please help God can help
great the need in one the risk
and by extension
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photo by Redd Francisco on Unsplash
always all the ways
God reaches
down or
up
to say I love you
which
as the maker saying first
God then
awaiting
all entryways or corners as
safe traps
any place or
way by
which
through which
we’re heard
should we return at all
and
on our own
say
love
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1 John 4:19
photo by James Fesh on Unsplash
goodniks
have we thought
of anything today that’s good
not
masked
rationalized
gold-plated but
good
the way we say of God via Aslan
not safe but
good
something good that might have to take a chance
even to risk rank in
the world
if not fragile
then
though who knows whom we care for
and
what might be the issues there
the person
the relationship
and
do we wish goodness in the world
and might we commit ourselves to the smallest
things
to do
to promulgate
in spite of rudeness
greed
whatever someone else might want
and should not want and someday
when the world is sound
with
provision to keep all alive and
on the way
could not want
anyway
someday it will be that way
while the good we do
ain’t there
and so takes chances
against
the bloating thing that wants it all
while the rest of us are
grist
or paper targets
so
how about that goodness
might we
speak polite
might we give way to someone else
through
the door or to the chair
by what
is
strong and what is
weak
how might we begin
or for some of us to carry on
the giving that is
small
then large
then changes everything
but
good
today enough
for
you and me
today
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“Who is Aslan?” asked Susan.
“Aslan?” said Mr. Beaver, “Why don’t you know? He’s the King. . . . It is he, not you, that will save Mr. Tumnus. . . .”
“Is—is he a man?” asked Lucy.
“Aslan a man!” said Mr. Beaver sternly. “Certainly not. I tell you he is the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea. Don’t you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion—the Lion, the great Lion.”
“Ooh!” said Susan. “I’d thought he was a man. Is he—quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”
“That you will, dearie, and no mistake,” said Mrs. Beaver, “if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”
“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.
“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver. “Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ’Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
“I’m longing to see him,” said Peter, “even if I do feel frightened when it comes to the point.”
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
photo by Rob Potter on Unsplash
2 poems with one poem an expression of thanks then the other a preachy story
given means
someone brought me
food
and others cleared my car
and I imagine that I’ll
lose the space
as soon as I go somewhere
but
I’m thankful
I can eat
and I can move away
when
needed or desired
in the parable
these helpers would be sheep
though busy sheep
helpful
and loving
the givers have the designation
sheep
or goat
and I wonder what
the receivers
such as I might be
maybe
lambs
or kids
Matthew 25:31-46
the one arrives for whom there has been waiting
a story with a king
who dispenses justice
a righteous king
who
has the power with discretion
and the role
given
to play
and shall people be judged
by this wonder who could
be
man or woman
or those gender parts
in God
and so the king
metes
as if the word were ready for this one
alone and
throughout
time
and a throne is
set
the the judgment happens simply
you were me and in
need
and these came to help you
though they needn’t
have known you and you had comfort
even
more life to give
and for the metaphor
I call the helpers
sheep as I
frankly
am the shepherd
and sorry for goats
to call the others goats
and
I guess goats are famous for consuming
and
these goats to judge as people
keeping all
if by degree and giving nothing
not
what would have been easier to share
let alone what might have
been harder
to share
and I must welcome sheep
then
outcast the goats
not
for species judgment
except for those of you
people
whom I made
to whom I gave
but chose
not
to give back or out
toward loving benefit of others
so I judge
and so it is as it was
set
so long ago just after Eden
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same verses
photo by Jay Gomez on Unsplash
allowance
who is allowed
who gives
and
who may receive
what do we talk about
possession
salvation
and
who owns
salvation if anyone should own
God owns it
I
suppose
manages the process
certainly
provides all parts of God
needed
creates everything
places
us
then there’s a full beginning
affirming rest as
well
then somehow a serpent is allowed
if we intertwine the stories
then we know
of
the rebellion and the war in heaven
with casualties if not killed
yet fallen
then to
take it out on us
and
we fall as well
not
killed and yet spiritually
as good as gone until the parts of God
come
to the Earth
to teach
and offer to save
one part creates
the other comes and then
the other
the third part closer than ever
indwelling
in fact
by
invitation
strange invitation that both must offer
and accept
then
all things work together
that
are good
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Romans 8
28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
(KJV)
photo by Aziz Acharki on Unsplash
how are you God
how are you
Lord
how are your angels
how is heaven
these days
ten thousand years a day
our songs could
count
transparent gold and as a metaphor
or actual
I don’t get
it
and
don’t need to
so much about eternity
honestly
it can
overwhelm of course by normal reckoning
though
you understand our senses
having you know
making these
and
eternity to ponder
thank you
Lord and I might ask
for
help with the imponderables
not
only to apprehend but
to carry
by
the muscles
outside
inside
that we have
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The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass.
Revelation 21:21
(NIV)
photo by Phil Hearing on Unsplash
the poet-friend
I heard it from a poet
once
that there was no following
because
grace was dispensed
by
those who claimed authority
to give it
and
by their terms
I’m imagining a water-cooler with
a foreign hand on
the tap
a line that goes away
from
there of those to drink
who
are bestowed with an upside-down
triangle of a cup
inside
of which are stips of official
pardon and
toward
the price of another metaphor
a ticket
to
the show
while grace if free
and
has no agency but God
if I may say
three parts to
one
with grace soaring everywhere
and everywhere it’s
needed
to cover and to heal as
that song-balm
the sin-
sick soul
and why not fly by music
of
the spheres
an angel chorus to announce
and
to remind us
freely given is the love and salvation
of the Lord
and
is the vision made
the poetry
perverse
and I don’t know but that it’s better than
the tyranny of will that despots
try
and yet prohibited by better will
and inside each
of us
a part
as if to fuse with our own
elements
our spirits to
save
grace
angels
our own will
and we are saved
if
against the world
and
those disillusioned and me
angered in
their
favor for who dispenses
grace
and blessing but
the Lord
and not the red
and black
the gold of breaking majesty
while
what we have
on our own
even alone if need be
faith
and love
forever
freely
grace like justice flowing
even better
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photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
love God
out of love
things happen
things
are made
by hate
destruction
agenda of a nothingness pervades
since
hate can’t build a thing
except for stone
of an illusion
love
then
closer to God
closer to substance
if
without which
material
any sense of material
goes empty
choosing faith
then
by belief and so response
to invitations
at least
two of these to start
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photo by Lucas George Wendt on Unsplash
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