Together

Dedication: To everyone who has experienced mental illness, this is from me to you...

Darkness doesn't discriminate.
It can take anyone.
So what can we do?

We don't always recognise what is consuming us.
We don't always recognise the way we think is warped.

When we do...
A friend or family member expressing concern.
A colleague gently taking us to one side.
An outsider asking the question; are you okay?
You seem...

Just remember that no matter how fearful, ashamed,
lost, alone, confused, or angry you are.
You are not alone.

What you're going through is by no means uncommon.
Friend or family member.
Colleague or outsider.
We understand, because it takes one to know one.

No need to be ashamed.
Feel free to stretch out your hand.
We can show you the way.
After all, we've come this way before.
I've come this way before.

The Lord my God is the light to the path on which I tread.
He said "it is not good for man to be alone".
He said "it is finished".
He said "that whoever believes believes in me shall not die but have eternal life".

Jesus sent his disciples out in twos.
Jesus has given us the Holy Spirit.
Jesus has given us hope of  a day when her will wipe away every tear.

Faith in Jesus and his promises means hope and security and forgiveness.
It means knowing where we are headed as brothers and sisters in Christ.
The rod there is not always easy, but that is why we travel there together.

God's Love

Sometimes you look around you and everything is dark and dingy.
Other times you marvel at what you see...
You ask;  "how the creator who made all this could love a creature like you?"

Then you open his word and realise that he does.
Despite your turning away and rejecting him he still does.

God does not give up on you and he never will.
God even rejoices when we stumble because the will to walk to him is there.
God does not  love us rationally, but loves us simply and without incentive.
God our Father has loved us from the very beginning.

His love is super love.
Love, pure and simple.

Oh Grime of Mine

Today my finger nails are filthy.
They are covered with grime.
I have been digging that hole again.
I have been searching hard,
striving to find a way to satisfy
mine and the needs of everyone else.
I've been depending on me.
What I can do, and what I can offer.

I am exhausted.
I know now that I really am just...
stupid.
Everyone else has more brain than me.

And then, as I try to do nightly,
I picked up my bible.

Sometimes picking up God's word
becomes a mundane chore.
But I must run towards it for
how else can my soul
be nourished?

At that very time
I came across words.
Words that I needed.
They where;
"If any of you lacks wisdom,
he should ask God,
who gives generously to all
without finding fault."

A great weight was lifted then,
with the remembrance that
God is the one that can be
truly relied upon.

In him lies all wisdom.
To him be all praise.
Because in him we find purpose,
not in ourselves.
So this poem is not about me,
it is about him.
Just as it should be.

Ants...

Why are ants perceived as being worthless?

When you inquire into their ways you can see that

they have a significant role in the Lord's creation.

We swish ants that aggravate us with a great degree of indifference.

Then we may even begin to recite statements,

inculcated within us from an early age.

However, it is not solely ants that we regard in such a manner.

But a variety of other intricately and uniquely made

animals and insects in his creation.

If you take a moment to reflect, within nature

there are all varieties of marvellous creatures to be seen.

Some of which are the small flying insects of bright

colours and shades,

of which it is difficult for one to remember their numerous names.

Let us recall to ourselves as we reflect upon these things,

the words from that beloved hymn;

'All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures great and small,

All things wise and wonderful,

The Lord God made them all.'

My first decent poem;

 

My Country Haven

Slowly, ever so slowly, I open my eyes.

I open them to greet the late morning –

The soft, gentle, circular clouds.

Their edges are beautiful to behold

They are as pleasing and delicate as the finest china

They capture one’s adoration so much that the blue, peaceful tranquillity

Of the sky is almost disregarded and unequal to their loveliness.

Almost.

 

As I force my eyes to wander away

From the clouds and away from their

Connotations of restfulness to gaze upon

That pavonine sky, I am so struck and

Then absorbed in my inspection of it

That I am almost persuaded to pay

Little heed to the landscape.

Almost.

 

That glorious, breathtaking Australian Landscape…

So delightful and refreshing it is to gaze upon its fascinating green and brown folds.

They are the folds and layers of the landscape.

Like a beloved quilt, filled with warmth

And comfort and dotted with

Intriguing, intricate patterns of foliage and

Cattle slowly devouring the grass shoots beneath them.

 

One of these so intricate and intriguing patterns

Is that formed by the eucalyptus trees     

They are as dances to the soothing humming

Of the native bees and the song of the birds

Who would call them home –

 

Magpies, currawongs and kookaburras

All singing the melodious song of nature

Unimpeded by the unlovely,

ugly cacophony of the civilisation of man and that associated with it.

 

If only man could let alone

This God made quilt to rusticate

Peacefully until it is put to rights by its creator…

But can we ever resist?