Parted

+

We tend, too often, to fixate and focus

on external obstacles

and affronts to our Freedom,

Seemingly impassable Seas

Which stand between

Ourselves

and 

Promised Land...

While all along,

Only and Ever,

It is the Red Sea Within

Which needs to be

Parted.

+

"Be Strong and Very Courageous."

-Joshua 1:6

Lift II

+

...And the tell-tale glow

Saturates the Sky

An infusion of Day Dawning

Light Returning

Life Coming Back

Flooding Golden and Rose

The Heavens I look into

Lift into...

Beloved Wings

Which have borne me,

Bear me still,

Become me,

Live, Move, and have Their Being in me

Beautifully

Thus We fly

Indistinguishable

In unutterable sacred union

Headed into this horizon

With healing on Our Wings

For Such A Time As This

For Whosoever Will

For All who would know

The Incomparable Gift,

I Become

Flight...

+

"As an eagle stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, 

spreading out its wings, taking them up,

carrying them on its wings, so the LORD alone led him."

-Deuteronomy 32:11

Redeemed.

+

We've domesticated the idea of Redemption,

Reduced the Lion of Judah into a whimpering puppy,

Done an unconscionable disservice to our charge, The Beloved,

The "Whosoever will",

dying for what Jesus died for,

The Domino Effect set off by the Cross,

The curse-crushing line that was drawn

in that Bloodied sand...

How dare we, who hold Truth, temper it,

We, who claim to speak for the King,

Corralling their Freedom,

Conditionally ladling out (if we even do that) this Tsunami of Salvation

with pithy talks on Sunday mornings

and impotent platitudes

which we've found more palatable, more plausible,

and preferred to

the Power of the Spirit

The Cross was not just for pretty.

Either It Is Finished,

or it is not.

Redemption is not just a feel-good thought,

It Is The Provision of Providence,

It is The Panacea we wield like a play-thing,

instead of the Living, Powerful, Double-Edged Sword that It Is.

Redemption is the Crux embodied in the Crucifixion,

as an oak tree in an acorn

as an atomic blast in a steel shell

It is the Apex of Creation

Redemption does not merely placate us

in the face of regrets and fall-out from our "best-laid-plans"

It does what our "filthy rags" could never do...

It Covers us

Triumphs over the wreckage

Transmutes trials

Trades us Beauty for Ashes

Is the Conduit which Carries us

Beyond the heart-rending, leveling losses...

Redemption Rebuilds, Restores, Reboots....

Redemption tangibly transforms our endings into Beginnings

Redemption rewrites the story,

Palpably,

Powerfully,

Redemption Changes Everything.

+

"I Got This."

-Jesus

"I AM The Resurrection and The Life."

-John 11:25

Born

"There is a Time to be Born"

-Ecclesiastes 3:2

+

To Make Do

Curled up in the corner

of this broken open cocoon

is No Longer For You

These Wings are not just for pretty

But to Fly

To Brave Many Worlds

To Bring The Beauty...

Not to sit in the stale air

of this once useful womb

But to Soar on Wind-of-the-Spirit

Trusting Deity's Masterful Design

To Expand now

Into All He Intended

Into More than this flimsy frame of reference

Allows you to Fathom

To Burst these barren boundaries

To See the walls blown off the Horizon

To Be Born into this Wide-Open

Come-What-May Sky,

And into Every Beloved Life

Longing

For

Rebirth

+

"Here am I, Send me"

"Go then, in this might of yours."

Isaiah 6:8, Judges 6:14

Lent

+

The Bated Breath

Between

Ashes

and

Beauty,

The Road

From

Razed

to Resurrection...

An exquisite Stillness belies

The Movement

Beneath the surface,

Behind the Scenes,

The Readying for Birth

Submerged, Momentarily,

In this baptismal

'In-Between',

I feel myself,

not free-floating,

but tenderly Held,

Embraced in His Arms,

Every muscle therein tensed

Tremulous,

Ready to Lift me

From Lent,

To Life

+

"I Am the Resurrection and the Life."

-John 11:25

Exhale

+

We inhale ... what?

Air,

Food,

Sometimes Each Other...

What are we Exhaling to a World

Longing for Resuscitation?...

What you Inhale

Is what you will Exhale...

Let It Be a Sweet Breath

A Breeze of Benediction

Blowing on the Smoldering Coals of this Creation,

Bestowing Blessing,

Bellowing the Beloved

Back into Beautiful Flame...

+

"Awaken, North Wind, and Come, Oh South...

Breathe on this Garden

That its spices may flow out."

Song 4:16

Bleed

+

Blood Pushing, Pulsing,

Engorging 

Bones, 

Body,

Muscles no longer atrophied

But Warrior, and Ready,

Steeled to the core

Stallions ready to Run

Determined in their stride

Filled with Iron

Arms that bend bows of bronze

Taut, Tempered

In Fire not of this world

But found in The Deepest Heart of God

Burning

Mercilessly,

Mercifully...

Eyes Ablaze with this Flame,

Like her LORD's,

Just Exactly like her LORD's...

Hind's feet headed for craggy, impossible,

Unspoiled High Places

Utterly Insurmountable...

...And Yet...

And Yet,

She Will Stand

And See

From those Conquered Summits

All that was Beyond

this laughably brief Sojourn...

A million years hence,

This speck of existence

Will be but a drop of her Blood

Swimming in the current of His

The moment she was part of 

The Transfusion

Into a Beloved World

Whose heart

had gone cold

+

"I have Loved you with an Everlasting Love...Come from the four winds,

Oh Breath and Spirit,

And Breathe upon these slain,

That they may Live."

-Jeremiah 31:3, Ezekiel 37:9

Lifted II

~~

Wings tightly folded, far too long,

now stretching

 spreading, 

soaking in Sun...

Suspended Animation

in this Moment Between

Broken Life

and Breaking Dawn...

as this once fearful fledgling

bravely bares herself,

lifts her face,

 to meet His Shining,

and with all her still-water-soul,

beautifully reflects 

her Beloved's Light

Thus Illumined,

Thus Lifted,

she unfolds to Him,

feels His Arms Underneath,

Beautiful Buoyancy,

Rapturous Rise,

For such a time as this,

Together,

They Fly...

~~

"Rise up, My love, My fair one..."

Song 2:10

Lifted

~ ~ ~

When you look back

See a Life Lived --

Not tethered to transient, untenable illusions,

Man's measuring sticks

That shackle you in the shallows,

But Winged

And Wide-Eyed

Moved by The Immovable,

The Immortals

Let not gravity have the last word,

You who were fearfully and wonderfully formed

For Flight

Re-Find your Belonging -- 

Not to the base elements around you,

But as The Beloved

Keep company with The Angels,

The Awakened,

The Lovers

And Be Lifted

~ ~ ~

"They shall mount up with wings as eagles..."

-Isaiah 40:31

Brushstrokes.....

* * *

I see only a small, very very tiny, 

Infinitesimal corner

of The Painting

and dance myself to exhaustion

trying to understand The Whole

and move accordingly...

Instead,

Let me dance with The Painter Himself

Slow, Soft, Fluid,

and So Very Close...

Moving in union with The One

Who holds the canvas,

Who created all color,

In Whose Arms I am the brush

with which He makes

such beautiful

Brushstrokes

* * *

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

Lean not on your own understanding,

In all your ways acknowledge Him,

He will smooth your paths."

-Proverbs 3:5,6

Love

+

Bloodied Broken Prodigal Heart

Having gambled away

Every Grace

Every Good Gift Given,

Left Empty

Razed

Unrecognizable

Except

To a Father

Whose Heart bred this one

Bled for this one

Bore, in Agonizing Union

Every Blow

Each Abuse

The Crucifixion of Unbearable Betrayal...

In a show of Unprecedented Mercy,

Of Unbelievable, Astounding Grace

He tenderly takes up

My wasted Judas heart

Claims it as His own

Sees the treasure beneath the ruins

He unearths it

all of it

the excruciating pain

the paralyzing sorrow

the utterly undone-ness of it all...

And Instead

Buries it, absorbs it, into His very own Breast

Broods over it

and again, Breathes into it, 

the ancient In The Beginning words, 

"Let There Be..."...

Willing it to Live Again

Readying it
for

Resurrection

+

"All Things New"

-Revelation 21:5

Wet

* * *

...Right under your nose

Right Beneath Your Feet,

Tapped

Percolating up to the surface

of this once dry desert

wetting your ground again

trickling around your feet

Springs Surfacing

There, all along...

Around your ankles now

Flowing Again...

Swirling around

Your waist

Your torso...

And now you swim

and float

and are carried

Looking Up

You Smile again,

As you are Born

away,

to

All Things New...

* * *

"Joy and Gladness will be found therein,

Thanksgiving and the voice of melody"

-Isaiah 51:3

The Walk

+

Sometimes I think
He's not as task oriented

as we've made Him out to be...

Sometimes I wonder

if He just wants

to take our hand

and enjoy a stroll,

Maybe He gets tired too

and wants to simply

sit a spell,

and share a little beauty,

then to stroll some more...

not to arrive anywhere

in particular,

but just for the joy

of The Walk

+

Dig

The "Dust Bowl", Great Plains Region, 1930's

* * *

...And all those years,

this Aquifer 

of a 

thousand

million

years,

Brimming,

Full

of

Water,

Right 

Beneath

Their Feet...

Their eyes were wasted

looking longingly at Clouds....

when all they had to do,

was Dig.

* * *

"The Kingdom of God is within you"

Luke 17:21

Choice

+

The bowl of soup we hold to

with such terrifying tenacity

Beg for, like Oliver,

as though we were orphans

and not Beloved

not Chosen

As though we did not belong to the King

As though everything He has does not belong to us

Fearful of spilling one drop to the ground

as though it were our lifeblood

as though this viscous sustenance

was the be all, end all....

And all the while we buy into the lie,

 a Feast lays before us

Our Birthright of

 Fullness, Favor, the very Faithfulness of God

If only we would loose

our shortsighted grip

on this gruel, this counterfeit,

the enslaving ephemeral appetite

If only we would close our ears

to the enemy's "Did God really say...?"...

God did really say,

and He said it to Bless,

not to curse,

to Bestow more bounty on us that we can hold in a Lifetime...

Esau would've given everything for the choice we have,

Jesus did give everything, so we would always have this choice.

Choose Life.

+

"The thief does not come except to steal, kill, and destroy;

I have come that you may have Life, and have it more abundantly."

-John 10:10

Breathe

+

Come Away

above all the noise

away from the din of competing deities

apart from hirelings

who do not know

The Heart

who would rob you of

Communion

with The One

who made your soul

to mingle with His,

so much like His...

With abandon Return

to unashamed unabashed acceptance,

an abolition of fear and fig leaves...

Breathe Deep

The Other

and become Breath once again,

for all who are starving for air

for all who are gasping

for The Beloved

+

"I have Loved you with an Everlasting Love"

-Jeremiah 31:3

funny ...

~~~

"I casted around a 100 times.

Nothing.

Casted Twice.

Two beautiful trout, back to back.

Casted another couple 100 times.

Nothing.

Funny how it works."

~~~

(a note received from a friend tonight,

unintentional poetry.....the best kind.)

elder brother

+

Just as we are unaware of the blood and breath 

continually coursing through our veins and lungs, keeping us alive, 

so the elder brother lived on his father's mercy, 

required it as much as did the prodigal son.

It's just that the prodigal son, upon his return from death, 

having been gone for such a very long time, 

needed a full blown transfusion, 

full blown CPR.

That's why the Father's mercy looked excessive to the elder brother,

Even though, at the end of the day,

It was the same blood and breath that kept him alive

+

Unbroken?

+

Isn't it worth all the Breaking?

The Chiseling

Every Excruciating blow dealt

by The Great Sculptor

To Become

To Be

The heart after His own Heart

The conduit to His Heart

for everyone who will gaze upon me,

who will come

to the brightness of my Rising

Every eye that will look upon me

and see

God

+

"Arise, Shine, for your light has come,

and the glory of the Lord rises upon you."

-Isaiah 60:1

Finished

+ + +

So much ground covered

Soul searing soil which seemed insurmountable

Terrain which towered over us

Heartbreaking in its apparent invincibility...

But look behind,

See,

This Way we thought impossible

impassable

utterly implausible

Now threaded with our footsteps

taken one by one

by one

by one...

and Finally,

It Is Finished.....

Now,

It Begins...

*** 2015 ***

+ + +

"Eye has not seen, nor has ear heard, nor has the mind of man conceived 

the things which God has prepared..."

-1 Corinthians 2:9

The Last Word

"In The Beginning was The Word"

John 1:1

+

The Word

Which became Light

Which dealt the deathblow to darkness

In The Beginning

Still speaks

Still shines

Still writes on our lives

Authoring and Finishing

Our Story

in

Light

The deepest night

is no match

for this Dictum

The Word goes deeper still

In The Beginning

In The Middle

In The End

Light will have The Last Word

+

"I AM The Alpha and the Omega,

The Beginning and The End,

says the Lord God,

He Who Is

and Who was

and Who Is To Come,

The Almighty

The Ruler of All."

-Revelation 1:8

...Let there be Light, a Hanukkah blessing...

"Let There Be Light"

-Genesis 1:3

+

The lengths we will go

to procure this primal need

even synthesizing it

with phones, tv's, trifles,

these cubic zirconia counterfeits of what was given "In The Beginning"...

which fall into our stomachs, our base appetites,

but miss our Hearts entirely, where the true Hunger lies...

The True Treasure

Buried under the impedimenta of our lives

Waits for the soul, the seeker

who will not settle for 

smoke and mirrors...

Our deepest selves Know,

and still seek Him

and will not be satisfied

with sparkly substitutions

ersatz ephemeral fulfillment...

We Hear, through the din of false diamonds

True Light

Tireless Beacon Calling us Home

Bidding us Follow His Voice

Out of darkness,

Into our 'Let There Be' Beginning...

+

"What you seek

Is Seeking You."

-Rumi

Faith

+

Remember what was shown you

The Glimpse Given your Eyes-To-See

on the Mount

those High Places

that Day...

Hold to Heaven's View

Gifted you

Choose the Lens that Lifted you

that Lifts you

that will Lift you

into Landscape intended all along

Navigate by this View

Do not settle for the simple way

the base elements

ubiquitous

easily attained

Hold to Wings, My Love

Hold to High Places

Choose the Way where there seems to be no way

The Sacred Ground your beautiful feet

were Created to traverse...

Lift your eyes, Love

Raise your sights once again...

Faith, My child!

Faith!

+

"We walk by faith, not by sight"

2 Corinthians 5:7

Dew

"I will be like the dew to Israel."

-Hosea 14:5

+

A gentle thing

An Annointing

Arrives quiet

Anticlimactic

After such a Long night...

Such a Long

Long

Night

Settles, feather down soft

Soaking

Covering in halcyon Healing

Culling deep Grief

Barest Touch tending to

the bloody blows endured

merciless, devilish destruction

and dark deeds done

finally spent

Silenced

Displaced by this Delicate Dictum

Blanketed in this,

Morning's Benediction.

+

"The night is far spent"

-Romans 13:12

...

+

I Love you.

-God

+