When loneliness comes stalking

When loneliness comes stalking, go into the fields, consider
the orderliness of the world. Notice
something you have never noticed before,

like the tambourine sound of the snow-cricket
whose pale green body is no longer than your thumb.

Stare hard at the hummingbird, in the summer rain,
shaking the water-sparks from its wings.

Let grief be your sister, she will whether or not.
Rise up from the stump of sorrow, and be green also,
like the diligent leaves.

A lifetime isn't long enough for the beauty of this world
and the responsibilities of your life.

Scatter your flowers over the graves, and walk away.
Be good-natured and untidy in your exuberance.

In the glare of your mind, be modest.
And beholden to what is tactile, and thrilling.

Live with the beetle, and the wind.

~ Mary Oliver ~

(excerpt from The Leaf and the Cloud: A Poem)

Take my heart and break it

If I was bold enough
I would follow you forever
But darling please
Rescue me, take me out

Some may say it's my fate
Am i just in time
Or am i late
If you can, understand

Then take me out
I don't start, I don't end
I don't change on my own
Take me out
I don't lose, I don't win
I don't do well alone
Love is what we make it
Take my heart and break it
Take me out
I don't want to stay home

You make me dread
You make me sweat
But can you make
Love mean something instead
Something real, make me feel

I don't want to stay here

I don't wanna live half my life
And disappear
So if you want to take chances
Take a chance on me

I don't wanna waste your time...

"When we learn to wait for our Lord's lead in everything, we shall know the strength that finds its climax in an even, steady walk. Many of us are lacking in the strength we so covet. But God gives full power for every task He appoints. Waiting, holding oneself true to His lead--this is the secret of strength. And anything that falls out of the line of obedience is a waste of time and strength. Watch for His leading." --S. D. Gordon

"I hate waiting..."

"In waiting, I waited, for the Lord." (Psalm 40:1, margin.)

"Waiting is much more difficult than walking. Waiting requires patience, and patience is a rare virtue. It is fine to know that God builds hedges around His people--when the hedge is looked at from the viewpoint of protection. But when the hedge is kept around one until it grows so high that he cannot see over the top, and wonders whether he is ever to get out of the little sphere of influence and service in which he is pent up, it is hard for him sometimes to understand why he may not have a larger environment--hard for him to 'brighten the corner' where he is. But God has a purpose in all HIS holdups. "The steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord," reads Psalm 37:23.

On the margin of his Bible at this verse George Mueller had a notation, "And the stops also." It is a sad mistake for men to break through God's hedges. It is a vital principle of guidance for a Christian never to move out of the place in which he is sure God has placed him, until the Pillar of Cloud moves.

--from Streams in the Desert

Jesus knows what I need

Santa knows what I want for Christmas
but Jesus knows what I need
It can't be purchased, wrapped up, and placed
under an ephod tree

I need patience, kindness--virtues like these
to bend on my knee at the manger

Santa may bring things that last for a year
but eternal gifts come from the Savior

Some days come where I'm playing selfish
I can't think of no one but me
Then I think of all that I'm blessed with
and that it's always best to give than to receive

I need faithfulness, love, generosity
to open my home to a stranger

Santa may bring things that last for a year
but eternal gifts come from the Savior

I need patience, kindness, generosity
to bend on my knee at the manger

Santa may bring things that last for a year
but eternal gifts come from the Savior

Santa knows what I want for Christmas
but Jesus knows what I need
--Leigh Nash

With You

I'd swim across lake Michigan
I'd sell my shoes
I'd give my body to be back again
In the rest of the room

To be alone with you
To be alone with you

You gave your body to the lonely
They took your clothes
You gave up a wife and a family
You gave your goals

To be alone with me
To be alone with me
To be alone with me
You went up on a tree

To be alone with me you went up on the tree

I'll never know the man who loved me
--Sufjan Stevens

All this time...

All this time
All this time
All this time
And you on my mind

I feel like the wind just came and blew all the crumbs away
I'm finally breaking it off with your memory

You're still in my cupboards
Get out of my cupboards
Get off of my walls

All this time
All this time
All this time
And you on my mind

You're where I hang my keys when I walk in the door
You're the jacket I borrowed and proudly wore
But with you in my head you stay under my skin and interfere with my heart

All this time
All this time
All this time
And you on my mind

I feel like the wind just came and blew all the crumbs away
I'm finally breaking it off with your memory

--Sarah Watkins