MORE POETRY

I'm handicapped and wheelchair bound
Expected to sit and not make a sound
Just to smile and let the World go by
With Saintly patience and never sigh.

Inside my head thoughts come and go
Ideas are born which long to flow
Flow from my lips and link me with others
But my words sound strange so no one bothers.

My tongue and lips do not as I ask
I cannot perform the simplest task
But I have a mind and I'm still there
Don't lock me out in your ignorance there.

Talk, though I seem not to understand
touch me, include me, hold my hand
I am alive and I have time to give
Let me share in the life I was given to live

Footprints

One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he
was walking along the beach with the LORD.
Across the sky flashed scenes from his life. For each
scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand;
one belonged to him, and the other to the LORD.

When the last scene of his life flashed before
him, he looked back at the footprints in the
sand. He noticed that many times along the
path of his life there was only one set of foot-
prints. He also noticed that it happened at the
very lowest and saddest times in his life.

This really bothered him and he questioned
the LORD about it. "LORD, you said that
once I decided to follow you, you'd walk with
me all the way. But I have noticed that during
the most troublesome times in my life, there is
only one set of footprints. I don't understand
why when I needed you most you would leave me."

The LORD replied, "My precious, precious
child, I love you and I would never leave you.
During your times of trial and suffering, when
you see only one set of footprints, it was then
that I carried you."

Author Unknown

God’s Promise

God did not promise
days without pain
laughter without sorrow,
or sun without rain.

But God did promise
Strength for the day
comfort for the tears
and a light for the way

And for all who believe
in His Kingdom above,
He answers their faith
with everlasting love.

Author Unknown

The Weaver

My life is like a Weaving
Between my God and me
I cannot choose the colours
He worketh steadily.

Oftimes he worketh sorrow
And I, in foolish pride
Forget he sees the upper
And I, the underside.

Not 'til the loom is silent
And shuttles cease to fly
Shall God unroll the canvas
And explain the reason why.

The dark threads are as needful
In the Weaver's skillful hand
As the threads of gold and silver
In the pattern He has planned.

Disability Beatitudes

Blessed are you who take time to listen to defective speech, or you help us to know that if we persevere, we can be understood.

Blessed are you who walk with us in public places and ignore the stares of strangers, for in your companionship we find havens of relaxation.

Blessed are you that never bids us "hurry up" and more blessed are you that do not snatch our tasks from our hands to do them for us, for often we need time rather than help.

Blessed are you who stand beside us as we enter new ventures, for our failures wil be outweighed by times we surprise ourselves and you.

Blessed are you who ask for our help, for our greatest need is to be needed.

Blessed are you when by all these things you assure us that the thing that makes us individuals is not our peculiar muscles, nor our wounded nervous system, but is the God-given self that no infirmity can confine.

Blessed are those who realize that I am human and don't expect me to be saintly just because I am disabled.

Blessed are those who pick things up without being asked.

Blessed are those who understand that sometimes I am weak and not just lazy.

Blessed are those who forget my disability of the body and see the shape of my soul.

Blessed are those who see me as a whole person, unique and complete, and not as a "half" and one of God's mistakes.

Blessed are those who love me just as I am without wondering what I might have been like.

Blessed are my friends on whom I depend, for they are the substance and joy of my life!!!!

Anon.

The Bottle Maker

Bottle fell from the rack today
No refund, no return
No delay. Crooked label
Broken seal, leaky lid..
Thank the Lord for what He did.

Holding the bottle, this gift of grace;
Dripping new wine, and liquid peace.
confusion, bitter tears.
Bottle of sadness? Sing songs of gladness!
Thank the Lord, the fountain of kindness.
Spun too fast, the potter’s wheel?
A moments distraction?
One finger’s in-action?
The bottle distorted is still our perfect reflection:
Thank the Lord for this vessel of blessing.

Before the beginning, was the Word .
The Great I Am still is.
Bottle’s careful Maker. Re-Creator.
A gift no less intrinsically made,
This bottle of living water.
Seek the Lord, beyond our perception.
Praise the Lord, greater than Imagination;
Sing of His grace, beyond all compassion.
Trust in His wisdom, greater than comprehension.
Bless the Lord, our bottle maker.

Riese Heemskerk

LIVING ONE DAY AT A TIME;

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardship as the
pathway to peace.
Taking, as He did, this
sinful world as it is, not as I would have it.
Trusting that He will make
all things right if I
surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy
in this life, and supremely
happy with Him forever in the next.

Amen

By Reinhold Neibuhr.