What can separate us from the Love of God?

What can separate us from the love of God?

Can struggling children
deepening wrinkles
nagging weakness
our human errors
crippling illness
lingering resentments
grieving hearts
poor choices
poorer attitudes
discouragement
inadequacy
addiction
fear
pain
sin
disbelief
death?

No.

Lest we consider
With drawing our hand from His
And backing away
In sorrow or shame -

When He would hold us close. 

Blue sky

I am grateful
For bits of blue
Seen after many days of fierce weather
When the storm breaks, and the heavy woolen banks are willfully thrust aside
a little.

I am grateful
For the brilliant hem of white that rims that sudden opening
And for tangible, visible rays of light that pour forth
From the heavens to the earth
(a glimpse of celestial glory?)
Sending heavenly sustenance. 

Fall leaves

I've read that the changing of the leaves in the fall
has to do with the cessation of oxygen and glucose production
and a corresponding lack of chlorophyll

How unsatisfying

Considering the sun-bleached treetops
maple leaves that burn like the most brilliant summer sunsets
the palest sunshine yellow of the Aspen
Poplar leaves strewn like sun-burnt copper pennies along the sidewalk
The air glowing with borrowed warmth

Fall colors mark the marching of the seasons
revealing, defining and lending perspective
to the darkest woods

It seems to me
that to comfort us ahead of changing, colder days,
God reminds us of the constancy and majesty of the Son. 

The glass, darkly

Those features, too familiar

From habitual daily glare-

Garishly overforcused

Every blemish magnified

 

Oh, those pores

The widening of the nose there

And what fickle child scribbled the lines so?

 

I squint, nose pressed against the darkened glass.

 

Gently, He scoots me back

And flips my mirror.

A wider view-

Brightening,

 

Shows a bit more

Of the journey

And the transformation

Than I could see up close.

 

Foolish and Wise

 

I am both virgins – foolish and wise

No sooner to take one glorious step

Than slip and spill

How can I be

Both faithless and believing in alternating breaths

Knowing what I know?

 

Perfection is not required at this stage

But constancy

Might let me see the wedding feast.

Are we not all beggars?

Are we not all beggars?

A bit of breath and will in dusty form-

One slight creation among worlds of manifested power.

 

Overconfident, we take to lofty heights

And claim kinship with mountain peaks

And when the earth and rock slide

Wrecking our aspirant mansions like sandcastles,

Bruising our inflated senses,

Then we grumble of unfairness.

 

While the Lord, purveyor and creator

Gently blows away the debris

(A sort of heavenly sanding).

And although it stings,

We are cleaner, brighter

Better souls for it.

7 Loaves

 

Emma’s one good pair of school shoes

Sat in the garage

imbued with coal colored sticky dust

from a recent outing

 

She needed shoes for gym

And a few long sleeved shirts

As the leaves are already turning

and the cool air in the morning leaves

the children at the bus stop

stomping their feet and rubbing their arms for warmth

 

But the shoes were the priority, needed for tomorrow.

 

And today, her best friend’s mother

Inspired by the changing weather, cleaned out closets

And called to ask if she could drop off a few things

 

She brought in 7 bags of clothes and shoes.

More than enough, with some to share

 

I thought about how Jesus was able to feed the multitude

With only 7 loaves and fishes

And how today he clothed a little girl (and several of her cousins)

With a similar plentitude

 

It’s astonishing

How often He blesses us with 7 bags

When all we really need is

One pair of shoes. 



Dedicated with love to the Macken family:)  We miss you!

Names

 

Stupid

is no more

an appropriate moniker

for her

than

Flying Squirrel

 

she has nothing to do with

Stupid

 

but

in the telling

and repeating

and berating

somehow

reality slips

 

and suddenly

she finds herself

questioning,

wondering if she knows

her own mind.

 

it’s not a light thing –

this re-naming

 

but an ancient practice

paired with whispered,

reverent tones

and sacred promises.

Abram becomes Abraham

Sarai becomes Sarah

Jacob becomes Israel

 

and that other sort of name

can have no part

in this process. 

The Tempest

The angry noise, the howling wind,

The fearful, growing dissonance -

As thund’ring waves meet thund’ring sky,

A full-fledged storm is coming on.

 

Against the gale my pleas are lost-

Blown, scattered.  Is there none to save?

No quieting?  Thou carest not

If I fall prey to roiling wave?

 

But by the Father set apart,

My echoed cries He hears, He wakes;

And graciously with patience starts

To still the tempest in my heart.

Dissonant Chords

Dissonant Chords

Some musical gifts

Relate to picking the perfect pitch,

Or vibrato virtuosity.

 

What about the gift of

Hearing the dissonant chord?

Riding out the discomfort of it

While the tension builds-

Sitting with the pain.

 

What is it about us that

Rushes resolution

When the score may call for far more interesting harmonies? 

 

Flexibility and growth (musical & physical)

Seem to take a strange combination of

Discipline & submission

 

It takes effort to disbelieve

The stories you tell yourself under duress-

(“I can’t”, and “It’s too hard”)-

And to hold your note against the beats

 

Breathing & visualizing

Lengthening muscles

Progressive cadences -

 

and reveling in

Gloriously sticky chords.

about this blog

This is not a music blog, it's really a poetry blog - at least, that's my intention right now.  But there's some reasoning behind the musical reference.  When I think of dissonant chords, I think of musical experiences of tension or discomfort that sometimes leave one longing for resolution (but that certainly make things more interesting)!  So that is the general theme for the poetry I'll post (at least right now, I will probably change things up as time goes on.)  I realize poetry is a pretty subjective experience, so if you don't like what I post, that's fine with me.  Feel free to leave comments as you like.  I do have to warn you that many of my posts may be spiritual or religious in nature, so if that isn't a topic you are comfortable reading about, you may want to make a virtual U-turn.  I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon), but the views expressed here are mine alone.  Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy the posts!