A person filled with gumption doesn’t sit around, dissipating and stewing about things. He’s at the front of the train of his own awareness, watching to see what’s up the track and meeting it when it comes.
From Psalm 5:8: “Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before me.”
When climbing a mountain, you get further away from earth and closer to yourself.
Fear of change is like standing under a hot shower and knowing the moment you’ll turn it off you’ll be freezing cold.
Gathering new strength
Recalling past challenges—
Tomorrow waiting
Difficult moments
Face-to-face conversation—
Needing loyal friends
Each tribe walks its path
Ignoring one another—
Everyone lost
Breathing in silence
Poverty living
Suffocating life
Empty, ungiving
Living with little
Sadly, no escape
Seeing no future
Desolate landscape
Bonding together
Despite life’s darkness
Overcoming much
Home lives with starkness
Searching, any job
Family needs food
Tasting emptiness
Life feeling so skewed
Thinking of future
Numbing journey calls
Shattering each dream
Poverty’s pitfalls
Facing each crisis
Today’s worries leave
Finding work again
Hope now smiles, believe
Different levels of poverty strike the world everywhere. Some areas face more daunting challenges than others. Here are a few sobering statistics:
Life consumes ups and downs
Warm smiles give way to frowns
One moment pours with joy
Another will annoy
Mountaintop songs swell hearts
Dark valleys tear apart
Tonight’s thunderstorms boom
Tomorrow catches gloom
Miles bridge life’s paradox
Some shine, others break glass
Life’s cycle never halts
Dancing to steady waltz
Time takes different road
Living by rhythmic code
Expectations grin back
Days no longer look black
Morning rain shares rainbow
Outlook blossoms and glows
Love filling empty hearts
Today brings fresh restart
Hourglass never drains out
Happiness transforms drought
Life consumes ups and downs
Now sowing fertile grounds
Through our trials, God works powerfully within us to do more than we can perceive or imagine.
From Ephesians 3:20-21: “Now to Him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
Facing disappointment for many months and more
Feeling frustration and despair starting to soar
Realizing that this journey needs a mid-course correction
Pointing an unsteady compass in a totally new direction
Tiring from how many others have treated thee in the past
Looking forward to a future that brings happiness at last
Beating up thyself for any past, painful mistakes
Needing renewed courage for a new life to make
Knowing that this life needs a helping hand
Wanting to scan for a nurturing place to land
Reaching out comes the helping hand of thy God
Sending forth His grace to be thy staff and rod
Shielding eyes from brightest sun at a new dawn
Walking forward with energy that’s never gone
Republishing this poem from February, 2019, brings out a theme many of us have experienced in our past. Take a moment today and look back at your life’s progress going forward from past challenges.
Ever shifting sands
Challenge life’s steady journey—
Changing paradigms
New day, new focus
Meeting today’s challenges—
Feeling satisfied
Mystery waiting
Hidden in darkest corner—
Flashlight discovers
What matters most is how well you walk through fire.
If you’re going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don’t even start.
Charles Bukowski (1920-1994) is a German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer. His prolific writing produced over 45 books of poetry and prose, and much of his writing spoke to the despairing urban conditions of the downtrodden.
Every path hath a puddle.
The shortest answer is doing.
Big Sky Buckeye 