Callused

Hard, stubborn callous;
How you cover the tender spots.
With your condemned skin.

How you need to be soaked;
How you need to be scraped away,
Diligently,
.............every day.

Or you become like snow the day after -
Hard packed and unbudgeable,
To all but the sharpest blade.

Yet the stubborn snow disappears,
With a soft stroke of encouragement,
When attended to swiftly.

Look at Me and Love Me

Jonathan docked his little body at the island, his wiggles briefly anchored.

And as he munched on apple snack he briefly realized,

that body being satisfied was not enough.

And this thoughtful young man, looked up at busy mother, and

Thinking this to be his need, he commanded clearly and astutely:

"Mom, look at me and love me!"

And how this mother's heart was arrested! So like a knife, cutting through the fog. And He was there too, burning a message into my heart.


He said "look at me and love me"
Dimple flashing out in need.
His bottom docked at island and
Wiggles briefly anchored.

And apple ceased to crunch,
Small head cocked to the side.
Silence, then commanding words:
"Mom, look at me and love me!"

Arrested was I,
With such desire,
Openly displayed
...And my busy hands were stayed.

To administer love.

And two twinkling crow's feet were
Thrown back to gaze at delighted 4-year-old countenance,
So like a flower turning to face the sun.

And to think. His marvelous attention is arrested in like manner.

The Puzzle

Dropping off the edge of the world
It all came into focus.
Like a smooth talker
Convincing me that the pieces would fall into place.

And they did, for awhile.

Then the hunt began,
And stamped colors jumped out at me
Like so many presents.

I brought them home.
And they made beautiful pictures for me.

The Invisible Rock

The substance of it remarked to my heart,
There's another rock, over yonder.
It's shape eluded and all precluded,
As heart dropped into the dark.

And stumbled through a craven view,
Until a pebble did find.

And heart rolled
This perfectly round circle of true,
In the dark...

And knew
That yonder lay

An invisible rock.

Undone by Trees

I think this fool will always view
A tree with eyes anew.

...thanks to this poem. And this is one reason I love poetry! The right poem paints a vivid picture of His "invisible things", and I gasp!

Trees
by Joyce Kilmer

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed
against the Earth's sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

A Better Resurrection

Most of my kids have "The Caterpillar" by Christina G. Rosetti memorized. How surprised I was to find this poem from the very same author, in a poetry devotional a few years back. It touched a chord in me, as I had been in the desert for quite some time, and the tears spilled freely.

Truly, I'm still there. And my heart still cries out with Christina.

A BETTER RESURRECTION

by: Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)

I have no wit, no words, no tears;
My heart within me like a stone
Is numb'd too much for hopes or fears;
Look right, look left, I dwell alone;
I lift mine eyes, but dimm'd with grief
No everlasting hills I see;
My life is in the falling leaf:
O Jesus, quicken me.

My life is like a faded leaf,
My harvest dwindled to a husk:
Truly my life is void and brief
And tedious in the barren dusk;
My life is like a frozen thing,
No bud nor greenness can I see:
Yet rise it shall--the sap of Spring;
O Jesus, rise in me.

My life is like a broken bowl,
A broken bowl that cannot hold
One drop of water for my soul
Or cordial in the searching cold;
Cast in the fire the perish'd thing;
Melt and remould it, till it be
A royal cup for Him, my King:
O Jesus, drink of me.