Depending
Upon Father
Guiding light embraced
Faith’s trusted path rebuilt
Hope
Rescued
By Father
Hearing morning’s cry
Forgiveness removes heavy burdens
Peace
Accepting
Father’s grace
Nourishing daily strength
Filled with infinite love
Joy
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.
From Exodus 17:1-2: “The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. So they quarreled with Moses and said, ‘Give us water to drink.'”
Surrounded by wilderness
God’s people seek hope’s waters
Responding with His goodness
Thirst quenched in sons and daughters
Shepherd’s eternal presence
His flock never left alone
Lifting eyes toward heavens
Trust in God, faith’s fabric sewn
Sinful stones must be softened
Hunger lingers tomorrow
Calling all to repentance
Mercy’s waters always flow
God ignites fire of judgment
Faith’s journey seeks lighted way
Praying for obedience
Wayward steps find grace this day
Wilderness tests man’s resolve
Enemy’s darkest shadows
Following Christ, our Savior
Destination of peace glows
From Psalm 95:6-7: “Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for He is our God and we are the people of His pasture, the flock under His care.”
Another uplifting story
Kindness writing every word
Sharing humble hearts at peace
Celebrating all that’s heard
Local heroes stepping forward
Kindness speaking from each heart
Making each small difference
Shaping city’s fresh restart
Joy mixed throughout every voice
Kindness enhances life’s strengths
Offering each breath of grace
Bringing hope within arm’s length
Love deepens each interaction
Kindness blesses day’s outreach
Encouraging tomorrow
Softening with words that teach
From John 3:16-17: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through Him.”
Witnessing distant light
Christ in Bethlehem born
Journey makes way toward cross
Thorns of man’s transgressions worn
Raising light, seeing grace
Father’s love bears His Son
Calvary moves from shadows
Hope’s fulfillment shall be done
Marking truth’s difference
Faith’s Messiah shows up
Destiny’s light serves pardons
Mercy flows from Heaven’s cup
Leaving days of darkness
God’s blueprint marks Christ’s way
Man’s sinful spirit transformed
Light nourishes peace each day
Exchanging world’s sorrows
Savior’s forgiving light
Every iniquity paid
Redemption’s dynamic flight
From John 3:19-21: “And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”
From Isaiah 58:2: “Yet day after day they seek Me and delight to know My ways, as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God; they ask of Me righteous judgments; they want God on their side.”
With every sunrise
Seeking to know God’s ways
Beholding His righteousness
Drawing closer to Him each day
Until setting sun
Tasting God’s living bread
Sharing His grace with others
Sewing faith’s fabric with each thread
Throughout each night
Knowing God always near
Mercy rises in darkness
Trusting as His love always steers
Early dawn wakens
Fulfilling God’s glory
Witnessing His blessed light
Writing faith’s renewing story
Sabbath brings delight
Reading God’s divine Word
Praising His Holy presence
Finding peace with everything heard
From Isaiah 58:9: “Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’“
From Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.”
Daily interactions
Shared through Father’s grace
Trusting His guidance
Patience rises to embrace
Bountiful blessings
Reaped from Father’s love
Trusting His outlook
Hope’s voice descends from above
Count on each promise
Heard in Father’s Word
Trusting His mercy
Heaven’s peace shares its password
Eternity’s breath
Shaped from Father’s grace
Trusting His boldness
Faith’s journey strengthens its pace
Spirit’s nourishment
Stirred with Father’s love
Tasting His sunrise
Compassion fed from above
Navigation’s light
Fueled through Father’s Word
Trusting His vision
North Star forever unblurred
From Proverbs 2:9-10: “Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path, for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.”
The Christian gospel is a summons to peace, calling for justice beyond anger, mercy beyond justice, forgiveness beyond mercy, love beyond forgiveness.
From Colossians 1:13-14: “He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
Wendell Berry (born 1934) is an American novelist and poet. Much of his writing embraces the goodness of protecting our environment and preserving agriculture’s way of life.
Community’s landscape
Overflowing with needs
Steps of kindness gather
Warming with grace that feeds
Invisible to most
Sowing with heavens’ love
Seeds of kindness planted
Sharing peace from above
Hope arrives every day
Connecting with traction
Breath of kindness travels
Harvesting each action
Slowly outlook changes
Nourishing so many
Light of kindness nurtured
Forwarding with plenty
One week, one day, one hour
Volunteering mends hearts
Proof of kindness growing
Doing its faithful part
With Jesus living in our hearts, we can experience heaven on the way to heaven.
From Romans 14:17: “For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
David Jeremiah (born 1941) is an American pastor and Christian author.
The great antidote to anxiety is to come to God in prayer. We are to pray about everything. Nothing is too big for Him to handle, and nothing is too small to escape His attention.
From Philippians 4:6-7: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Jerry Bridges (1929-2016) was an American Christian author and speaker. In his autobiography, God Took Me by the Hand, Jerry said, “When I was seventeen years old, it seemed as if God took me by the hand and said, ‘Come with Me.’ And for more than sixty-five years, God has, as it were, continued to hold my hand and lead me in the path He has marked out for me.”
Big Sky Buckeye 