Undone

The poem today is one that has tremendous meaning to me. I explain briefly in the comments of the poem about where it comes from, but I want to do a more thorough job here.

I was nervous about attending the Good Friday service that our local IHOP (International House of Prayer) hosted at a high school nearby. See, I had never The Passion of the Christ and was very afraid of the violence I knew was contained within it. The IHOP service was going to feature music, dancing and painting surrounding the movie, which interested me, but the movie still frightened me. So I struggled with the choice for several days.

After prayer and a promise from my husband, who had seen the movie, that he would tell when the worst was coming, I went. The movie was shown on a large screen, with the sound down, as the team sang a selection of songs. From the beginning the mood was somber and tears were not scarce, but things really got intense when the scourging began.

For anyone who has seen the movie, you know the imagery that is presented in those scenes. I made it through the first stage with them simply whipping Him with what appeared to be rods, but as they lifted the rods with barbs, I buried my head in my husband's shoulder. Tears began streaming down my face and I literally was wracked with sobs. I had to take off my glasses and tuck them into my purse. Even being unable to clearly see the screen, or hear what was happening, pain and sorrow raced through me. He did this for me, to erase my sins, and even if I was the only person on Earth, He would have done it. How overwhelming is that?

Mary cleaning up the blood her son had shed, which covered a vast area after the beating from the Romans, as well as the scene where she remembered comforting Him as a child, brought more tears. I have a son. I cannot imagine seeing him suffer, and die, like that and have no power to stop it.

So I made it through the movie and the service, and we gathered up our stuff, emotionally drained from the experience. My husband plays twice a week at IHOP so the leader, Marvin, is well known to both of us. He came down to thank Larry and give us both hugs as we started to walk out, then seeing my face, told me to, "Stay undone."

So I have done my best to do that. Every time I get frustrated or angry or feel alone in my struggles I think back on those striking images of my Lord, drenched in blood, hanging on a cross, dying for me. And it works almost every time.

This is a video with clips from The Passion, set to one of my favorite songs, 'By Your Side'. If you've never seen the movie, it will give you a taste of what it is like. Hopefully it will cause you to come undone.

Success!

I am in week two of successfully posting poems and blog posts!

Now, that is in big part because of the efforts of my fabulous webmaster, who has arranged things on the site so that I can schedule poems to post throughout the week. It allows me to take one day to set everything up and be hands off for the rest of the week. He's awesome.

So, this week you get two new poems, Expectant and Indecision (Rev 3:15-16).

The first is about the way we all plan our lives and then ask God to bless what we've done, not let God carry out His plans for us.

The second is based on the Scripture referenced in the title. We are all lukewarm at times, with one foot in the Kingdom and one foot in the world's ways. He won't have it that way.

So I pray that you will enjoy the poems this week. Have a blessed week and may God's grace shine on you each and every day.

Wondrous Day

He is risen!

This is the second half of the surprise I spoke of many months ago. Wondrous Night came back in December for Christmas, and it's sister Wondrous Day arrives for Easter. You'll notice great similarities and it is on purpose. I wanted to show how the events are inexorably tied together, and not just by the child/man they are centered on.

Have a blessed day everyone!

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The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."

So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."

- Matthew 28: 5-10 (NIV)

Circlet

A blessed Good Friday to you all.

Today's poem, Circlet, has been written for many months, and has one of my favorite titles yet. The thorns Jesus wore are typically referred to as a crown, but I have always loved the term circlet. The image of Christ, sitting at the right hand of God, in pure white, with a circlet of gold replacing those thorns is a glorious one indeed.

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And the soldiers led him away into the hall, called Praetorium; and they call together the whole band.

And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head,

And began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews!

And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him.

And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him.

- Mark 15:16-20 (KJV)

Priceless

It is, arguably, the most important week of the Christian faith. This week, almost 2,000 years ago, our Lord and Savior was hung on a tree, died bearing all our sin, and then, as he foretold, rose again. Wow.

I have three poems for this week, the first of which is Priceless. The second will come on Good Friday and the last on Easter. I figured there was no better time to restart my poetry than this week.

I'm going to be much more loose with a schedule of posting. I always felt a lot of pressure when I had a rigid schedule. God has really been speaking about peace and freedom and following the Spirit's lead lately, so I'm going to do that. You may get three poems in one week and none the next. I will do my best to never go two weeks without posting unless something is seriously wrong.

To peak your interest, here are some titles coming your way soon:

• Crisscrossed
• Encounter
• Cloudy
• Expectant
• Witness

I pray that you all have a blessed Easter, and every day beyond. He is risen!

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And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’”

- Luke 24:4-7 (NKJV)

Welcome back!

So ... I've been away for a while. A long while actually.

This winter has been trying for me. I felt alone in many ways as the days grew shorter and nights drug on forever. In essence, my life entered winter about the same time the world did. Inspiration, and joy, left me. I would sit down to write and nothing came. Blank paper stared back at me.

Our church, along with about 17 others, entered a time of seeking the Lord for three weeks from January 25th to February 14th called the Divine Experiment. A time to turn off the world's influence and chase God. Great time to write, right?

Still nothing. No poetry anyway. I found the love of God and was invaded by the Spirit during that time (and no I am NOT complaining) but poetic words still escaped me. I thought about it off and on, and had somewhat resigned myself to the fact that He'd moved me on from this ministry.

But ... spring is here. And as I looked outside today, inspiration struck. The sunshine seemed to infiltrate me and stir something in me that had stayed dormant with all the cold and snow around.

So expect to see more of me these days. It might be a slow restart, but it will be a restart. God bless you all.

Christmas

I hope that every one of you has a blessed Christmas. My gift to you is three poems I have been saving for months for just this time. God bless!

Finest Gift

Mother of God

Wondrous Night