Time is a multitude of moments,
instants where things change
and things don’t change,
and all moments
matter.
Photo by Sonja Langford on Unsplash
Day 26: Instant
Change
Day 19: Seasonal Signs
Last year,
fall’s first days felt like
it was still summer, just less hot.
But slow change is still change.
Sometimes,
such is the transition to
green pastures.
Photo by oskar holm on Unsplash
Change and Constancy
The train is now departing.
I stand upon the platform and I wonder,
Did I choose rightly when I chose to stay?
Is this the better way?
What life would now be starting
If I had stepped aboard and joined the thunder
Of racing steel and distant storms, away
From where I stand today?
But who could say?
Life is a series of decisions,
Of written words without revisions.
I wish I never made mistakes.
I often do.
Yet on clear tracks and in collisions,
You meet our needs with good provisions.
Through all that mends and all that breaks,
You remain you.
Photo by Stefan Kunze on Unsplash
Note: A quick Google search revealed that the line “Life is a series of decisions” has been used in many other works. While I didn’t have any specific source in mind when I decided to use that line, I recognize that the wording isn’t original to me.
8:35pm, 12/25/20
Outside, the winter’s chill.
Inside, the warm light’s glow.
The atmosphere is still
As Christmas carols ring,
O’erpow’ring all ill will
That often dwells below
And changing hearts until
We all begin to sing.
Photo by Chad Madden on Unsplash.
I draw near to you
With weak prayers and little faith,
with a broken and divided heart,
I draw near to you,
knowing that you, though gentle and kind,
will not suffer sin to persist
in your presence.
Photo by J A N U P R A S A D on Unsplash
Confession
Confession: I wish you would do my will,
For I would rather not surrender all.
I would prefer more say in what you call
Me to within your kingdom. Only kill
Those parts of me with which I wish to part.
Pick from the list I curate, then begin
To excise only my unwanted sin,
But leave the rest lest you disturb my heart.
O weak desire, false freedom, foolish dream.
Such service would be fiction, for the throne
Would be yours in name only. Lord, remove
Me from my central focus and redeem
All places where my heart is still like stone.
In grace and mercy, pardon and reprove.
Photo by Kristaps Ungurs on Unsplash
Discontentment
How many days
will I dust these shelves
in this room
until I am allowed to move
and can then,
finally,
dust these same shelves
in a different room?
Photo by Tbel Abuseridze on Unsplash
Change, Part Two
Let now the hard soil of our souls be tilled,
And let us not resist the needed change.
Let not another be unjustly killed.
Let what is common now become most strange.
Lord, show us our responsibility
And lead us in compassion. Let the cries
For justice not end in futility
But further freedom as our pray’rs arise.
Let us be quick to listen, slow to speak,
And slow to anger with no room for sin.
Let those with power learn to live as meek,
And let this lifelong journey now begin.
Teach us to meet all souls with love and grace
As we now learn to welcome and embrace.
Photo by Josh Hild on Unsplash
Change, Part One
What good are words, and what will they achieve?
For they are small before the might of hate
And faulty too: they bend beneath the weight
Of generations. Can we e’er relieve
The burdens under which our brothers heave,
All hoping against hope that soon the wait
Will end in rest, in justice, in a state
Of peace and love and welcome? Now, we grieve,
For hope remains a hope, a thing unseen,
Desire unsatisfied, dream unfulfilled.
Bring justice, Lord, grant peace, and intervene.
Convict and humble us till we are stilled.
Let tragedy be not the final scene.
Let now the hard soil of our souls be tilled.
Photo by Florian Olivo on Unsplash
It Came to Pass
It came to pass:
A simple phrase
So full of hope.
The seasons change.
What now is wrong
Will be made right.
Like flow’rs and grass
Are fearful days
And daunting slopes.
Think it not strange
When night seems long.
Soon comes the light.
Photo by Dawid Zawiła on Unsplash
as i learn to walk 