Dawn’s inspiration
Creator’s masterful truth—
Every unique breath
Beloved contrast
Landscape’s eternal bloodstream—
Ancient, yet unborn
Boundless spirit thrives
Tiniest ember of life—
Tomorrow wakens
Words used every day
Little or much to say
Used in positive ways
Conveying life’s essays
Mindful, powerful voices
Daily, humble choices
Impacting other lives
Celebrate with high fives
Disciplined purpose speaks
Positivity seeks
Sharing tender kindness
Truthful, without blindness
Careful to help and heal
Offering a square deal
Words paying it forward
True and straightforward
Thoughtful expressions said
Weaving with tender thread
Replace evil with good
Words plain and understood
Honest lyrics in song
Carried through all day long
Life unfolds from our text
Watchful where words go next
This poem was written several days before January 6, 2021. Its intention was to praise and encourage the positive power of words. The events taking place in Washington, DC on January 6 showed the negative power of words. How will our future words speak?
Originally published January, 2021.
From Psalm 16:1-2: “Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.'”
Facing uncertainty
More questions than actions
Reaching out to Father
Love’s trusted interactions
Harboring inner doubts
Weakened by rising tides
Praying now to Father
Mercy brings answers to guide
Choosing to always trust
Assurance speaks to heart
Listening to Father
Grace nourishing faith’s fresh start
Tasting heavenly joy
Life’s outlook now renewed
Receiving from Father
Page turned, filled with gratitude
Rejoicing in hope’s light
Righteous path before thee
Conversing with Father
His peace calms as darkness flees
From Psalm 16:11: “You show me the path of life. In Your presence there is fullness of joy; in Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
Messiah
Speaking truth
Heavenly praises above
Leading believers to Eternity
Joy
Savior
Sharing grace
Light brightens tomorrow
Filling with love’s forgiveness
Hope
Jesus
Offering rest
Mercy shares peace
Bearing heaviest of burdens
Faith
Adding up life’s early years
Endless seasons to walk through
Starting with childhood stories
Adulthood later holds true
Making memories today
Calendar never hurries
Leaving room for innocence
Set aside each day’s worries
Embracing life’s smallest steps
Actions fill each album page
Tapping into time’s fullness
No longer waiting backstage
Believing in tomorrow
Teacher opens up young minds
Encouraging each learner
Lessons share how to be kind
Growing into passing years
Opportunity’s new ways
Brightening with precious hope
Sometimes life resembles play
From 2 Thessalonians 3:3-5: “But the Lord is faithful; He will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one. And we have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you are doing and will go on doing the things that we command. May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.”
Embracing Gospel’s light
Strengthened through trust in our Lord
Faith’s destiny secure
Longing for Heaven’s reward
Proclaiming Scripture’s truth
Encouraged to follow Christ
Faith’s lasting breath fulfilled
Paying with blood sacrificed
Kneeling now in prayer
Dispirited no longer
Presence of light in Christ
Enduring faith grows stronger
Witnessing faithfulness
Redeemed through Good Shepherd’s love
Forgiveness rises up
Transforming saints from above
Setting sun blest with peace
Heartened faith savors Lord’s grace
Confidence fills with joy
Trusting hope’s redeeming place
From Romans 12:12: “Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; persevere in prayer.”
Uncertainty stirs
School bell rings with excitement–
Hello Mister Hink
Listening to tunes
“Please put your device away”—
Back in the saddle
“Hurry Doug, hurry”
Yellow bus driving away—
“My record’s perfect”
From Ephesians 4:31-32: “Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.”
Life’s battered bucket sometimes overflows
Facing daily challenges, too immense
One challenge standing apart from the rest
Using forgiveness seems much too intense
Our righteous Father teaches forgiveness
Extending His mercy through earnest hearts
Breathe every truth in its entirety
Receiving His grace with humble hearts
Take in God’s Word, His Holy Commandments
Burying bitterness, it lifts the heart
Always best to forgive, forget, move on
Beating with freedom’s light, opens the heart
As humans, reacting much too quickly
Expressing heated anger, fixing blame
Slow to forgive, even more to forget
Stepping now with humbleness, drowns the flames
No longer in the enemy’s darkness
Praying the sun does not set on one’s rage
With our Lord’s truth, filling with righteousness
Following God’s way, life writes a new page
From the words of American pastor and Christian author, Jim Cymbala: “Looking back over my life, all I can see is mercy and grace written in large letters everywhere. May God help me have the same kind of heart toward those who wound or offend me.”
Originally published July, 2020.
Each sister, each brother
Walking with Christ, our Lord
Supporting one another
With grace, arriving on board
Faith immersed in Christ’s Word
Trusting always His light
Revealing peace to be heard
Enemy’s darkness takes flight
Christ, faith’s firm foundation
Transforming every stone
Building path to salvation
Filled with hope, never alone
Believers marching on
Following in Christ’s steps
Witnessing Heaven’s fate drawn
Mercy knocks at each doorstep
Each sister, each brother
Sharing Christ’s Living Bread
Accepting one another
Called to serve with truth now fed
God’s
Divine nature
Trusting His spirit
Filling creation’s eternal breath
Reality
God’s
Holy Word
Revealing His character
Teaching from righteous light
Expectations
God’s
Clear vision
Loving His Son
Clothing Christ in flesh
Revelation
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.
Big Sky Buckeye 