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The Incarnation: Advent Poem #5
I am covered in dust, muck, grime, and scars. Meanwhile You are clothed in a blanket of stars. And yet You threw off those covers while retaining their shine, and put on a covering that’s similar to mine. Hands that hold the universe As a baby can’t hold a thing Now familiar with deep weakness Both a pauper and a King Not random or an accident But part of an eternal plan In order to redeem us Our Holy God became a man We who’ve dwelt in darkness Live in that place no longer There is no need to fear the night We’ve an advocate who’s stronger Redemption’s…
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Mary’s Poem: Advent Poem #4
I have borne many things As I have borne this son I have borne the stigma of being An unwed mother, Heartache of separation from my parents, Weight upon my body as we traveled, The deep joy of carrying this baby in my womb, And pain upon bringing him into the world. What will he bear, I wonder As I look at him now. So perfect, so precious. I never knew how I could love someone so much. I’ve felt him move and kick and grow inside of me, And I’ve wondered, What kind of mother Will I be? And who will teach me How all this works, Since my…
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An Angel Visits Mary: Advent Poem #3
(Based on Luke 1:26-38) God sent an angel to Nazareth, to the village of Galilee He was there to see a peasant girl, a virgin named Mary “Hello! You are truly blessed. The Lord is with you, favored one!” This saying troubled Mary, she was honestly quite stunned. “Do not be afraid, do not fear, for you’ve found favor with God!” “You will conceive and give birth to a son!” But Mary found this news quite odd. She was engaged to Joseph, but still a virgin, you see She told the angel Gabriel this, and asked, “how can this be?” “The Holy Spirit will come upon you And you’ll be…
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Waiting for the Light That Has Already Come: Advent Poem #2
Lord have mercy We live in a world Full of both sunsets And sunken ships Of indescribable beauty and light And darkness so thick we can’t breathe Even though the light has come We still taste the sting of death Knowing that we belong to life Yet not experiencing its fullness yet Lord have mercy It hurts to watch the people we love Struggle with difficult things Or watch them experience pain We long for the darkness to completely flee And only light remain The world seems seeped in trouble Illness, prejudice, hunger, violence We’re desperate for things to change But sometimes it feels as though Your answer is silence…
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The Darkest of Nights: Advent Poem #1
It is the darkest of nights It has been this way For a very long time You are silent But the earth is not It groans Like the creaking of An abandoned house Whose rooms Were once filled with life And now seems to weep Because it knows emptiness Is not what it was created for Its darkened windows Staring blankly Crying out for light To fill them once again. Or like an old ship In an ancient harbor Rocking and swaying and creaking Not really seaworthy Still floating But just barely Or like my bones, groaning Carrying too much weight Aching But still working, Though in pain, Not the…
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Dandelion: A Poem About lllness
I am weak People think That I am strong But this has shown me Just how weak I am. I have trouble concentrating Or functioning in normal society. All I want to be Is asleep. But when I lie in my bed. I find that I cannot. Illness makes me panic. All I want to do is escape my body But it is the one thing that follows me Wherever I go So I find that I cannot be rid of my self. I long for God to show Himself as Healer But often I lie there Wondering Why isn’t Jesus helping me? What to do When the prayers don’t…
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Creation Hands
Often I picture Your hands to be Shriveled up Arthritic Clenched and withholding Holding on tightly To all the things I want But will never receive. And I believe You to be stingy And dried up Hunched over Arms crossed Hoarding wholeness from my presence. I imagine Your hands To be like mine. Weary and brittle Inadequate and little. And so I pray small prayers to match The god I’ve invented for myself The god of un-abundance Who’s more like a reflection of me Than anything based in reality A god who cannot carry Or save Or rescue. This is the picture I have of You. But I look to…
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Spoken Word: Confessions
Here’s another poem! This one was put together using chunks of things that I’d written in my journals over the span of several months. When I put them together it all seemed to fit. Funny how God makes things work together like that. The video is me performing the piece at LifeLight, and the words are below. You knit me together in my mother’s womb Intricately created me hazel eyes brown hair hands like my dad. And You called me good. And following You was like dancing. Not the kind where you have to learn the steps. But the kind where you just move because there’s music playing. Or like…
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Spoken Word: Rain
I wrote this poem for a precious friend of mine. I hope it encourages you as well. Here’s the video of me sharing the poem at LifeLight, with the words to the poem below. “I just want to enjoy the rain again,” Says the woman who’s been drowning. Momentary troubles lasting far too long until they’ve seeped into every crack and crevice of her once firm foundation this level of saturation seems hard to withstand even while holding Jesus’ hand because her arms are tired of dangling off this cliff of uncertainty saying “I know God has good plans for me… but what if He doesn’t?” because, let’s face…
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Spoken Word: Depression (I Am Not Lost)
I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced times of depression, or darkness, or heaviness in your life, but I certainly have. I started writing this several months ago, during a very dark season of my life. Hopefully it will be an encouragement to you if you’re going through some dark moments as well. The world is broken like a hand painted plate crashed on my kitchen floor sharp fragments lying everywhere painful to touch threatening to damage me as I pick them up. Oh the plans I had for this dish, the dinner parties it was supposed to see. It hurts, In more ways than one this brokenness. My…