgiveness

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Divine Opportunity

Life’s

Lasting treasures

Waiting in Eternity

Heart focused on God

Transformation

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Divine Nutrition

Life’s

Empty void

Spirit reaches within

Nourishing Bread of Life

Empowerment

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This series of poems (written in the German-inspired style of Elfchen or Elevenie) shares a total of eleven words in each poem, with a sequence by line of one, two, three, four, and one words.

Faux Prosperity

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Some people’s thinking

Prosperity’s wealth

Filled with gold’s treasures

Money brings good health

 

Overflowing grift

Falsehoods flooding minds

Filled with finances

Greed poisons and blinds

 

Almighty dollars

Ignoring true cost

Riches tumble down

Future fills with frost

 

Character flounders

Integrity fades

Growing evil breathes

Lifetime’s failing grade

 

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Body of Christ

From the words of American pastor and Christian teacher, Charles Stanley:  “The body of Christ–also know as the Church–is made up of all who believe in Jesus.”

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Body of Christ

Filled with believers

Worshipping Him

Humble receivers

 

Head of God’s church

Lord Jesus Christ reigns

Following Him

Grace eases our pains

 

Faith’s salvation

Active Christian life

Breathing Gospel

Peace lives without strife

 

Boldly walking

As Christ’s faithful feet

Upholding love

Divine message greets

 

Believers march

Trust guides life’s mandate

Spreading Good News

Grace equips our fate

  

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From Ephesians 4:15-16:  “But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.”

Writer’s Vision (Haiku Series #173)

Keeping It Simple

World’s complexity

Simplicity seeks appeal—

Enters writer’s mind

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Responding with Love

Each crafted arrow

Filling this writer’s quiver—

Lasting prose awaits

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Crafting Melody’s Sonnet

Enlightened verses

Expressions of flowing waves—

Poet captures life

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Monday Memories: Man from Galilee

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Who is this man from Galilee?

 

Born on a cloudless, starry night

No rooms available at the inn

A feed box becomes His bed

 

Holy Spirit brings forth this child

Virgin Mary becomes His loving mother

Humble beginning for Christ the King

 

Nation of Israel burdened by hopelessness

Oppressed under cruel, harsh Roman rule

Waiting for their God fulfilling Messiah

 

Little do the people really know

God has arrived in their midst

Bringing a way to eternal Salvation

 

Who is this man from Galilee?

 

Mary and Joseph care for Immanuel

Angels of God watch over all

Providing wise counsel through Joseph’s dream

 

Sending the family to Egypt’s safety

Avoiding Herod’s bloody and inhumane wrath

Fulfilling Scripture, God calls His Son

 

Returning home from the Egyptian lands

A dutiful boy becomes a Nazarene

Learning the worthy trade of carpentry

 

At twelve, He visits Jerusalem’s temple

Amazing all with His Godly perspectives

Spending time in His Father’s House

 

Who is this man from Galilee?

 

Baptized by John at the Jordan

Spending forty days and nights alone

Tempted by the evil one’s craftiness

 

Facing temptations like any of us

Overcoming and banishing each of them

Materialism, hedonism, and egoism mean nothing

 

This Nazarene man moves to Galilee

Beginning His ministry with a purpose

Calling out to twelve imperfect men

 

Take up your cross, follow Me!

God’s Word becomes bread of life

Disciples now fish for lost people

 

Who is this man from Galilee?

 

Reaching out to forsaken, sinful people

Performing miracles, left and then right

Preaching the Sermon on the Mount

 

Turning simple water into wedding wine

Healing the sick and the lame

All signs of His glory with God

 

Feeding the 5,000 seems truly impossible

Walking on water before Peter’s eyes

Few can imagine His ultimate fate

 

Eyes and ears closed and unaware

This man called Jesus brings light

On Resurrection Day, fulfilling God’s promise

 

The world now knows Jesus Christ!

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