Friday, March 31, 2017

Hidden

Oh hide me away
Lest hope flicker and sputter in the cruel wind
Lest life become even more dim
Yet joy be on the Easter horizon.

Oh hide me with thee
In thy memory that cannot be denied
In thy words which are ever enshrined
In crowded glass frosted still.

Oh hide me someday
For thy trust and beckoning
For thy truest love's reckoning
Thy words echo still in my pounding heart.

Oh hide me behind
Tracing thy jaw with love inclined
Tracing promises made of bodies entwined
Locked where I cannot go.

Oh hide me away
Far afield into thy broken heart
Far into the fear that's torn you apart
Let the joy of healing shine.

Oh hide me in gold
Once you said that a broken vase
Once broken with gold filling replace
Never lost with broken beauty

Oh hide me in thy hands
Between the prayers whispered in your sadness
Between your weeping and your gladness
Fresh to tearless morning be

Oh hide me, gracious Jesus
In Thy heart, with all my weeping
In Thy heart, while I am sleeping
Wake me to mourn no more.

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

  1. O Love that will not let me go,
    I rest my weary soul in thee;
    I give thee back the life I owe,
    That in thine ocean depths its flow
    May richer, fuller be.
  2. O Light that foll’west all my way,
    I yield my flick’ring torch to thee;
    My heart restores its borrowed ray,
    That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
    May brighter, fairer be.
  3. O Joy that seekest me through pain,
    I cannot close my heart to thee;
    I trace the rainbow through the rain,
    And feel the promise is not vain,
    That morn shall tearless be.
  4. O Cross that liftest up my head,
    I dare not ask to fly from thee;
    I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
    And from the ground there blossoms red
    Life that shall endless be.

George Matheson, 1882

Monday, March 27, 2017

It's true

Surely, no one cares for you as much as me.

(you said it.  I agree)

Saturday, March 25, 2017

Open

I'm watching the candle burn from across the room.
It adds glow.
It adds comfort.
It adds beauty.

My heart is glowing, from across the town.
It adds warmth.
It adds splendor.
It is beauty.

Jesus is glowing from inside the Tabernacle.
He adds life.
He adds love.
He is beauty.

My heart is open for you.
My hands are open to you.
My soul is open to you.
Fiat.
My mind wonders.
My tongue beckons.
My feet stay as they are told.
Fiat.
The candle is glowing.
My heart is glowing.
Jesus is glowing.
Fiat lux.

Kythe with me, in your darkness.
I know you are waiting.
I know you are hurting.
I shall suffer with you.
I shall wait with you.
I do not understand you.
But I care so very deeply.
And ever shall.  I promised.
Surely.

If prayers really can be carried by angels, they are.
Straight to you.
If hearts really can be comforted by strangers, they are.
Straight for you.
If light can pierce the darkness, so be it.
Fiat.

My heart is open, ugly and open.
Hurt and open.
Sad and open.
Hopeful and open.
Joyful and open.
Free and open.
Fiat lux.

As I have been, ever.

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Heartburst

An open bloom inside me
A soft cushion of grace
Bursts forth from old darkness
And death's decaying waste

You found your way afar
Somewhere, wandering
Lonely in the shadows
In your heart's pondering

I don't know your words, now
Or your reasons, or your tears
But I hope that somehow
You will feel my love.

The tears I shed now, every day,
Every night to my pillow
My trembling voice offers this way
To join you in your suffering

If I could take it away, love
If I could take it back
If I could take you to heaven
I'd make up for what we lack

To see Jesus smiling
On our weakened souls
Happy in our grace
His strength to bestow

My heart is open here
Just a few breaths away
A backward glance, here
Healing from my dismay

Jesus.  Jesus has not left.
Jesus will not leave you.
Jesus is your Right
Jesus will not deceive you.

Don't look left or right
Don't think it all Wrong
Just peer up to heaven
And God will restore your song.



One soft thing

Hear me, please
When I cry
Out in the night

Of light, please
Bring me home
Darkness supplant

Tears bring me
Closer to thee
Closer to Thee

We three, me
And thee, and
Godhead ever

Don't be far
Don't be far
Never farther

Mine the pain
yours the fear
Ours to bear it

In my heart
ever art
Thou appearing

"Never alone"
You once said
now I know it

Come with me
we three, two
hearts in trouble

So in tears
Sown in tears
Give us tomorrow

Light the dawn
Find us home
With Thee ever

Let it be
Jesus, Oh
I believe it

Showered rain
Not in vain
All my sighing

In the night
seeking Thee -
Consolation

In his heart
ever art
Thou Consoling

Take my prayers
Take my heart
Take my weeping

Take my love
Take my pain
Take my dying

Take my cares
Take my fears
Take them with thee

Take my hopes
Take my prayers
Take my singing

Take my tears
Take my sighs
Up to heaven

Shower love!
Shower help!
Show Thy mercy!

On his heart.
On my heart.
We adore Thee

Make me soft
Make me kind
Understanding

Make me wise
Make my eyes
Only for you

Give me wings
A turn to sing
Please console him

Past my reach
Send my heart
A little farther

All to give
All to love
All I have now

Open wide
come inside
One Soft Thing Now

Is thine own
Is thine own
and ever shall be

In the night
I send you light,
Understanding

Please see me
Take comfort please
You aren't forsaken.


Thursday, March 16, 2017

Unfurled

All the banners of I've been under:
My father's, the church,
the crest over my heart on my school jumper
My place in the halls of learning
Bumper sticker theology
A daughter of dead soldiers
Catechumen to grace
And now sir, yours.

You unfurled it to press
To make ready the ramparts and comforts of home
Laundered and threads checked
Bed linens smelling of lavender and Spring Hope
Watered with the tears of years past
His heart and his heart and his heart
His rough words
Now soothed under the kind sound of your name

But taken aback!
Back! Back!
Sound the retreat and the scurrying of who-knows-who
Till lonely on the barren fields
I take hands with Uriah
And together we march on, alone.