Facing life’s challenges
Decisions needing to be made
Stepping with confidence
No longer feeling afraid
Listening to own heart
Negative thoughts fading away
Taking positive steps
No longer leading astray
Flexing new attitude
Tomorrow inviting fresh start
Letting yesterday go
No longer filling sad heart
Leaving darkness behind
Choices finding healthy outlets
Loving new direction
No longer bringing regrets
From Deuteronomy 30:11, 14: “Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away. No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.”
Sowing faith’s seeds
Freeing from sin
Darkness recedes
New life begins
Guiding beyond
Walking with thee
Heavenly bond
Christ sets us free
Living with doubt
Leaving dark past
Grace reaches out
Divine broadcast
Singing with praise
Gospel’s new lease
Faith now ablaze
Bringing Christ’s peace
Bearing life’s woes
Moving each heart
Love always shows
Righteous jumpstart
Mercy abounds
Choosing life now
Seeking high ground
Christ shows us how
From Deuteronomy 30:19-20: “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying Him, and holding fast to Him, for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”
To set our mind on the things of God, we must consistently choose to have the Lord’s viewpoint and reject conformity with the ways of the world.
From Romans 12:2: “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Life comes at us every day
Today’s choices have much to say
Right now, Option A looks quite good
Wishing for luck, knocking on wood
Infinite possibilities
Some become liabilities
One choice navigates life forward
Life seems so straightforward
Another turns life upside-down
Flipping plans into dark ghost town
Daily question: What choice to make?
Tomorrow’s answer now at stake
Opportunities from choices
Watch out for temptation’s voices
Making choices, powerful tool
Please just one, become a jewel
Life’s mistakes searching for feedback
Answers help to keep us on track
Menu of choices fills desires
Lighting up our inherent fires
Near life’s hot stove, always aware
Certain choices may burn, beware
Searching with hands, hearts, and minds
Our next choice, what will it now find?
We make destiny with every turn, every choice.
Know what you want, work to get it, then value it once you have it.
When confronted with a challenge, the committed heart will search for a solution. The undecided heart searches for an escape.
Life itself is a privilege, but to live life to the fullest–well, that is a choice.
You will recognize your own path when you come upon it because you will suddenly have all the energy and imagination you will ever need.
Make sure you visualize what you really want, not what someone else wants for you.
Some people regard discipline as a chore. For me, it is a kind of order that sets me free to fly.
From 2 Timothy 1:6-7: “For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.”
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?
Faith is not a feeling; it is action. It is a willed choice.
From Hebrews 11:1-3: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.”
Elisabeth Elliot (1926-2015) was a Christian author and speaker. She and her husband, Jim, spent time as missionaries in Ecuador.
Big Sky Buckeye 