Suffering

Creative decay happens...
A mammoth of the forest falls
A path for sizzling sunlight appears
Tender shoots respond, grow,
Feed on the fallen, recycling the years.

Creative grief looms...
A mountainous emotion zooms
Testing
Arresting the will
But, in the end, stilled
Perseverance crests the hill.

Creative worry calls...
Bottomless stress
Unsettledness
Wall of despair, ball of dismay
A puzzle with pieces missing, mislaid
Much can be gained from the angst, the rune
Humbled, refocused, head bowed, heart tuned.

One evening recently a dear friend and I sat talking about the fact that though she was praying and seeking God for clear direction, she seemed to receive no answer and couldn’t “see” the way she was supposed to go. As I listened to her, it became clear to me (isn’t it always easier to see/hear God’s direction for someone else than for ourselves?) that God had her exactly where she was for a specific purpose. She was unable to see where God wanted her to go next because He had called her to hide (and rejoice!) for a season under the shadow of His wings.

And can it be
The canopy of God's blessings
Extends out to me,
Even me.

And just so likewise
The keen of His eyes
Sees through my disguise,
Keen eyes.

The kernel of faith
Delivered, displaces
A wandering waif,
Faith seed.

Now mornings are full
As this sauntering fool
Finds The Way is a Ray
That bleeds.

An awesome expanse by unrighteous unrippled
Senseless in sense that senses can't pry
The secrets
Souls defenseless, crippled
Crumple, defeated and fate decry.

Alpha, Omega
First and Last,
Thunderblast that bade creation,
Floats on wind through prodigal nations
Calling to all in whispering voice
Rustling the leaves where branches a choice.

Some will attend this internal cue
In transcension of senses, songs, pews,
Discerning how much is merely a ruse
A touch is reborn, the tactile eschewed.

Taste now the freedom of soul's release,
Soak in the sights of straightened streets,
Feel smooth gold that greet's the feet
So recently washed by Mild and Meek.

Smell the scent of burial garb
Discarded, hear chants of merry mob
Heartily singing 'round pearly gates,

He gives hope to the hopeless
Life to the lifeless
Sight to the blind

Flight to the wingless
Might to the kingless
Keys to the kind

Lamps to the mired
Camps to the tired
A Rock to the weak

Maps to the lost
Naps to the tossed
Hats off to the meek.

He takes sin from the silty
Grime from the guilty
Death from the doomed

Pain from the pining
Dearth from the dining
Reign from the tomb

Load from the laden
Grief from the slated
For Reaper's repast

God giveth, God taketh,
The faithful He staketh,
His laugh will be last.

Slippery hope
Snaking horizon
Passionately pursued
Difficult to hold.

If caught...what joy!
New vision! New life!
Vitality bursts
Quenches all thirsts.

But still, in feast,
A niggling doubt,
Will wriggling hope
Abruptly leave?

Hearts afire
Often doused
When death and loss
Their loved ones cleave.

Hope cocooned
Kept for this time
Released by incisions
Fate's cuts unkind.

It splits the horizon
That dams Life from death
Floods desert eyes
With visions of bliss.

No longer slippery
Or threatened by loss
This Hope is alive
Though death exhaust.

Delight yourself in the Lord;
and He will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord,
Trust also in Him,
and He will do it. Psalm 37:4-5

This verse is embedded in a chapter which differs from the over all scope we find in the Book of Psalms, for it mentions nothing of prayer or praise. But it is all instruction; it's " Mesihil – a teaching Psalm."

It's back drop is the prosperity of the wicked and the disgrace of the righteous, a type of situation where relationships are truly tested, "Shall I do as the Romans do or shall I stand alone and trust God?" (Read -- Ps. 73)

We must always remember it's only on the field of adversity that the degree of one's faith or love is proven.

A number of years ago, I was enlightened to the motivating factor, which transformed a tenant of a run down apartment into a successful businessman, with a vast empire of land holdings. He informed me that his first landlord made his life so miserable, that he vowed to himself to never rent another piece of property. Thus, began his prosperous career in the real estate business.

Where the average person would cower at this overbearing thorn in the flesh, this man possessed the fortitude to use the negative arrogance energy of his first and last landlord to propel him to top of the heap.