Listening with the Heart (Poem)

Well, a Commenter in the Previous Post Started Writing Poetry and this is what was Inspired within me because of it.  It came Out sort of Negative, yet the Main Point is how we Need to Listen to Each Other with the Heart. 

Listening with the Heart

I cast my Words onto the Sand,

So they are Heard though out the Land,
Yet Stubborn Hearts will sure Demand,
That their Loud Voice is all that Stands.

I cast my Words into the Sea,
In Desperation now I Plea,
As we now Talk while Drinking Tea,
Yet no one knows the Answer.

How can we Walk now Side by Side?

Our Hurts we Learn, somehow to Hide,
Neath Tough Skinned Shields, we Shy Away,
Cause No One's Safe, Least not Today.

Long I Look for Tender Ears,
A Gentle One won't Judge my Tears.
Again I Risk to do my Part,

In Hope he'll Listen with the Heart.

Lessons During Worship

In a way, I feel as if I've allowed my heart and mind to fall into a little bit of a back log in relation to things that I want to share on my blog. I sat down just a few minutes prior to writing this post and began to write down a few titles relating to things that I could share with you and in doing so, came up with 4 titles, or actually it ended up being 5. Three of them have to do with lessons I've learned from our Samoyed Dog, Shasta. One other one has to do with what I remember from a book entitled "Lessons from a Sheep Dog" and than there is this one, which is just some things that the Lord was speaking to me about during worship this Sunday. I considered submitting all of these all at once so that you can read them in the order in which I wrote them, whether than in the reverse order as the computer likes to stack them, but than as I've been reading through some of what I've already written, I've decided that maybe the order in which they are read doesn't matter so much. Perhaps I'll just submit one a day for awhile. That will be different for me.

As to the subject of this post, the Lord was speaking to me in relation to two of the songs that we sang this Sunday. The first was "Come, Now is the Time to Worship". The words of this song go like this...

Come, Now is the time to Worship.
Come, Now is the time to Give your Heart.
Come, Just as you are to Worship.
Come, Just as you are before your God. Come.

One day every tongue will confess you are God.
One day every knee will bow.
Still the greatest treasure remains for those,
who gladly choose You now.

During rehearsal, I was so greatly touched by the song, that I actually requested from my singing partner the chance to share something. What I shared was in relation to our dog, Shasta. Since he is a Samoyed, he struggles a little with the command to "Come". As his owner, I so desire him to want to come to me and basically what I shared at Church on Sunday, just prior to singing this song, is that this is how God feels about us. He wants so badly for us to "Come" to Him.

I also explained what that coming means. God wants us to come and sit at His feet. Not only does He want us to "Come" and Worship Him, as the song suggests, but He also wants us to come and spend time with Him in the form of Private Devotional Time, involving the Reading of Scripture and also Prayer. To truly "Come", we also need to be willing to listen to what He has to say.

When we "Come" to Him in Prayer, if we come only with requests, than this is more like asking Him to come to us and to do it on our terms, yet if we "Come" in order to also listen to Him, this is a form of truly "Coming" and being willing to do so on His terms, whether than on ours. Instead of just telling Him what we want, we need to "Come" and listen to what He wants and be respectful of what He desires from us in our lives.

This, by itself, probably could have been enough of a post, yet God spoke to me again during worship in relation to another one of the songs. This time it was in relation to the song entitled "More Love, More Power". This one goes like this...

(Chorus)
More Love; More Power; More of You in my Life.
More Love; More Power; More of You in my Life.
(Repeat)

(Verse)
And I will Worship You, with all of my Heart.
And I will Worship You, with all of my Mind.
And I will Worship You, with all of my Strength.
You are my Lord. You are my Lord.

(Verse)
And I will Seek Your face, with all of my Heart.
And I will Seek Your face, with all of my Mind.
And I will Seek Your face, with all of my Strength.
You are my Lord. You are my Lord.

What the Lord spoke to me about during this song was that if we want "More Love" and "More Power", than we need to do our part by "Worshiping", "Seeking His Face" and also "Coming" to Him in all the ways that I mentioned earlier.

Too often our Relationship with God is a one sided Relationship, in which we just want God to do for us, but we are not willing to also do for Him. No Relationship should be so one sided and especially not our Relationship with God.

Calm the Anger in My Heart - Poem

The Lord has actually healed me of a lot of the things I used to really feel angry about.  Of course, this horrible beast still rears it's ugly head at times.  We all struggle with anger at times, yet I'm so much more at peace than I once was.

Forgiveness is talked about a lot in the churches, yet my struggle was significant enough that I kept saying, "You know what?  It's just not as simple as that."  Forgiveness actually involves a little bit of a healing process and can often take a little time.   It just plain doesn't happen over night.

Here is a poem that I wrote once when I was feeling angry.

Calm the Anger in my Heart

Calm the anger in my heart. Help me to release it unto You.
Pry my fingers from their grasp.
Help me to know You know the way.
Calm the anger in my heart. Show me hope that You are there.
You're the one who changes hearts. Help me, let You do it, Lord.

(Chorus)
What can I do, when the trust has gone away?
What do I do, with the hurt that still remains?
I give it to You, Lord. Heal my pain and make me love.

Calm the anger in my heart. Help me to see Your guiding hand.
Let me cry my tears to You. Heal me Lord and show the way.
Calm the anger in my heart. Help me to see the other’s pain.
Help me feel compassion, Lord. Ease my hurt and show me how.

(Chorus)
What can I do, when the trust has gone away?
What do I do, with the hurt that still remains?
I give it to You, Lord. Heal my pain and make me love.

Calm the anger in my heart. Please forgive me, Lord, I pray.
Help me to confront some one in love,
Yet not until You’ve calmed my angry heart.
Calm the anger in my heart. Take the pain, Lord, heal me now.
Take the tears and cleanse me, Lord.
Help me to let go and trust You, Lord.

(Chorus)
What can I do, when the trust has gone away?
What do I do, with the hurt that still remains?

I give it to You, Lord. Heal my pain and make me love.

A lot of what I have to say about anger is reflected in the poem.  Anger involves more than just anger and lack of forgiveness.  It also involves hurt; sometimes very deep hurt; and quite often there are trust issues, so to simply say, "You need to let go and forgive that person." does not address all of the issues.

Only God can fully heal us of our hurts and help us to love again and letting go of anger involves healing and therefore also tears.

Another thing that helps is the understanding that we all have areas of our life in which we feel pain.  Even the ones that we are angry with have things in their life that cause them pain.  In our own humanness, it is extremely difficult to see this because we are so caught up in our own pain that it is nearly impossible for us to imagine that that "horrible monster" that we are angry at feels any pain, or for that matter feels anything at all.  Trying to see things from the other person's perspective is extremely difficult on a purely human level and most of us have mental blocks that prevent us from seeing the point of view of someone who has hurt us.

We also have such a strong tendency to hang on to anger.  It is not at all easy to let go of.  I know.  I've most definitely been there, yet God can help to break through the issues in our heart and help us to release that which we cling to so tightly.  As long as we keep holding on to the anger, it is impossible to find peace.  It's like a strong hold in our heart and letting go involves a healing process that can often take considerable time.  The reality of the long healing process has been too often ignored.

Sometimes too, there are issues of trust.  Just because we have chosen to not trust someone does not mean that we have not forgiven them.  It is foolish to not do what is necessary to protect oneself from further harm and unfortunately, lack of trust will usually change the relationship, yet trust is something that must be earned and once it is broken, it must be earned back.  This is not an issue of lack of forgiveness.  It is simply the natural result of broken trust.

The last concept in this poem is the possible need for confrontation.  If the person who has caused the pain is someone that we care about, it will probably be necessary to tell that person how we feel, yet this should not be done in anger.  Sometimes we need to ask God for help in this one, because it is really hard to express deep hurt without including anger.  Anger, though, only begets more anger and accomplishes nothing, just as the Bible says, "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." (Proverbs 15:1, NIV).

Another very important thing to remember is that it is only God who can truly change hearts.  Just as it is God who can help us to let go of the anger, it is also God who can change the hearts of those who have hurt us, yet in order for this to happen, the other person also needs to turn to God for help and this is a healing process, so we need to be patient.

Lastly, and unfortunately, quite often we never do get the apology that we were hoping for.  This is what makes forgiveness even more difficult and the trust may also never be restored.  Sometimes there can even be a rift in the friendship that will never be healed, so the most unfortunate and sad reality is that sometimes the process of forgiveness can result not in reconciliation, but actually letting go, not only of the anger, but of the relationship as well, or perhaps of what you hoped the relationship could be.  This is the part of the puzzle that I struggled with for so long and wasn't willing to accept.

The Girl in the Glass (Poem)

Until I get focused again in a political way, which I am indeed thinking about again, yet until I do find that focus again, I've been keeping my eye out for inspirational things to put on my blog.

Here's a poem by an unknown author. It's about a girl and I believe it's actually written to young girls, yet the truth in it could be applied to either sex and any age group.

The Girl in the Glass!!!

When you get what you want in your struggle for self,
And the world makes you queen for a day,
Just go to the mirror and look at yourself,
And see what that girl has to say.

For it isn't your father or mother or friends,
Whose judgment upon you must pass,
The girl whose verdict counts most in your life,
Is the one staring back from the glass.

You may be like Jack Horner and chisel a plum,
And think you're a wonderful gal,
But the girl in the glass says you're only a bum,
If you can't look her straight in the eye.

She's the one to please---never mind all the rest,
For she's with you clear to the end,
And you've passed your most dangerous difficult test,
If the girl in the glass is your friend.

You may fool the whole world down the pathway of years,
And get pats on the back as you pass,
But your final reward will be heartache and tears,
If you've cheated the girl in the glass!!!

Author Unknown

I think the girl, or the man, in the glass is the conscience, yet there is something else to keep in mind. The human conscience can be spoiled by the false expectations of others. Just as there is true and false pride, there is also true and false guilt. When the world honors us, this can result in false pride, yet true pride is when we have succeeded at doing what we expect of ourselves. Yet our expectations need to be realistic. Likewise, false guilt is that which is placed on us by others, yet true guilt is when we have disappointed ourselves, yet again we need to have expectations that are realistic.

One way to have the correct level of both pride and guilt is to form a personal relationship with God, our Creator. He knows exactly for what purpose we were created, what it is that we are best suited for and what it is that we should strive to accomplish. I keep repeating some of the same Scripture verses because I feel that they are so key to life.

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23 (NIV), "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23 (NIV), "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this; While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8 (NIV), and "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9 (NIV).

According to what God says, the only reason for guilt is to bring us to repentance and than we are forgiven and no longer need to judge ourselves for anything, for the Bible also says "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Romans 8:1 (KJV). What pleases God is not perfection, but humility and the willingness to admit our sins as well as our need for Him, for another thing the Bible says is "But He gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says; 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.'" James 4:6 (NIV).

Because of these verses, I feel that it's important to add to the ideas in this poem that the girl in the mirror and also the man in the mirror will be easier to please if he or she is connected with his or her Creator and His Son, Jesus Christ. To have within us a conscience that is truly pure and holy and contains true, whether than false pride and guilt, the conscience must be submitted to Christ, just as the Bible also says, "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." Romans 12:2 (KJV).

Poem - Life is Not all Roses

Lyrics by Lista

Life is not all roses.
Even God has no such guarantee.
Tear drops touch the earth every day,
But life is not all thorns.
Even Satan can't make the whole world bleed.
Roses fill the earth with sweet perfume.

Can you not see the love present here,
Among the ones who believe?
I thank the Lord for helping me see,
Above the thorns are roses.

Life is not all cherries.
Even God has no such guarantee.
We have all felt down in the pits,
But life is not a pit.
Even Satan can not destroy the seed.
One day it will grow to a tree.

Can you not see the love present here,
Among the ones who believe?
I thank the Lord for helping me see,
That the pit's a seed.

Grass in not all green.
Even God allows some brown to heed.
Struggle though we may, there still are flaws,
But grass is not all brown.
Even Satan can not destroy the green.
Watered in God's love it grows and grows.

Can you not see the love present here,
Among the ones who believe?
I thank the Lord for helping me see,
That there is much green.

Can you not see the love present here,
Among the ones who believe?
I thank the Lord for helping me see,
Above the thorns are roses,
And the pit's a seed,
And there is much green.