Labels: Devotional, Music, Poems

In bed and not having the strength to do much else, I've been doing a bit of reading today, finishing up my latest book, Stone Crossings by L. L. Barkat. In the last chapter, I found this gem on the role of grandparents and other "elders" that I want to share here...

Meeting Jesus' family, Simeon played a special role. He prophesied about their future, he praised God for their present, and he blessed them so they would someday remember this moment and rejoice that God had been with them from the start.

It's good for parents to help mold an appropriate vision for their children's future. How doubly powerful this would be if it also came from the previous generation -- grandparents and elder church members who'd play more than Santa Claus and take on the prophetic role of a Simeon, saying, "This is the kind of person I see God has fashioned you to be."

Similarly, in a society where too many of us suffer from a bewildering sense of aimlessness, what a vibrant task it could be for our elders to reassure us with their praises to God for our lives, the way Simeon praised God for the life of Jesus. These praises could be a beautiful form of offering--just one way that mature people could shepherd others who are still early in their journeys. I like the way Bill McConnell expresses such offerings in his poem "Community Life."

Old trees, hospitable as small towns
no longer afraid that high water, fire
or some endemic blight
will shrivel early growth
but now satisfied
that more summers and winters
will not dislodge them,
bear offerings--
landmarks, reference points, sanctuary--
to hearten pilgrims
whose songs still tremble, newborn.

hat tip: Lyric. Thank you.

Labels: Aging, Books, Grandparenting, Poems

ghosts
of small voices
inhabit these halls

they beckon playmates
to scurry
pillar to post
above my head

outlines of elves
scamper up stairs
breathless
noiseless

does no one hear

but me?


(This was originally written in August of 2005. The Slaughter elves were living with us but were away at the beach and I missed them. Tonight, I miss them even more...Since I wrote this, little Liam, Erin and Judah have scampered inside these walls and the halls whisper with their voices, too...)

Labels: Family, Grandkids, Poems

Grafted Branch at Restoring the Years has prayed a prayer that's become a very poignant post...it's one not to be missed.

Labels: Devotional, Poems

If you asked me to describe myself with ten words, "poet" would probably not be one of them. Nevertheless, I do write in verse from time to time, especially when I'm especially moved by a situation or event.

Last week while at my mother's, I ran across some poems I've written in the last few years and thought I'd lost when I had a computer crash. This was a time I was very glad that she still likes to keep hard copies of everything...I was able to retrieve several pieces that, though they wouldn't be worth much to anyone else, are treasures to me because of the people and things to which they're connected.

I share one here, written at a time that I was dealing with discouragement over health issues and pain in my own life and others close to me...

O sweetest Rose who yesterday
stood erect upon my ledge
and proud with blood-red bravery
withstood the knife's cold edge

Your velvet sides surrounded sure
a secret deep within:
the knowledge that ere dawn arrived
You would be broken then

And scattered there upon the lace
which once had graced your hues
would lie the velvet petals limp
and fragrance now diffused

Do you not grieve for life withdrawn,
for yester glory gone?
Do you not mourn the death of all
that slips away undone?

“Ah, no my Friend, for you mistake
the fragrance for the Tree
You view my fading light and strength
as a Rose that used to be

“But look! Oh, look beside the stoop
from where my green stem grew
and see the Life still supple there
and rugged through and through

“Here is the Rose! Here I reside
long after petals yield
Here stalwart branch and tender bud
hold hope for hedge and field

“No grief have I today, my Friend,
O'er glories now unseen
for Life is sheltered in the Tree
whose beauty I have been!”

cw
2/22/05

Labels: Poems

Words fail to express my sadness this evening on learning of the death one of the most quietly influential women of the twentieth century, certainly of my lifetime. Ruth Bell Graham died after a long illness, but did not, as FOX News reported on its website, "succumb" to illness. Tonight she proves that death was not the victor as she is ushered into the presence of the One to whom she gave her life and who gave His life for her.

I've mentioned many times how deeply Mrs. Graham's poetry has affected me. On Mother's Day, 1940, she wrote a poem in honor of her mother and added a postscript on the day her mother went to be with the Lord. I share the poem here in honor of the author...today the postscript becomes even more meaningful.

As the portrait is unconscious
of the master artist's touch,
unaware of growing beauty,
unaware of changing much,
so you have not guessed His working
in your life throughout each year,
have not seen the growing beauty
have not sensed it, Mother dear.
We have seen and marveled greatly
at the Master Artist's skill,
marveled at the lovely picture
daily growing lovelier still;
watched His brush strokes
change each feature
to a likeness of His face,
till in you we see the Master,
feel His presence, glimpse His grace;
pray the fragrance of His presence
may through you seem doubly sweet,
till your years on earth are ended
and the portrait is complete.

Mother's Day, 1940
Portrait completed, November 8, 1974


(from Sitting by My Laughing Fire, Ruth Bell Graham, 1977)

Another portrait completed, June 14, 2007

Labels: People, Poems

Y'all need to stroll on over to The Family Grandstand and check out my poetic grandchildren. My daughter is teaching the Japanese "haiku" form of poetry to her sons (and "poetry" and "sons" in the same sentence is enough of a challenge!). She read in the San Antonio newspaper that they were running a contest to see who could write the best haiku about Fiesta, the annual ten-day party here in the Alamo city. So the boys are entering the contest and they've proven what a good teacher their mommy is! Though I can't claim not to be biased, I will be casting MY vote for JONATHAN AND DAVID (Aged 11 and 9!) :-)

UPDATE: Now you REALLY need to go over there and read all the comments and see some real creativity in action. I disavow any responsibility for the ignorance educational gaps of any of the participants who used to share my last name. A couple of them were obviously absent on haiku day :-)

Labels: Fun, Grandkids, Homeschooling, Poems

[I'm not feeling great today...thought I'd use the down time to share a post from my other blog from last year. I love the picture as much as the topic...]


Does nostalgia ever just run up from behind and smack you silly?

I'm sitting here just before midnight, getting things ready for the new school week. I'm leafing through a book of Robert Frost's poetry, deciding which ones would be good to have the kids look at this week as we begin our study of World War I. And suddenly I am transported to 1970, Crawford High School in San Diego, sitting in the massive choir room and singing an exquisite piece of music. One of the most memorable musical experiences in my high school "career" was performing a compilation entitled "Frostiana," a set of seven of Frost's poems set to intricate harmonies. Those seven poems live for me in a way no others do, a testament to how our brains are wired to store music in a way we will never store the Table of Elements or how a bill becomes law (without Schoolhouse Rock, of course!)

And so, as my eyes fell upon these words, my heart sang them... accompanied by the sweet strains of a hundred or more voices who were also adding the same ones to their own scrapbooks of the heart...

Labels: Memories, Poems

Labels: Children, Mothering, Poems