God's glory

A happy poem for a change. Most of my poems are written when I'm feeling down, to help me sort out what's going on: I do have happy times too, but I'm too busy enjoying them to try to put the feelings into words!

Glory to You my God


Glory to You my God
who made the sun
to burst out upon us
and flood us with light, warmth and cheer!

Glory to You my God
who made the wind
to whistle and roar
and blow away the cobwebs in our minds!

Glory to You my God
who dances on the sunbeams
and whirls round with the wind
for very joy in Your creation!

Glory to You my God for ever and for ever!
19^th Feb. 1993


Picture from Google images http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/550041-what-does-tiger-have-to-do-to-be-back/page__st__60 to You my God

Sunset sky

Sky Reflection

Lord,

Today You made the sky

a reflection of the sea.

I saw it all Lord -

each wave, each ripple,

like tiny creases in the sky.

The clouds were ripple - marked

like the hard sand

when the tide goes out:

I could even see

the gentle breakers

moving slowly over the white cloud - beach,

the blue - sky islands jutting out

and the foamy wave heads

where wave meets wave,

golden with the soon setting sun.

23^rd May 1986

Picture found using Google images http://porbital.deviantart.com/art/Ripple-Sky-107159489

Bad weather feelings

This is also on my other blog http://hawthornespatchwork.blogspot.com/ so apologies to those who've already seen it.

On a windy, rainy night

(Prayer of an undiagnosed S.A.D. sufferer)

Lord,

forgive me the times

I let fear get the better of me -

when a grey day makes me feel gloomy,

when the wind’s roaring scares me,

when the darkness outside as night approaches

seeps into my mind also.

Help me not to let

these natural things affect my moods,

remembering that You created them,

You caused them to be,

You set the rules for them.

Let me instead

rejoice in the variety of weather

You have made,

the turning of the seasons,

the circle of day and night,

seeing them in their wholeness and balance

with daytime, sunshine, and calmness.

Help me to learn from them, Lord,

the lessons You can teach;

that darkness and bad weather

don’t last forever -

the sun will come again

and that we need sun and rain

to grow strong and tall.

And,

if I cannot do either of these Lord,

hold my hand

and sit with me

until the moods pass

and I am myself again.

Amen.

21^st March 1999

Picture found using Google images http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/photography-in-bad-weather-tips-and-techniques/

Fear of failure

I have a secret to admit to you....whenever I start to write in a new notebook I just have to leave the first page blank. It looks so beautifully clean and unsullied that I can't bear to spoil it by putting my scrawl on it. Sometimes I even start at the back of the book, working my way forwards! If I had beautiful calligraphic handwriting, and had something outstandingly wise to say, then I'd go for it but until then my habit remains.

I began to wonder if sometimes I approach each new day like this, and that's how this 'poem' got written.



A blank sheet of paper,
So new,
So clean,
So full of promise
Yet so full of fear -
Fear of failing
Fear of spoiling it
Fear of going wrong and making a mess.

Be confident
Like a child.
Enjoy making the marks.
You don’t expect a child
To draw a masterpiece do you?
Don’t you praise her efforts
And feel pride in what she can achieve
At her age?
So it is with you.
You are not perfect.
You are where you are
And nobody can expect you to be anywhere else.
Have fun!
And if you make a mistake,
Well, never mind -
Throw it away and start again.
I love you.
I am proud of you.
I enjoy what you do.
So go to it!

6^th Dec. 98

Picture found using Google images http://www.reading-with-kids.com/readingactivities.html

Honest Evensong

Lord
when I went to Evensong today
I said that I couldn’t pretend
I was going
for some holy or ‘religious’ reason.
I wasn’t really going
to worship You -
but I did want to be with You.

I wasn’t going to look good,
to be thought of as ‘holy’ and ‘righteous’.
(Though You know sometimes I have done that.)
I wasn’t expecting a marvel,
a miracle, a Word-Of-God.
(Though if that’s what You’d wanted to do that’s fine.)
I just wanted to go
to be with You,
to rest in Your peace,
to take time out from the world
in Your house,
with others that also love You,
and to say thanks.

Thank you that You accepted me
and met me where I was,
not demanding I be something
that I’m not.

Thank you for letting me rest
in the armchair of Your Love,
giving me strength
and refreshment;
an inner peace and calm
that is not touched by the world’s maelstrom.

25^th June 98

Jesus - thoughts at Pentecost 1998

Who are you Jesus?
What are you all about?
Are you really God
as well as man?
“Of one being with the Father”
- so do we worship you?
Or is that bypassing God?
Yet you continually pointed us to the Father
as the one to worship.
So did the worship - Jesus - cult
come afterwards?
Did the first church worship you?
Or just follow your teachings?

They proclaimed you Messiah -
the Anointed One -
the Christ.
Did they expect the Messiah
to be God - as - man
or a special leader?
But they expected someone
to rule on earth
in an Israel earthly kingdom,
and you said it wasn’t like that.

Does ‘Emmanuel’, God-with-us,
mean physically with us as a man
or spiritually with us through a man,
as through many other men and women?
Are we all potential ‘emmanuels’
if we allow God to be in us
and work through us
to be in the world?
　
It’s so hard to find the real Jesus
since we don’t know
how much of the Gospels
is what he actually did and said,
and how much has been added
or changed
or interpreted.
Yet we all interpret God
in terms of our own experiences
and learning -
how could it be otherwise?

But I do sometimes feel
that we lay so much emphasis on Jesus
that we miss God the Father
whom Jesus himself worshipped.
It’s 2,000 years
since Jesus lived on earth.
We’ve allowed so much clutter
to build up in all that time
that it’s sometimes hard to tell
what God wants
from what tradition and history
and Church want.

O God whose name is Love,
True God who lives behind all the clutter,
help us to see who you really are
and what you really want.
Forgive us
when we allow ‘good things’,
‘nice things’,
‘decent things’,
‘holy and church things’
to get in the way of God things.
Help us to be brave enough
to clear out the clutter;
and help us to see clearly
what exactly is clutter!
Let Love bring us all together
in a big embrace
of common purpose,
the purpose of life itself,
LOVE.

31^st May 98

Picture found by Google search from http://davidwilliamson.blogspot.com/

Just as I am

Thank you God
that you lead me gently
by the hand,
with love and encouragement.

Thank you that you know my fears,
my imagined ‘hurty’ places,
and lovingly help me see
my fears melt away
like mist in the morning sun.

Thank you that you’re with me,
just where I am -
not waiting ahead
for me to catch up,
to be good enough;
not dragging me impatiently along
by the hand;
but walking with me
by my side,
waiting when I need rest
skipping with me when I’m excited
and picking me up
when I fall over.

Thank you that you know me,
Thank you that you understand me,
Thank you that you love me,
Just the way I am now.


24^th May 98

N.B. ‘Hurty places’ refers to my 4 yr old daughter whose fear of her scratches and grazes was always much greater than the injury itself!

Picture from Google search http://www.mentalhelp.net/