- Sixteen
He’s only sixteen,
And completely unprepared for life.
So was I. I had no idea what it was like.
But that’s ok. He’ll live it anyway. And so have I.
Surely he’ll break up and flounder.
And maybe he’ll get “right”.
I don’t know if I’ve ever done that.
But that’s ok. I live it anyway.
And he will too.
And it is the best we have to give.
And when we love each other, that’s still something.
E439 - 0m - Apr 30, 2024 - Where Do They Land?
Hot air balloons hovering over the city.
I wonder where they land.
Somewhere. And I don’t understand
How they do that. But they do.
I am like a balloon
Now that I think about it.
E438 - 0m - Apr 30, 2024 - Private Property
It's private property, they say.
That’s right for now. For now,
It’s in your power to endlessly seek gain
Without a thought of those who have no place.
But the tables are about to turn everlastingly
In the favor of those whose home
Is not of this world.
E437 - 0m - Apr 28, 2024 - The Meaning of Work Harder
I always thought, when people said “work harder”
That they meant to work faster,
To be more busy,
More rushed.
Hustle is the word that comes to mind.
And I’ve never been good at that.
I struggle to sustain it
Since it so often comes with a kind of anxiety
As if I am making up for an inherent deficit.
But I have found a new meaning for “work harder”:
Work more consistently, without stopping, overthinking, or getting distracted
As long as it takes, until the project is completed.
I find this definition to be far more useful.
It is extremely effective for getting things done
And much more peaceful than what I thought they meant.
E436 - 0m - Apr 27, 2024 - Reno
I once heard that strangers who wandered into Sodom
Were robbed, beaten, sometimes raped, and then cast out.
I'm not sure if that's completely true, but if so,
No wonder such a city met with fire from the skies.
I once heard from a homeless person
That the hardest city to survive in
Was the second-largest city
In the state that makes its living
From gambling and prostitution.
Lure them in, take their virtue and their money,
Leave them broken, then spit them out,
Chase them away, from the sight of those
Who make their living on the process.
And I can't help but think that fire waits
To pour itself down on such a place.
E435 - 0m - Apr 26, 2024 - Quietly Continuing
There seems to be power in quietly continuing
After others have retired from the game.
It is not the kind of power that will save your soul.
But it is good for getting ahead when you’ve fallen behind
So long as you have shed unnecessary incumbrances
And embraced simplicity and frugality.
E434 - 0m - Apr 25, 2024 - Coming to Me
They are coming to me
From the far reaches of heaven.
So that I needn’t seek or reach.
E433 - 0m - Apr 24, 2024 - Farmhouse at End of Day
This old house, weathered and gray,
Sits hunched around us,
With its windmill
That no longer spins,
And its fallow fields surrounding.
And we sit, retired, in the porch swing,
Rocking ever after,
Grateful for the ruin of that
Which once we thought was so important.
And the children watch with wide eyes
From the parlor window,
And wonder at the love
That once they thought had died
But that now they plainly see
To their amazement
Has only begun.
E432 - 0m - Apr 23, 2024 - His Way
Perhaps the reason that He feeds us day by day
Meal by meal, moment by moment,
Is that he wants to see us more often.
He wants to have the interaction,
To rejoice in the exchange.
Me too. I like to serve out tidbits day by day,
Meal by meal, morsel by morsel.
I like to see you here,
To feel the warmth of your embrace.
But the world seems to have the attitude of
“Let’s take care of the needy in large waves
Let’s stock them up and streamline the process.
Let’s have less contact, less interaction,
But give them more stuff in the exchange.
That’s good if the goal is to move more stuff.
But I think I like His way the better.
E431 - 0m - Apr 22, 2024 - Walk With Me
Can you walk with me in the lonely way?
I hope so, because I miss you.
E430 - 0m - Apr 21, 2024 - Like Planets
The circle turns round and round.
The soul of man is drawn toward God
Then falls into decay. And round and round,
And up and down it turns, but not quite.
It is more like the orbit of planets around a sun,
Not a perfect circle, but an imperfect eliptical pattern.
Out it flys away from the souce of life
And into the cold unfeeling void.
Then at it’s outward limit
It turns back toward
The source of life
Hurdled by the need for warmth
And draws as close as it can get without
Being burned in the brightness of the sun’s glory.
And for a season they rejoice in each other.
Until the planet, once again, feels the need
To wander far from home
And gain experience.
And round and round it goes.
And such is the journey of the soul.
We like to think that it is an all an upward path to glory.
But we forget that even He who rose to be
On the right hand of The Eternal
First had to wander far
Into the depths
Of the cold black night, an there be forsaken by the warmth
Before He was able to make his way back home.
E429 - 1m - Apr 20, 2024 - The Tortoise or the Hare or...
The tortoise and the hare,
It’s a story that I heard
From a child.
And I have tried both.
I have raced for the finish line.
And I have done my best to be steady
In the endless pursuit of more.
But the race itself seems to imply
That what I have is not enough,
That I must rely upon my wits,
My inward tortoise or my hare.
But what if I am already rich
And do not need the prize?
What if it’s enough
To be rich inside my mind?
And what if every little thing I need
An unseen hand, had promised to supply.
Well, then that would be a different story, wouldn’t it.
E428 - 0m - Apr 19, 2024 - People Gather
It’s strange to see how people gather.
Just a few miles away,
Homelessness is everywhere.
And every store has a security guard.
And here, in the suburb, there aren’t any,
Homeless people that is, or security guards.
And I don’t know what to say about that.
It’s just an observation.
And yet, it’s also a comfort that if I choose
I can put some space between myself and the world
Where I have to constantly think about things being stolen
Or where to park because they patrol the parking lots at night.
But it also means that I must venture out
If I desire to be touched by those
Who are different than myself.
E427 - 0m - Apr 18, 2024 - I Heard You Call
You reached out to me today in a song,
Though you didn’t know you did.
And I heard the sound
And answered,
Though you couldn’t hear it,
Or perhaps you did,
And answered on the wind.
And perhaps I will hear the sound of your reply
One day, in a song, or in the way a leaf blows in the wind.
And round and round we call, round and round,
Until finally we come back home
To the very sound
Of each other’s voices.
Won’t that be well? Yes.
That will be well with us both.
God give me patience for the day.
E426 - 0m - Apr 17, 2024 - It's Time
I saw you where the sky meets the horizon,
A flash of unexpected perfect light.
And it colored my morning
In the beauty that is only you.
And I realized to my delight
That we were not so far away
From each other as we thought.
And now I sit as patiently as I can
Awaiting the rising of your essence
Into the middle of my sky. How I long
For your face to shine down upon me,
Sweet child of my delight, estranged,
But ever in my heart. It’s you for whom
I have been waiting. And I can barely breath
For anticipation. But take your time. Rise, rise,
Slowly, and only by your own intent.
For I have been up waiting,
Waiting when the storm clouds gathered,
And the terrors gave you fright.
Yes I have kept my vigil
Through the darkness of the night.
And finally, after all these years, it’s time.
E425 - 1m - Apr 16, 2024 - Reformation
Reformation doesn’t come by complaining
About a perceived misallocation of means.
True reformation begins in the heart.
It is an inward motion, a conviction
That one's way of being needs to change,
Which inevitably results in a reallocation of means,
The means of the individual.
E424 - 0m - Apr 15, 2024 - I See Family
Looking forward, I see family, the family of God
Knit together with the chords of love and sacrifice,
And the hope of what we were before we fell.
And the One who knows sheds the sacred comfort
Through grace upon all those who turn to Him,
And through knowledge to some few
Who sacrifice in similitude
Of Him.
E423 - 0m - Apr 14, 2024 - The Right Way
The idea of the “right way” often causes us to miss the movement
And in the movement we have life, the life that moves
At the breath of that silent voice that speaks
In whispers, out of the unseen place.
So that, the right way is the way
That hears and moves
And changes,
Humbling bending, blowing, finding life
In the most unexpected places.
John 3:7-8 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
E422 - 0m - Apr 13, 2024 - A Game That We Can Win
When I was young, I used to pray the way I wish,
But I no longer care to play games I cannot win.
Instead, I skip ahead to the final thing I hope for.
I imagine the end result clearly as if
It has already happened
And give thanks.
And if
There swells within my bosom
That unmistakable joy of confirmation,
I simply believe that it will be so.
If it does not, I let it go.
It is a way to stop trifling with God
And begin the work of aligning our will with His.
E421 - 0m - Apr 12, 2024 - Eyes Forward
Keep your eyes forward.
Don’t look back.
Some are lost in a cause.
And others can’t forgive.
But you will not help them
By pretending that darkness is light.
All the same, be kind.
Kindness is part of the way.
And toward what, toward what?
Toward the light that shines out of the Holy Place.
E420 - 0m - Apr 11, 2024