Happy Monday!!I wonder…
I wonder … if they know
about Corona
Virus that is
The little ones that hop about on
spindly legs and merrily dodge the
white rippled waves
As they come in to greet them. Their wings happily tucked in and yet moving as freely as they’d like
When they like
They chirp occasionally
without restraint
Without a limit of any kind
The sun shines on us both
But the differences are clear
He gets to stay out here and
I have to go inside.
Copyright E.Henry, 2020.
I was out for my daily short walk by my flat, which I am very grateful is so close to the sea front, when I decided to stop and notice the little birds hopping over the sand and waves. We have become very accustomed to the freedom to go where we like, when we like and perhaps this whole pandemic will help us (myself included) to be more grateful for that freedom.
Have to say though that I was so thankful to actually get inside as the wind would have cut you in two!
Stay safe! Stay home!
Emily x
A Lament for World Poetry Day…
It’s World Poetry Day. Poetry has long been seen as flowery language expressing trite sentiments that have little to do with the reality of everyday life. Sentiments that only the elite have time to write…
However, one of the reasons I began writing poetry was because I was inspired by the ‘down in the trenches’ horrors of war that Wilfred Owen describes without fear of upsetting his readers. He wrote as it was – the reality of what he saw before him. Unapologetically.
Today I am reminded of this as I write a lament in the midst of what can only be described as unprecedented times. Times we never saw coming. A host of feelings thrown into the reality that things most likely won’t be the same again.
Lately, I have been very much encouraged by Rend Collective and their call to choose to worship especially when it’s hard and you don’t feel anything.
So with that in mind I wrote a lament.
Even Today
O Lord,
I pour out my lament. To you.
Overwhelmed.
I am overwhelmed.
This world just got a whole lot
Crazier
And I don’t know what to do.
I need you.
We need you.
We all do
But the majority of folks don’t accept this
They say things that are empty and unfounded like-
WE will get through this.
WE can.
WE must.
And while it’s true that we should still stick together (at a distance!)
That’s NOT all that will weather
this storm.
There is a warning –
People fail us. there have been those who have lost our trust. Those who let fear get the best of them, stockpiling up and leaving others with out the ‘musts’.
So much is uncertain. So much is unclear.
So much is unknown. So much up in the air.
I think of all those in isolation-
Myself included-
And worry about our mental health and if there’s a solution.
I worry, in addition, about an increase in sin and crime
Of pornography and domestic abuse and the devil working overtime.
I worry that the finances are not secure and that I and others will need to ‘sign on’ and perhaps endure hard times ahead.
Yes I feel overwhelmed, God.
But…
like when David cried out to you in the valley
I will lift up my eyes and say:
My times are in your hands.
Blessed be your name
Even today.
Copyright E. Henry, 2020
Above All
Above All
The world has changed
Completely
instantly
For an unknown period of time
We, who imagined we were in control, have recently received a nasty shock
-we’re not.
We, who assumed we’re immune
Have realised we may be in lock down til June …
Or beyond…
And we push
We panic.
We rush around
In a manic flurry.
To then be sitting ducks.
Control it seems has slipped through our fingers, as we wash our hands. I’m reminded that the sand in the timer is also slipping through
The glass
And so best to put my trust in something/
Someone who will last
Past these days of uncertainty and change
Jesus-
He never fails
He stays the same.
Above all.
Copyright E.Henry, March 2020.
I haven’t uploaded anything for a long while because I haven’t really written much in a long while. This being a ‘sitting duck’ and added to the fact that it’s World Poetry Day on Saturday I want to get back into the habit of writing regularly. It’s one of my many loves.
The times are uncertain but He is not. Keep trusting. Keep praying. Keep preferring the other.
Emily xx
Golden Linings poem (video)
Waiting Room
Check out the YouTube recording of this poem…
YouTube “Waiting Room”
Perhaps, just perhaps, you are where I am.
Waiting.
You certainly have been at some point, I’m sure.
It’s not an easy place to be. You feel like
there are uncertainties and you are eager
to move to place of familiarity.
Truth is experience and stuff can never give us the dependability we crave.
Our healing comes when trust solely on the
One who has put us together and has our
times in His hands.
Waiting Room
Life seems like it’s standing still
Yet impatient, as if fidgeting
Waiting for your name to be called forward
To go somewhere
-just not backwards
Or here, really!
Waiting for it to be your turn
To be ‘seen to’.
We are all too keen to move on!
To get checked out.
To be given the ‘all clear’,
So that the dear next to us knows we are ‘fine’.
The Doctor seems to take ages.
We anxiously look at our time – believing we could fit in a whole lot before tea!
We need to be next in line!
Unknown to us, but known to the Doc
He has us scheduled in,
And despite fidgeting against the clock
Our healing has begun.
Copyright E. Henry, 2019.
“No Exceptions”
You know when you get a song in your head and even when I can’t remember all the words it is constantly orbiting your mind?!
This week, I have had that with a very powerful song by Nichole Nordeman called “Dear Me”. I have thoroughly enjoyed Nichole’s songs since I was in college – songs like ‘Small Enough’ got through times of stressful deadlines and heartbreak.
Recently, I looked her music up again and have been blessed all over again. This song “Dear me” has spoken to me and the final line “Jesus loves us this I know and there are no exceptions” reminds me of a poem I wrote a while back which resonates with the heart of the song – the inseparable love of God.
Nichole, if you happen to read this – thank you!
But, ultimately, I’m thanking our God for the truth behind our words.
No Exceptions
I’m just going to accept it
Accept his love –
No exceptions.
I’m determined to accept the TRUTH
That He is crazy …
About me!
Lately, I’ve neglected it…
Him.
No exceptions.
I’ve been distracted
Been acting
As though He wasn’t near
As though He couldn’t hear
Or see the fear
And tears in my heart.
But He is and He has
He doesn’t pass by.
He doesn’t neglect me
He cares for me.
He takes me and
He lifts me … in love
With Him.
Yes He cares for me
But not out of ‘nice-ity’
But because He is crazy
About me!
No exceptions.
I’m not going to question it!
I’m not going to wonder and worry
And flurry around to make sure.
Just in case he doesn’t …
He does !
No exceptions.
NO EXCEPTIONS, EMILY!
But not by Emily.
Not in Emily’s strength or might.
Not in Emily’s capacity or sight.
Only in the sheer, all-encompassing love and DELIGHT He has and will always have
For me,
Emily.
No exceptions.
Copyright E. Henry, 2015.
In Comparison
YouTube Video –
Inscriptions – “In Comparison”
I think I’m right in thinking that we all do it.
In Comparison
We are accomplished in comparison-
In comparing ourselves
to the person next to us,
On the bus
At home,
to the other people in the room,
our neighbour,
But most of all to the people we admire most.
They become our standard.
So that, essentially, we can boast about
Some element of life we find easy or successful…to fly through life
We have this vicious circle of ‘in comparison’ going on
Saying “oh yes I belong here because …
I have the job , house, car, holidays and a face not unlike the most recent movie star…
Too far
A comparison?
I don’t say that!
But we think it. We believe it.
We are aiming for it. Not just to fit in and ‘be normal’ but to be successful … and
Ultimately ?
Better…
In comparison
To the others who surround me on a daily basis.
But what if we changed our admiration to the One who is beyond comparison ?
Would we be so confident in our own
self worth?
Better…
I suggest we’d be so taken by the greatness of His Glory and Love for us, that we see ourselves as small
and, in awe,
bow the knee.
Copyright E. Henry, 2019.
