The sky became black
One parental bond broken
Ours fixed forever
Restoration
The Burning Bush
Your fire burns in me
The flames engulfing my heart
No darkness can quench what You’ve started
It burns brighter and brighter every day
The bush was set on fire but it was not burnt up
You do not take pride in destruction
Likewise, Your flames do not harm us
They bring about a new beginning
Like gold You purify us
Our deeply embedded sin You separate out of us
You kindle a fury against this world’s injustice
And we go out like blazing torches
Rebuild Haiku
Shaken to the core
Our crumbling foundations
Words of hope rebuild
The Canyon
The canyon stretches for miles
A savage stab wound in the earth
Its path is punctuated with decorations
Piles of dry bones and stacks of skulls
Death marks out its domain
Once in its deep trench
There is no climbing out
It is a cesspit that sucks away all life
The echoing silence the warning siren
That living things should not come here
A lone traveller walks through
Well aware of the dangers
He carries nothing but a shovel
The canyon bares its jaws wide at this morsel
But there is no fear in his step
He begins to dig with his shovel
Hammering the ground with all his might
The sound echoing in the vastness
Vultures descend as if to mock
But he will not give up
The traveller hits the deep springs below
And water begins to flow
As they do the sky darkens above
Storm clouds summoned in by his hard work
This canyon is about to change forever
The water flows and flows
Washing away the old skeletons
Cleansing it from its torrid past
So that this canyon, once of dust and decay,
Now erupts into a carpet of green
Psalm 84:5-6 – “Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose heart is set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baka, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools.”
Lost
Cold was the light of the stars
As the bitter winds whipped through the open fields
I was a lone tree on an empty moor
Exposed to the wickedness of the dark
I said that I knew the way back
I said that I knew better
My proud heart had poisoned my well of trust
And now I drank its bitter gall
Fear stalked me as I walked
Its foul breath on the back of my neck
Its tendrils reached out to grab me
To squeeze and shake me like a rag doll
My hands shook as I typed the number
I did not know if it was the cold or the terror
It rang once and then twice
Each ring feeling like an eternity
“Hello?”
I choked back the lump in my throat
And the pride in my heart
And I asked for help
“Lord my God, I called to you for help and you healed me.” Psalm 30:2
Torch of Hope
My heart was dark and damp
Rocked by violent storms
The water seeped in through the cracks
My dreams turned to dust
The furnace that once burned bright
Now lay stark and empty
But no heart is too far for my God
He lit a flame of hope in me
My pen strikes the paper
And that same flame ignites
Its embers glowing in every word
Its fragrance rising from every page
If I can pass on this flame
Even if it is to only one person
Then I will have done more
Than I could have dared imagine
Hope Haiku 2
A blackened vision
The void of hope left empty
Life can come from ash
Cracked Pots
Shattered pieces
Shards of clay
Life has handled us roughly
The once smooth texture
Now riddled with a thousand cracks
Damaged goods
Too far gone
We slide to the back of the shelf
Hide ourselves behind the unbroken pots
And we give up on ourselves
But He doesn’t
He searches in the shadows
For those who hide
For those whose confidence has shattered
To bring restoration and to bring new hope
Cracks of shame
Filled with the clay of grace
Old scars of torment
Now our tale of redemption
We step forward
Back into the light
