Tag: poetry
-
All Saints Day
I light the candleremembering honoring missingJohnnyJackBettyJohnFayeTisaAdelaideOwenMikeRoyDon.I light the candle and seemyself in the dancing flame –the simmering embers of griefthe warmth of remembered lovethe sizzling burn of angerat Death, whoTakesTakesTakesTakesTakesTakesTakesTakesTakesTakesTakes.So I light the candle and stare down Death.I will not flicker or flinch or fade.For the light shines in the darkness,Life is kindled from Death,and…
-
You, Ex Nihilo
What surprises me most about love is how uncomfortable and risky it can be. While it fills us with the heady feelings of safety and joy and delight, it simultaneously pushes us beyond our comfort zones, beyond what we thought feasible, beyond what we dared expect of ourselves, beyond our bruised and tender “edges”. Love…
-
How To Find Your Purpose: A Poem
Your life is bigger than you think. Stretching arms wide as its Maker, it strains to hold the abundance of God within you. You say you seek purpose. I say: seek the living imprints of God on your soul, and you’ll find what you need. Look for slivers of love and passion, justice and longing,…
-
How Do You Draw God?
I can’t shake this poem from Meister Eckhart. How many of our coloring books depict a clucking “tsk tsk” tongue, below beady eyes that can’t hide their disappointment? How many pages are scribbled with the red of hatred or vengeance or scorn? How many are faintly marked by the cool blues of distance and the…
-
You Ask Me What A Calling Feels Like
It’s irritating. A calling will sound like the beep-beep beep-beep you faintly hear in your sleep-drowsied dreams. At first you will be dimly aware of its alarming persistence, until slowly, slowly, maybe then with a start you’ll curse the break of day. That is to say, it’s unpleasant, a calling, like a fly, buzzing around…
-
On the Anniversary of Unexpected Death (or, Grief Complicated)
For Mike The world has spun for a whole year without you. It’s relentless, the way life keeps going on and on and on, not stopping for a breath, a death, a good cry, a moment of reflection, a goodbye before it is too late. And on this day – one year later – I…
-
On Disassembling Jesus’ House
A Reflection on Mark 2:1-12 Jesus, you looked with compassion on the men who disassembled the roof of your home to bring their paralyzed friend before you. They tore through the structure that kept you protected from the rain, sheltered from the hot sun. The hole they made – big enough to fit a man…
-
I Have Calmed and Quieted My Soul (Psalm 131)
Abba Father, like my girl quietly playing with her toys while I sit nearby book in my lap, and she looks up at me, eyes alight with wonder, crying, “Look, mama!” wanting me to see the spectacular discovery before her of how colors of clay blend in her kneading hands – and I smile and…
-
Love Unbound: A Glimpse into Mary of Bethany
I don’t often share posts about my thoughts on Scripture, but Mary of Bethany has captured my imagination this week and I felt compelled to share her story. I am intrigued by the outrageous display of affection she lavished upon Jesus in John 12:1-8. This is an easy story to gloss over, to write-off as…
-
What Does Love Look Like? (A Maundy Thursday Poem)
What does love look like? Like water spilling onto the floor as Jesus dipped his hands into the basin and wiped the dirt from his disciples’ calloused feet. Love is a messy business. I can see them – the twelve disciples, with their shifty eyes, sweating palms, nervous laughs – what in the world is…