Photo by Wallace Chuck
I think I missed my cue
in the seismic gap between us.
The drama is widening it all the while.
There is a rawness in your eyes
burning ashes fill the sky.
The midnight train is passing by
is this my cue to cry?
A night so long and you move on
and I never say goodbye.
Photo by Pixabay
Dreamlike orbs of light float by. I feel removed from afar. I compartmentalize the uncertainty of these times. It lessens the sharp edge of the unknown, of false information, and loss around every corner. This must be similar to wartime trauma, although in many ways no where near it. Yet still there is communal suffering in my world and there is idle time that cannot be healthy. Texas summer heat is unleashed. The sun beats down in all of it’s glory, unrelenting. Dozens of small wisps of clouds seem motionless in the watery blue of the summer sky.
Yet, in this stillness and overwhelming simplicity I know the Presence of God washes over me. Steady and strong, I know I am meant to live in this time. Right now I am alive. The sharp edge of the unknown lessens because of the Power of the name of Jesus. Yes, I am one of those who cling to the Power of the blood shed on His cross and the indescribable power of His Resurrection! Jesus alone!
I am able to live in the present most of the time as it is the gift He gives me. I am comforted by Him. The Alpha and Omega…The One whose name is Faithful and True. Today is what I have.
“I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True.” Revelation 1 9:11
Photo by sebastiaan stam
Like a column of marching Nazi jackboots.
The Merchant of Death has goose-stepped his way in.
There is no more denial in this hideous illness.
Streets are deserted and creation weeps in stillness.
The politico has become the other greater enemy.
Hatred is ravaging the souls of men.
Oh God deliver us from evil, deliver us from this dark night.
Thank you for your everlasting faithfulness and light!
Photo by cottonbro
There is nothing folded or any pockets left to hide anything. There are no possessions, no promise to keep, and no clever things to say. There are no lies to tell, no more pressure of failure or success. There is no need to pursue happiness and accolades. There are no more bills to pay or money to spend. There is nothing clever to be said.
This man and I are alone in his hospital room. We are humans here together. I am the last person he saw. I am the last one to hold this hand that is already losing its warmth. This hand that held his sweetheart, his children, and grandchildren. This hand that worked diligently at a job and perhaps lost touch on his journey.
In this moment I feel his joys and sorrows as one human to another. I have the privilege to hold for just a brief moment the connection of the mystery that we both have lived, and dreamed in both the laughing and the weeping.
I am the one who will gently wash away the smell of sickness. I will tenderly prepare this human body for final rest as if he were my loved one because the Truth is we are brother and sister in the family of “us.” All of us who are called humans. I will make sure he looks his best for his loved ones who are on their way here in mourning, and just for ” the blink of an eye” I will hold this other human’s unknown secrets, dreams, and love for the cherished treasures they are. I will be a better person having done so.
I whisper a prayer to The One who gives life and who defeated death and give thanks that two complete strangers can be so completely united for a single moment.
This is what being a Nurse means…
Photo by Maria Pop on Pexels.com
Daily there are new hits.
The death toll rising and no place to sit,
at the table of commerce there is hunger and doubt.
Some will be let in but so many left out.
So a new reality is here.
In whom will I trust and whom will I fear?
Will people be kind and help stop the bleeding?
My country is dying and my soul is grieving.
Decency and kindness are being crucified!
No one tells the truth, the media is all lies!
My soul is crying in the long dark night!
Deliver us oh God with your Holy light!
Never let it be said of this patriot here,
that she ever gave up her country so dear!
Let her be remembered as a woman who prayed,
“In God we trust until the end of days!”
Photo by PhotoMIX
It’s always been broken and now it’s on fire.
The world is so angry and so very tired,
But there has always been an answer.
There has always been The Way.
For all to be forgiven and start again today.
The Way might be a walk through the fire.
It might be a walk through The Door.
The Way stands there waiting and calling…
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” John14:6,7.
Photo by Louis
I listen to the sound of my boots on the ground.
I walk these dry roads, it is just me.
Nothing but my footsteps makes a single sound,
but I know up ahead there is a stream.
A stream in the desert of loneliness.
A stream that flows for all mankind.
A stream where all people can be washed clean.
A stream flowing with the Water of life.
Each one will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert… Isaiah 32:2
Photo by Zukiman Mohamad
He smiled with no malice when I said, “I don’t trust you but I’ll try you rather than stay the way I am.”
“Well, at least your honest,” he replied adding, ” I can work with that. “
So, this man had a sense of humor and his eyes danced like chocolate stars.
His face was not handsome and his hands looked rough and scarred.
There was a warmth and strength in his voice that I’d never heard before.
A sound of gentle peace fell before me like a tide pool near the shore.
We must have walked for hours but I was not tired or worn.
He told me every single thing I had ever done before.
I cannot express with words the happening.
A wonder of transformation began to form.
I was then and then I was new and I trust Him forevermore.
Photo by Negative Space
I take up my pen to write again of the love you give to me.
No one else was there in that dark night of despair when I saw how much You had to bleed.
You tenderly wrapped my dead body in your shroud of forgiveness, and sealed it with the balm of your Grace.
Your kindness brought me to repentance, and you held so sweetly my tear streaked face.
People say they have heard it all before, and I hope that they too have seen,
The One who knelt beside me and cried along with me.
The chief of sinners, I was your enemy yet still you died to claim.
I will tell you Jesus loves you and me and by no other name can we be saved.
Photo by John-Mark Smith
The crowds were waiting. The sick, the lame, the blind, the demon possessed were all waiting for Him. The One who they had glimpsed in other crowds on other days healing everyone he touched. Where was He? Those other men were his followers so He must be close by.
Jesus was away at a distance. He could see the crowds below growing larger. Jesus was praying. Jesus was here for a reason but today it was not to go down to that crowd and heal them physically. Jesus was going on to “to other towns” to preach the Gospel. It is not that he did not love and care for the infirm and helpless ones at the bottom of that hill. He did and does care but His primary healing is/was to be done to the souls of the human race. His Gospel is this, Sin kills, Hell is real but God is Merciful and He, Jesus is the Way to Life. Jesus is the passport we need to The Kingdom.
I confess I have often prayed and used Jesus Salvation for me as a means for “life” not to be hard or uncomfortable here on earth. I have prayed for healing for myself and others. I pray every day for a “not hard life” for my children and grandchildren” but that is NOT why Jesus came. Oh do not doubt, Jesus cares for our trials on earth but He cares more that we receive Salvation from our sin and spend eternity in His presence.
Jesus promises those that receive Him will have eternal life and that He will never leave us nor forsake us and as one of my favorite quotes says, “you cannot find the Cross of Jesus on your own. It is Jesus who must lead you there, as if you were a blind person.”
So, I confess I tried to manipulate my relationship with Jesus by asking Him to not let me or those I love suffer but in His Gracious infinite Love and Wisdom He forgives me and says, “now walk with me and tell everyone that Jesus Christ is Risen and the souls of man can be saved forever.”
Mark 1:39
