cross

Mercy, Grace, and Love

/ joethewaller / Leave a comment

I have known hope and known despair,
The warming and the chilling air,
And I have found that you are there
With mercy, grace, and love.

I have succeeded and have failed,
Have waited patiently, have railed
‘Gainst you, who held me e’en when veiled,
With mercy, grace, and love.

I’ve witnessed victory and loss,
The finest paint, the cheapest gloss,
And o’er it all still stands the cross
In mercy, grace, and love.

So should my path lead up or down,
To unknown name or world renown,
Remind me that you wear the crown
With mercy, grace, and love.

Photo by Hillie Chan on Unsplash

Good Friday

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Another Friday, overcast and grey.
I sit alone to study but reflect
On that dark Friday years ago, the day
The light went out, when we failed to detect
The purpose through the pain that grew so great
All comforts were eclipsed, and in the ache
Of ignorance and fear, the hour grew late
Then passed for hope of rescue. Then the break
Of heart when his heart stopped and he grew still
And death remained what it had always been.
Perhaps one day the Lord would still fulfill
His word, but not this day. This day, our sin
And shame were at their height, and we below
The storm clouds wondered, “Where else shall we go?”

Photo by Dylan McLeod on Unsplash

Provision

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Some hopes are dashed upon the throne of grace,
Are lifted up in pray’r to be denied.
And though it seems the Father hides his face,
We need not fear that he will not provide.
But his provision oft is of a kind
Perceived unkind while in the midst of loss.
What he deems “need” is diff’rently defined.
Sometimes the crown is traded for the cross.
But crosses borne in faith will always form
Our souls as needed, so we need not fret.
His grace suffices for the fiercest storm.
None who trust full in him shall feel regret.
But it is faith—not sight—that shows the way.
God is our shepherd. We need ne’er dismay.

Photo by John Joumaa on Unsplash

The Savior’s Song

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The time-tested timbre of truth resounds
In every tragedy turned triumph,
Each near-forgotten promise come to pass,
All victories of love after a loss.

Surrounded though we are by many sounds,
Some subtle, others sharp in the circumf-
erence of our souls, still none shall surpass
The Savior’s song, the echoes of the cross.

Photo by Wes Hicks on Unsplash

Weakness

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I do not want this weakness anymore,
This want of strength, this will so rife with lack.
I tire of always falling further back,
Forgetting truths I knew just days before.
Corruption keeps its hold upon my core,
Each fault of mine another little crack,
Each inability a grave attack
In this, the never ending inner war.
But at the end of my ability,
Your grace, sufficient for my ev’ry need,
Reminds me of the testifying host
Of those who grasp their own futility
And trust instead your ev’ry word and deed,
So trials become their joy, the cross their boast.

Photo by Vlad Kutepov on Unsplash

Perspective and Provision

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Frustrated by my failure to perceive
The movement of the invisible one
Whose work, though purposeful, leaves me undone
Till no one save the Savior can relieve
The longing my soul feels to find its home.
I both believe and struggle to believe
That hope endures because of heaven’s Son,
That fears will fade, that victory is won;
And in this moment, I cannot conceive
How this cross leads beyond a catacomb.
I see I am shortsighted, prone to think
No sign of water means no future drink.
Such circumstances hold a hollow taunt.
God is my shepherd. I shall never want.

Photo by Benjamin Davies on Unsplash