Tag: Poetry

Struggling towards the light (poem)

Teresa NormanLeave a comment

You never learned how to swim
But in my dream, I see you trying hard
Fighting your way towards the light.
Swimming for all you’re worth
Trying to get back to the surface
Of this somewhat murky pond.

Never realized how hard it was-
What effort it took to focus on the task
To collect the necessary resources
To be present for just a moment….

You’d be there for a while
But like a timer going off,
You’d be gone again
Decorating beautiful fantasy dwellings
(Which, sadly, only you could see and appreciate).
I’m sorry i was impatient.
I didn’t understand.

If you make it back to the surface,
I’ll try harder. Be more patient.
Visit more often,
I love you.
Be at peace.

Reality Check–Cyber Psalm 15

Teresa Norman1 Comment

Our friend, Dan, had a heart attack this week.  Scary.  So that made it doubly cool to get a perspective challenging email from him this morning with this Cyber Psalm from a blog he likes by David Ker, a Wcliffe Bible Translator in Mozambique.   

Cyber-Psalm 15

 NOVEMBER 23, 2007                                                                   by David Ker

What would heaven be like

if books of theology 
were written by children not men?

And what if sermons were delivered by the poor. 


And devotional books were written by the hungry. 


And hymns were composed by the sick and the old.

The Sermon on the Mount requires no interpretation, 


unless you are fat and happy.

If our hope of heaven were colored 


with children’s crayons and felt tip markers.

And our theology of hell were tempered 


by the dying breath of those who suffer.

The hair-splitting and hand-wringing 


of over-educated men in ivory towers 


goes largely unnoticed by grandmothers in their kitchens 


and office workers in their cubicles.

They go on putting silly magnets on their fridge 


And trading forwarded e-mails about heaven. 


Two thousand years of systematic theology 


Disturbs them not a bit!

God is honored and praised  

Hoped for and prayed to 


By myriads who never learned Greek.

Their revelation is not a scroll  

But a hope vaguely imprinted 


On a soul made by God.

The sick and the blind and the poor  

Receive Jesus with gladness. 


The Gospels require no spiritualized application.

Feed us, friend Jesus. 
  

Our stomachs are empty.


You are the one our hearts hope for.

Heal us who are sick. 
    

We ache and we suffer.

Save us in death. 
    

We are dying in darkness. 


Savior Jesus, our hope at life’s end.

Legacy (poetic & personal)

Teresa NormanLeave a comment

Legacy

There’s a little girl in a country church
Watching Daddy today
Wondering why he lifts his hands
And tears fall as he prays….
She’s still too young to understand
How her Daddy’s heart does break
As he’s praying for the wisdom
He knows raising her will take…..

Father God, he’s asking you
For wisdom from above
To write a living legacy
In the heart of the ones he loves….
Let his life, his words, his prayers
Show them how much their Maker cares
And teach them they are precious in your sight.
Help them to walk in your light.

The little girl is older now
With children of her own.
Life hasn’t always been easy
But there’s something she’s always known….
She knows there’s a God in heaven
Who has a plan for good
For her and for her children,
Just like Daddy prayed she would…..
 
Now Father God, she’s asking you
For wisdom from above
To write a living legacy
In the heart of the ones she loves….
Let her life, her words, her prayers
Show them how much their Maker cares
And teach them they are precious in your sight.
Help them to walk in your light…

**************************************************************

Any other accomplishment, goal, task, project or pleasure isn’t gonna mean much if I blow it on passing on God’s hope to those I love.  My prayer probably every day for the last six years in particular (since moving to Seattle) has been, “God, teach me how to make time for people,” but even while praying that, I keep taking on more tasks, which take more time, which mean less available opportunity to build relationships….

I love doing practical things and would much rather act than just have a meeting and further discussion.  But sometimes I’m way over the edge on how many practical things I think I can take on. 

Right now I’m reevaluating a lot of things (tasks/projects/committments)and trying to mindfully, intentionally learn invest in the things that are really important (people!).  Grateful, in the words of Philippians 1:6 that “He who began a good work in my life will carry it on to completion….” I’m definitely a work in process (and not always enjoying the process!)

Jesus is a refugee (poem)

Teresa NormanLeave a comment

See the mother in the jungle, tiny baby in her arms,
Running from the soldiers who’ve come to rape and kill
She’s tired from the running, desperate, hungry, full of fear—
How can she know God loves her, and that He walks beside her there?

He is there beside her in the dark and in the cold.
He knows what she is feeling, in the Bible it is told
That He was once a refugee. His parents ran to save His life
From the soldiers sent to kill him in Herod’s infanticide.

The way that God has chosen to loose the bands of wickedness
To give bread to the hungry and to help free the oppressed
Calls us to walk beside her in our prayers and in our hearts:
As the body of Christ, the servant king, it makes her burden ours.

But words and prayers are not enough, no matter how well spoken
God’s love requires our presence so He can walk beside His children.
Even though we’re broken, we are His feet and hands.
We stand in need of grace to obey His commands.

Though she sits in darkness, He came to be the light.
Though she now is hungry, He is the bread of life.
Though we turn aside sometimes or don’t know what to do,
We are all called in some way to help her make it through.

He chose to entrust us with His reputation
And to make us His body throughout every nation
As a king become baby, He risked everything
Calling us to embody the love that He brings….

“I was hungry and you gave me bread
Thirsty and you gave me drink
A stranger and you took me in
In prison and you came to me….”
Lord, when did this happen?
His answer is quite clear
“When you did it for the least of these
It was for me, for I am there….”

“Where are your poor?” (poem)

Teresa NormanLeave a comment

That was the question our friend Rigo, a Nicaraguan pastor, asked when he visited the US for the first time back in 2000.  Where he pastors, members of several warring drug gangs lay down their weapons outside and call a temporary truce before coming into church.  If they come to faith and leave the gangs, there are no jobs.  They cannot support their families.  Unemployment benefits do not exist.  Churches in North America helped raise money to help him start a woodshop where the guys can learn a marketable skill.  They have plans for other projects as well.  

 

“Where are your poor?” our honored guest said.

(I was humbled by his words.

His eyes had observed that our country is rich,

Richer even than what he had heard).

 

In his country many many are poor,

Much poorer than we’ll ever see.

His church gives away what little it has

Just trying to meet their needs.

 

We give a little while they give a lot

(Seems like the reverse should be true).

Forgive us, Lord, for failing to see

How many times we ignore You.

 

Give us hearts to see You, Lord,

In the hungry, poor and cold.

Give us hearts to gladly share

Our lives and the things we hold…

To value our brother

More than our comfort.

To know when we give, we receive,

And that we can never

      out-give Your provision—

Lord, help us live

     what we say we believe!

 

**************************

In Nicaragua, you see the poverty everywhere.  It is not invisible.  Here, it looks like even poor people are rich.  We try to hide our poverty.  But if you look closer, the poor are among us.  God, teach us.

Illusions Fall (a poem)

Teresa NormanLeave a comment

ILLUSIONS FALL

 

One I looked upon the world

With glasses colored rose.

I thought peace and tranquillity

Were what I would behold.

I dreamed that having faith

Would be the answer to all needs;

That love would flourish everywhere,

And all men would be free.

 

What I see, in reality —

Is a world that’s sometimes cold,

Full of people crying, hurting, suffering;

Their stories left untold.

And all too often, we of faith

Walk on the other side.

We shake our heads and scurry on.

We say, “The job’s not mine!”

 

A woman is abused:

We say, “Go bake your man a pie.”

Our ears are closed.

We cannot hear

The battered children cry!

They pound their heads upon the wall

And cry out to the town:

“Can’t you hear us?  Can’t you see?!

            IS ANYONE AROUND!?”

 

The frightened child cries in the night

“Oh, who will rescue me!?”

While all of her deliverers say,

“You surely can’t mean me!

I can’t be meant to take a risk

And venture from my safety!

There might be danger in that move;

It surely can’t be godly!”

 

And Jesus sees from heaven above —

He weeps with His heart broken.

He longs to comfort those who hurt,

But can’t wake up His chosen!

We stop our ears and cling to fears

From which we can’t be shaken.

But illusions fall

            If we heed His call

                        To change and be forgiven.

 

Have mercy on us, Lord above,

According to Your kindness.

Continue to open our eyes, oh God!

Deliver us from blindness!

Give us hearts to reach out

In Your mercy and Your grace

To those who need to know

You bear their shame

And their disgrace.

 

(From “Tamar’s Prayer”  1988)

 

 

How Do You Change the World? (poem)

Teresa Norman1 Comment

You get a different answer from every person you ask.  The most famous answer probably comes from the Bible (Mark 12:31 “Love your neighbor as yourself” — or the paraphrased version …”Treat other people the way you want to be treated”). Our friend, Dan Imburgia*, wrote one of the best, simplest, most profound answers I’ve ever heard in the song below, “A Heart Like Yours.”  

A Heart like Yours

            by Dan Imburgia
Jesus give to us a heart like yours so that we can love
And learn to care the way you do.
Jesus give to us peace like yours to rule our hearts
And know our father’s will the way you do.
Jesus give to us tears like yours, help us learn to cry
And share the burdens the way you do .

Jesus give to us a heart like yours so that we can love
And learn to care the way you do.
Jesus give to us eyes like yours help us see the truth
And to see a person the way you do.
Jesus give to us a mind like yours, help us understand
And take the time to listen the way you do.

Jesus give to us a heart like yours so that we can love
And learn to care the way you do.
Jesus give to us grace like yours though we don’t deserve
So we’ll forgive the way you do.
Jesus give to us a joy like yours
Then we’ll be complete
And with gladness serve the way you do.

Help us to become a new creation
When we walk in the light we’re walking with you
Then we’ll have enough light left over to share with a neighbor.
When the darkness is gone we’ll find something old is made new.

(*We met Dan and his wife, Lynda, when a friend of theirs came to church one Sunday with about 10 little kids following her in.  Judy was taking care of kids for people in various transitional states and after church we went and took a bunch of bread and peanut butter to her many peopled household.  She invited us to a home group that met at her house on Friday nights, and there we met some of the best friends we’ve ever had, people we’re still really lucky to count as friends years later, now that all the kids are grown and some have kids of their own.  These were the kind of friends that  taught us that faith is meant to be lived and to change everything it touches and that community isn’t just a place you live, it’s all the relationships that make life meaningful while you do life together.  I’m grateful for Dan & Lynda, Lance & Shellie, Terry, Jim & Maureen, Johny & Judy and the many others that wandered through those years…very grateful! )

Favorite Mother Theresa quote of the day: “If we have no peace, it’s because we have forgotten we belong to each other.”