Never Sleeps

While a pastor on the Fort Berthold Reservation I was honored with the Indian name, "NeverSleeps". It was primarily because I was often responding to particular needs in the middle of the night.

Even more relevant, the Lord Himself, Maker of all, "Never Sleeps".

Surely you know.
Surely you have heard.
The Lord is the God who lives forever,
who created all the world.
He does not become tired or need to rest.
No one can understand how great his wisdom is.

Isaiah 40:28

Welcome to every reader. I am a simple follower of Jesus. He is perfect, I often fall short.

Showing posts with label cedar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cedar. Show all posts

Saturday, January 18, 2025

Decorate my Soul

Decorate my Soul

(“Cedar paneling completely covered the stone walls throughout the Temple, and the paneling was decorated with carvings of gourds and open flowers.” 1 Kings 6:8)

Let the scent of cedar permeate the air,
let its incense waft from here to there.
Let my soul be decorated, fragrant and serene,
like the way the temple explained the
the place where mortal and eternal meet,
where love is commonplace,
where peace is waiting for the chants to begin.

Adorn my soul with roses, let the magnolias invite
new looks when I sit among familiar people
on benches outside the bakery.
Beautify me with grace, grace me with beauty,
let the awe of the sunset be imbedded within,
let the surprise of the new moon brighten the mood.
Spruce up the inner me, spot shine the heart of me.

There is a temple, there are billions, that hold Spirit within.
There are trumpets, there are pavilions where dancers go
to celebrate love that is love no matter what the dark night says.
After a while we will air it out and
begin all over again.
After a while we will play the simple tunes on an Irish whistle,
with a simple guitar played by the high priests of the holy place
found within,
found within,
found within,
Father and
Son and
Holy Ghost.

Let the beauty shout louder, let it whisper lower, let it
permeate the question marks we start with each day.
Let it teem with the motions that God makes in the middle
of all that is ordinary and common. Fill this earthen vessel,
this crock of clay,
with everything that brightens the day, with everything that
opens the night with quiet song.
Saturate me.


Friday, April 28, 2023

Questions Like These

Questions Like These

(“A discussion started among them about who would be the greatest.” Luke 9:46)

Questions like these cause the world to stop spinning
and laugh like onions in a chocolate milkshake.
They are misguided missiles,
thought-bombs that explode far from
the source of every noun, every verb,
every proclamation complete with non-sequiturs
and slovenly rhetoric.

Give me children who wave at me,
neighborhood pets who run to me,
eagles ignoring me,
and breezes that barely whisper the names
that have
gone before me.

The strongest among us find their bones
becoming brittle eventually.
The few on the pyramid above us
find their breath thick and cannot spare
a single respiration. Inevitably.

Look inside my cedar chest, a few blankets,
mildewed clothing, chipped teacups and saucers.
We keep mementos because we could not keep
our ancestors alive. And two more generations,
maybe three, maybe all,
the keepsakes will crumble to dust, the wind
changing their course from owned to loam hundreds
of miles from here.

Give me a baby crying in the night,
give me the mother nursing the child,
give me the father walking the floor,
give me the make-believe that should
never die.

Questions like this keep our fists closed,
grasping rods of iron,
clenching thrones of power.
Set a child before me, let their eyes
loosen my hold on unearned titles.

Let me learn the lessons of upturned faces lifted
toward the sun.