christmas poetry

for some reason, i like to read poetry at Christmas. well, as my friend deaver pointed out, i like poetry all year. but really Christmas poetry is my favorite. there is just something about the birth of our Savior in such abject humility and strangeness that transcends prose. the imagery of light piercing the darkness in such a quiet unnoticed way that bespeaks the literary form of poetry...

john blase (at thebeautifuldue.wordpress.com) is one of my favorite modern poets. and i read this poem this morning and can't stop thinking about it...

String Bright the Gray

John Blase
 

You are the lights
of the everyday world.
 
Signs that goodness is not
destined to be defeated.
 
But to shine you must daily,
Jacob-like, grapple with God.
 
Refuse to let go every time.
Every time wrest the wounding
 
heat from his hands so you can
flare the old words worn smooth
 
and so string bright the gray with
your burning belief.

may this Christmas eve find you stringing bright the gray with your burning belief... may it find me doing the same.

 

 

i love a poet...

where has wendell berry been all of my life? off writing beautiful things like this is the answer to that question...

“If you could do it, I suppose, it would be a good idea to live your life in a straight line – starting, say, in the Dark Wood of Error, and proceeding by logical steps through Hell and Purgatory and into Heaven. Or you could take the King’s Highway past appropriately named dangers, toils, and snares, and finally cross the River of Death and enter the Celestial City.

But that is not the way I have done it, so far. I am a pilgrim, but my pilgrimage has been wandering and unmarked. Often what has looked like a straight line to me has been a circle or a doubling back. I have been in the Dark Wood of Error any number of times. I have known something of Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, but not always in that order.

The names of many snares and dangers have been made known to me, but I have seen them only in looking back. Often I have not known where I was going until I was already there. I have had my share of desires and goals, but my life has come to me or I have gone to it mainly by way of mistakes and surprises.

Often I have received better than I have deserved. Often my fairest hopes have rested upon bad mistakes. I am an ignorant pilgrim, crossing a dark valley. And yet for a long time, looking back, I have been unable to shake off the feeling that I have been led – make of that what you will.

~ Wendell Berry, Jayber Crow

thank you wendell berry for summing up my life so eloquently. i am also an ignorant pilgrim, crossing a dark valley, making bad mistakes, yet continually finding surprising grace and fairest hopes, all the time having an unshakable feeling of being led. that sums up this past year. all the other past ones. and i bet all the ones to come. lead on... i am stumbling through the dark to that still small light.

the real work...

The Real Work
by Wendell Berry

It may be that when we no longer know what to do
we have come to our real work,

and that when we no longer know which way to go
we have come to our real journey.

The mind that is not baffled is not employed.

The impeded stream is the one that sings.

“Love is what carries you, for it is always there, even in the dark, or most in the dark, but shining out at times like gold stitches in a piece of embroidery. ” 
― Wendell Berry, Hannah Coulter

“You have been given questions to which you cannot be given answers. You will have to live them out - perhaps a little at a time.'
And how long is that going to take?'
I don't know. As long as you live, perhaps.'
That could be a long time.'
I will tell you a further mystery,' he said. 'It may take longer.” 
― Wendell Berry, Jayber Crow

some poetry on an overcast friday...

And The Greatest

by john blase thebeautifuldue

Until your tears have fermented

they are only water,

easily mistaken for raindrops.

But should you endure the season

your grief might turn to wine,

your sadness might become

the spirit others will travel

far and wide to taste.

Know that the season is often long,

the weather harsh and inappropriate. 

There are no guarantees.

Only hope, wait, and see remain.

And the greatest of these is hope.

still upward...

this poem by spurgeon reminded me of my one word goal for 2013, LIFT...

Still upward be thine onward course:

For this I pray today;

Still upward as the years go by,

And seasons pass away.

Still upward in this coming year,

Thy path is all untried;

Still upward may'st thou journey on,

Close by thy Saviors side.

Still upward e'en though sorrow come,

And trials crush thine heart;

Still upward may they draw thy soul,

With Christ to walk apart.

Still upward till the day shall break,

And shadows all have flown;

Still upward till in Heaven you wake,

And stand before the throne.

{charles spurgeon}

and i made this little poster that i will have printed up sometime soon to always remind me to let Christ LIFT my eyes. my heart. my purposes. my head. so that i may LIFT others...

View fullsize

and i loved this post... the crazy good things you can expect from God in 2013

What can you expect God to do in your life in 2013? Some pretty incredible things. You can expect:

• God’s mercies to follow you, and pursue you, every every minute of every hour of every day. “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. ” (Psalm 23:6)

• God to meet every single true need that should arise. “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19)

• God to lead you, counsel you, guide you, and give you wisdom. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

• God to freely forgive your sins each time you repent. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

• God to wonderfully correct and discipline you if you should stray into sin. “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” (Hebrews 12:6)

• God to continue working powerfully in you as you pursue holiness. “…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:12-13)

• God to help you overcome patterns of sin that have plagued you for years. “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. ” (Romans 6:14)

• God to use trials in your life to refine and purify your faith. “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2-4)

• God to give you every good thing. “No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.”

God has promised to do all these things, and many more. His promises are sure. 2013 is bursting with blessings.

from steven altrogge, the blazing center