Poetry

Hope

/ Jaimie / 1 Comment

Water Drops on Slab

Steady rain pelts, swift and monotonous, on the roof above me
I feel the water purify, washing away the old, carrying with it the promise of hope
Standing singularly like a monument on the horizon
Lingering long enough for me to reach
Long enough for me to believe

Hope, that droplet swiftly coming near
Waiting for me to see it
Impact, as it falls to form in my soul a place where ignition can take effect
As lightning follows the particle to the earth
A blaze begins with a solitary moment
Hope springs from the cleansing of past colliding with the promise of now.

Mine

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Eye

Your blazing gaze,
Eyes of fire staring back at me
While I look forward toward the mark
High calling when all is lost but the pursuit of things bigger than me

All at once, undone, the treasure of earthen man, dust before the burning pillar that is your love.

Expansive and wild sweeping through the brush of my past
Making new the wasted
Giants from ashes
All I once was, bowing at the feet of the holy one
Until “mine” falls from my vocabulary
And you are all that matters

Bitterness

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Breech
When trust dies
Wrung out like laundry
Hung on lines of self-pronounced justice
Vindicated
When we feel the right is ours
Stretched on racks of ethics
Thin like lines that mark the face of the worn
Tired
When forgiveness takes a backseat to rightness
Dripping like oil down the beard of the judge
Anointing poured out missing its target
Who can stand when the finger points back?

Running Clothes

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Escape

Bring me to the place where nothing else matters

Where all I need is you

Where nothing else satisfies

Make me hungry

I take my fill and want for more

I cannot exhaust the spring from which the water flows

I run toward the source of my comfort

I escape the need for comfort knowing peace is given at the hand of the maker

My meat is to do his will

Worn

I’ll bring to you the tattered rags of my righteousness

The frayed edges of my accomplishments

And watch you smile and tell me that you aren’t after my clothes

You are after my heart

You want to watch me run

So I will run hard and know that you are smiling

Your smile is all that matters

Buried alive

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One step toward you and I’m fallen.
Like breathing, falling in love came so freely.
This gravity draws me deeper until I’m submerged and breathing in the song escaping your lips.
It’s there, at the moment of my burial, that I find I’m fully alive.

Love your Enemy

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Shoot

We are told to love our enemies
My greatest enemy is me
I fight against my will and my brain when they try to make me give up or over think

I fight against my doubts that would try to name me unloved
I wish I could call myself perfect but what a boring journey that would be

We are told to love our enemies
My enemy is the past
Pain felt long ago that tries to resurface at the mention of my failings
I kill it again with the sword of truth and silence it’s nagging
But I know it will return
It’s a battle I’ll fight but it’s a battle I’ll win
I am more than my past
I am an overcomer

We are told to love our enemies
So I muster up the strength to give myself a little grace
I thank God for the opportunity to live and grow and push on a little farther
I choose to be thankful for who I am and where I’ve been and all I’ve learned along the way
I know it all brought me here
To you
To now
And I am complete

They’ve Taken you to Haiti

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haiti-85873_640

They’ve taken you to Haiti with your consent.

I’m not quite sure what to expect upon your return.

Will you be you?

Will you be another version of yourself?

I hear it gives one appreciation for the things we take for granted.

I hear it gives perspective,

Changes the ordinary into precious.

Really I suppose it changes the vision of the seer more than the makeup of the mundane.

I suppose a week will tell all.

I suppose you’ll bring home many stories and memories you will cherish forever.

And I will hold each memory you’ve lived close to my heart as well.

Two parts of myself fly high and away while I wait here praying,

And hoping for you to be arrows, mighty, in the quiver of the master.

With love, you’ll reach until your target met, is captivated by the grace of a savior.

You will love deeply and divinely.

It’s a hard thing to stay behind but an easy thing to watch you soar.

Go before them…with them, precious Lord and use them mightily.

They’ve taken you to Haiti and I couldn’t be happier.

Opportunity Knocks

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I watch the still of waters running deep
Feel the motion of the world shaking beneath my feet as I walk
Onward toward the prize where few men dare to venture wanting more than day to day
Wanting you

All along you beckon, drawing me near, waiting for me to wait for you

There’s this great big world outside my cozy corner
A speck of dust I am, filled with treasure, unfolding in pieces
Called lovely
Redeemed in wonder with brokenness aside

Today fades to tomorrow and opportunity and I decide to embrace it

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Here on the Edge of Dreaming

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When dreams seem to be dying before your eyes and hope is dwindling like a campfire guarded by a nodder, there is only one answer.

There comes a time when we are required to act on all of the things we believe in.

Suddenly the lofty ideals become necessities of survival.

We earnestly listen for the voice of our king to whisper a reminder that it’s all okay.

Our circumstances might be trivial in the scheme of eternity but they are our present and they feel like boulders, heavy, pressing.

My pastor has always said to see what kind of fruit something is, squeeze it and see what kind of juice comes out. (Eph. 5)

I’ve felt like a lemon this week, hoping for sweetness, love, joy, peace…instead finding sour.

The stinging remnants of old fears dropping in to say hello.

All I thought I’d sacrificed on the altar, shooting for a comeback and I stagger slightly until I remember to command my soul to listen.

“Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God” Psalm 42:11

Here on the edge of dreaming I hold on, knowing he didn’t bring me here to watch me fall.

I trust him.