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Posts Tagged ‘passion’

Dissolve

Posted in Free Verse / Poetry, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 23, 2024| 3 Comments »

I wrote this many years ago, and it’s actually appeared in multiple books, but I guess I never posted it here.

*

As a child You seemed so far away

Ancient and foreboding

A mythological figure from another realm

*

I could not see You

nor hear Your voice

nor sense Your presence

It made it so easy to ignore You

*

Because I never really understood that I was lost

I had no idea that You were looking for me

Nor did I appreciate the significance of the day that You found me

All I knew was that I’d traded a smoke-filled room for the open air

and that for the first time, I could breathe

*

But then You came

Like a little bird at first

Flickering along the branches of my barren tree

I didn’t grasp the meaning of Your song, but I knew that You were there

And that was enough for me

*

But You could not be content with that

So You sent the swirling wind of Your Spirit

Splintering the rails of my fences

and uprooting the posts that they hung on

Releasing all that had been pent up within

and scattering it to places I could not reach

*

Upon the dust of what remained You breathed Your life

And the fire of Your passion consumed me

As wells of hope and joy sprang up within me

And the wings of Your peace enclosed around me

*

For the first time I recognized Your voice

and I realized that You’d been speaking to me from the beginning

I loved what You said and I loved the way You said it

Your words are like dancing flames within my consciousness

Your wisdom is an unshakable mooring

*

Yet beyond what I’ve known

And beyond what I feel

There is You!

And all that You are

*

You are the gentle rain that sustains the land

You are the lightning that renews the forest

You are the wonder in a newborns eye

You are the shaking of the earth

You are the beauty of the pearl

You are the majesty of the canyons

You are the vastness of the heavens

You are the tenderness of the butterfly

You are the crashing of the waves

*

You are the tears I’ve refused to shed

You are the song I’ve been afraid to sing

You are the word stuck in my throat

You are my strength

You are my refuge

You are my hope

You are, I Am

*

Pull me into Your circle dance

Weave me into Your fabric

Dissolve me in Your cup

Draw me into all that You are

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Thought for the Day – Boldness

Posted in Thought for the Day / Quotes, tagged , , , , on November 23, 2021| Leave a Comment »

It was James & John’s zeal for the Lord that caused them to suggest calling down fire from heaven (Luke 9:54).

It was Peter’s passion for Jesus that caused him to swing the sword in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matt 26:51).

It was Saul’s fervor for the things of God that caused him to persecute the followers of Jesus (Acts 8:3).

But in each instance, these faithful men found themselves out of step with God’s will.

Indeed, there is a way that seems right to a man, but it ultimately leads to death (Prov. 14:12).

In these perilous times, boldness is not the critical issue.

We need to be praying for discernment.

We desperately need to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church (Rev. 2).

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Thought for the Day – Misguided Passion

Posted in Thought for the Day / Quotes, tagged , , , on October 12, 2020| 2 Comments »

We tend to celebrate Peter’s declaration of Jesus as the Messiah (Matt. 16:13-20) based on the idea that he was the first one to solve the mystery (or maybe to have the gumption to boldly declare such a thing).  But Jesus’ excitement wasn’t as much about the content of the revelation, as it was in where the revelation came from.  He said, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.”  I’d like to suggest that when He said, “upon this rock I will build my church”, He wasn’t just talking about a people who recognized Him as the Messiah, but also a people who listened for the voice of His Father.  A few passages later (Matt. 16:21-23) we see the same zealous Peter making yet another bold declaration, as Jesus explained what needed to happen to fulfill His Father’s eternal plan.  Though Peter’s pledge that, “This shall never happen to you!” was rooted in love and concern for Jesus, he received the strongest of rebukes, “Get thee behind me Satan!”  Jesus explained, “you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns”.  There is little doubt that Jesus loved Peter’s passion and boldness, but in the bluntest of terms He told him that He needed to be mindful of the forces that propelled him.  A short time later, Peter failed this test, as the Temple Guard came to seize Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Instead of watching and praying as Jesus had instructed, he grabbed for a sword.  

Without a doubt, we live in troubled times, and our passions are easily stirred.  Those of us who call ourselves by His name can easily relate to the temptation to grab a sword.  But like Peter, unless we hear the voice of our Father, Jesus may well have to undo the destruction that we bring about.

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Thought for the Day – Passionate/Compassionate

Posted in Thought for the Day / Quotes, tagged , , , on May 13, 2020| Leave a Comment »

It’s a lot easier to be passionate than it is to be compassionate.

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Thought for the Day – Passionate

Posted in Thought for the Day / Quotes, tagged , on November 4, 2019| Leave a Comment »

God certainly loves to use passionate people, but sometimes our passion can work against us. In Matthew, chapter 16, we see Peter go both ways in quick succession.  In 16:17 we see him praised for his discernment of the Messiah, but just a few short passages later (16:23) we hear the Lord say, “Get thee behind me Satan”.  I would like to suggest that the same passion fueled Peter in both instances, but the difference was the source of his information.  In the first instance the Lord said that this wasn’t revealed by flesh and blood, but by my Father.  In the second, the Lord scolded Peter for having his mind on “merely human concerns”.  We passionate followers of God must be mindful of this when our passions are stirred and we have the urge to speak.

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