Spring

Oh how I've missed you...
white fluffy clouds of Bradford Pear blossoms
the forsythia bursting golden sunshiney yellow
Redbud dressed in soft, velvety, pink petals
bright pink azaleas explode like grounded fireworks, lasting slightly longer
hardy daffodils and the gracious yet imperious iris
your sweet fragrances carried along by the breeze as my soul soars along side
long, cold, dreary, colorless days give way to soft, lingering light and
Color from God's best palette
Relief, hope resurrected along with seeds lain dormant, thought dead
then when least expected new green pokes through unveiling a season's work underground
Temperatures mellow in contrast to my mood of joy
various notes of birdsong filter through, adding layer to the fragrance, the silky breeze, the velvet light
Spring, long hoped for friend, end to to death, you carry life with you, making the world bearable and more beautiful. A reminder of His promises. Proof to Resurrection.
Oh, how I've missed you...

I Stand By the Door

I Stand By the DoorSamuel Shoemaker

I stand by the door
I neither go too far in nor stay too far out
The door is the most important door in the world.
It is the door through which men walk when the find God.
There's no use in my going way inside and staying there
When so many are still outside and they, as much as I, crave to know where the door is
And all that so many ever find is only the wall where a door ought to be.
They creep along the wall like blind men with outstretched, groping hands
Feeling for a door, knowing there must be a door, yet they never find it.
So I stand by the door.

The most tremendous thing in the world is for men to find that door-
The door to God.
The most important thing any man can do
Is to take hold of one of those blind, groping hands and put it on the latch-
The latch that only clicks and opens to the man's own touch.
Men die outside that door
As starving beggars die on cold nights in cruel cities in the dead of winter
Die for want of what is within their grasp
They live on the other side of it, live because they have found it
Nothing else matters compared to helping them find it
And open it and walk in and find Him.
So I stand by the door.

Go in great saints, go all the way in
Go way down in the cavernous cellars and way into the spacious attics
It is a vast roomy house, this house where God is.
Go into the deepest of hidden casements of withdrawal, of silence, of sainthood
some must inhabit those inner rooms,
And know the depths and heights of God
And call outside to the rest of us how wonderful it is
Sometimes I take a deeper look in, sometimes venture in a little farther
But my place seems close to the opening
So I stand by the door...

I admire the people who go way in,
But I wish they would not forget how it was before they got in
Then they would be able to help the people who have not yet even found the door
Or the people who want to run away from God again
You can go in too deely and stay in too long and forget the people outside the door
As for me, I shall take my old accustomed place
Near enough to God to hear Him and know He is there
But not far from men as to not hear them and remember that they are there too.
Where? Outside the door.
Thousands of them, millions of them
But more important for me, one of them, two of them, ten of them
Whose hands I am intended to put on the latch
So I shall stand by the door and wait for those who seek it.
I had rather be a doorkeeper, so I stand by the door.

Obsessed

I can't get you off of my mind

You are all I think about

Everywhere I look I see traces of you

And I look for you everywhere I go

If I had nothing else but you

I wouldn't miss the nothing

I long to see your face

I want to know your voice

Really, I want to just crawl onto your lap

And have a whispered conversation

Like only those who are comfortable and deeply love each other can do

Knowing you has made me into a fanatic

One who could care less what others think of me

I find myself eager to please only you

I find you so easy to recognize

I find myself talking about you like a person consumed by love

I find that I know myself better by knowing you

I find that I love myself more because you love me

If you asked, I could die for you

Because you asked, I live for you.

Clay

It's funny
You have called me clay.
I became hardened,
I was broken, but did not shatter.
Instead, once broken I became
softer,
more pliable,
ready to be molded anew.
What will you mold me into next,
I wonder?

Shadow

You are light and yet you are my Shadow.
You follow me as if I am the love of your life
Indeed I am bound to you by gentle cords of Love
I may cut those cords or deny them, yet you never leave
No matter how far I wander you are always there.
No matter how often I stray I am never out of your sight.
You follow me on wings of morning
You even follow me into the very depths of hell.
You are close enough to catch every one of my tears in a bottle.
And to know the number of hairs on my head
I can push you away, out of my life and still you never cease wooing me home.
You are my shadow

because
of
this...

I am your shadow
For you are my life
Indeed though it is through you I live, yet you live through me
I breathe in your very breath of Heaven and it is you who breathes out
Your strength is mine, for your love sustains me
I look to follow where you lead
Yes, I would not take a step without your hand guiding me
I follow looking for glimpses of your face
I listen, hanging on your every word.
Though I am not as faithuful as you, my heart wants to be.
Though I may wander and stray, my eyes always search for you
Because you are my Shadow, I am yours.

Around You

This is in honor of those people we know and love (or have to put up with) who suck the life right out of a room. We all know at least one.

Around you I am smaller than nothing.

Around you I live, but I can barely breathe.

Around you I am a pillar supporting the weight of your dreams.

Around you I speak, but no one listens.

Around you my wings are clipped, I am grounded.

Around you I am a moth to the flame, fascinated yet helpless.

Around you my armor is weak and I am vulnerable.

Around you my dreams seem further out of reach.

Around you what I can give is never enough.

Around you I am defined by what you say.

Around you I am exhausted by meaningless effort.

Around you what I grasp for always vanishes.

Around you I struggle to be myself.

Around you I am always the guilty one.

Around you my soul withers slowly.

Around you I fight to retain what is mine.

Around you I am alone.