True Light

"In him was light and that light was the light of men. 

The light shines in the darkness, 

but the darkness has not understood it." 

(John 1:4-5)

Isn't it frustrating when the light goes out.

When that happens we try to repair what has broken. 

When we don't succeed we search 

for the right battery,charger, 

or some other source of power. 

Often we fail to find it.

We try to sort things out ourselves, 

and, frequently, that just creates more problems. 

Jesus, is our light.

He is the one light that outshines all the worldly ones.

Those dim and flickering lights of  worldly wisdom,
and the senseless struggle for  perfection and satisfaction.

Indeed, these are poor replacements 

for the true light. Our saviour;

the light or men. 

For without his light we are blind,

fumbling round in the dark. 

The good news is that the devil 

will never be able to understand it.

Never be able to overcome it.

Never be able to extinguish it.

The choice we face with is this; 

Will we commit to letting the true light of men 

permeate into every part of our lives?

For if we do, we will have a joy 

that cannot be shaken. 

It will be as C.S Lewis once said;

"Here is joy that cannot be shaken.

Our light can swallow up your darkness:

but your darkness cannot now infect our light."

(The Great Divorce). 

Worth Mentioning

Sometimes I feel sorry for God.
He hears not just to my thoughts
and he listens not just to my prayers.
He tunes into even the childish whining
and ideal thoughts that no one really
wants to hear.

It must be like listening to a family member,
you know, that person in your life that calls
you up and talks to you on the phone for ages.
After which you look at it and marvel at how
long that call was.

The truly mindbogglingly thing about our
heavenly father is that he is, (believe it or not),
delights in hearing from us,
taking the time to listen to us.
Every time we want to chat.

Our God is not only worth mentioning,
He is worth mentioning things to.

Music

Music is...

In the song of people
coming together as one.
In the sound of chatter,
as we interact together.
In nature, the sound of
bird song, the gust of
wind, patter of rain.

God made music
of all sorts.
So let us

'Praise the Lord.

Sing to the Lord a new song,

his praise in the assembly of his faithful people.

Let Israel rejoice in their Maker;

let the people of Zion be glad in their King.

Let them praise his name with dancing

and make music to him with timbrel and harp.' 

(Psalm 149: 1-3) 

I was going to publish this on Christmas day but ran out of time... 

The Gift

At Christmas we receive a gift,
the first, given by God.

Each year we unwrap it anew.
Each year our understanding grows.

It shines brighter as we mature.
It is the extraordinary gift of
God's grace; his one and only son.

As the Christmas rush begins,
pushing us from one stress to
another, we all forget.

We strive to find those perfect
presents for those we hold dear.

And so the gift we are
celebrating slips our minds.

Christmas day is the day to call
off the search.

For he has come, the prince of peace.
Emanuel, God is indeed with us.

The ancient promise has been fulfilled.
So let us rejoice with those we love
because he loved us first.

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.

The edge

I dreamt that I was standing on the very edge of a chasm.

The name of that chasm was doubt.

Doubt in myself and doubt in the God I love.

Then I stumbled. Again and again I stumbled.

 I fell down, and further down

until I gave up on all hope of a rescue.

Then in that darkness I heard a voice.

“It is finished” It said.

With that I was lifted up on eagle’s wings.

I circled up and further up until light burst in upon me.  

I realised that although I had then given up on myself,

 my God had not and never will.

Because you see,

it is not our own fuel that propels us though life,

 for that is small and soon peters out.  

Instead, it is the love of our patient heavenly father

who lifts us each time we fail. 

And we do fail.

Each time we learn and grow

so that we might resemble him even more. 

It is indeed finished and our

relationship has been repaired

by the author of those words;

our saviour, Jesus Christ.

Broken 

I am broken. Smashed, 

seemly beyond repair.

I need to be remade. 

But no glue of this world 

can stick me together 

again. No amount

of parties, possessions, 

money, social status, or

anything else will sustain me.

So I have searched. 

After searching,

 I have found that 

none but the Lord can 

restore me. 

I am healed by nothing 

but his compassion and 

grace, poured out for us all

upon the cross. 

Now I may rest. 

I am at peace.