Damselfly

Small damselfly maintain your post
A shady rest longed for my most

What woman doesn't know your flight
Wings flutter til the dark of night

Your rhythm slows, you take your pause
I think I should join in your cause

Slowing down you gain direction
I too learn from my reflection

Pattern of peace I long to see
Displayed in your simplicity

Alone on the beach, a damselfly lit beside me. In keeping with nature's propensity to inspire, I was given this bit of verse.

May

I sit upon this branch, to usher in your May,
And you attend my simple song at golden break of day.

I wonder that you listen, through your window near,
I’m flattered that my tiny song can so enchant your ear.

The twig on which I sit, in cold March wind did sway,
Yet firmly on my sturdy perch did I resolve to stay.

So as your seasons change, and winter winds do blow,
You needn’t feel confounded over things you do not know.

Resolve yourself like I, to what you know is true,
And you will sing your joyous song with strength the way I do.

Hold fast to ancient Word, cling tight to hope at bay,
I sit upon this olive branch to usher in your May.

Complacency

That pile of leaves hides what's going on. Underneath I know there is a mess. But I don't even want to bother looking until the weather changes. Two years ago the herbs, flowers and butterflies were in abundance. Last year? Not so good. I did not clean out the signs of danger I saw creeping up in the spring. Summer's heat advanced and the vines and weeds crept through my flowers and I couldn't tell the good from the bad. Now I try to pull up one thing and it is so intertwined with another that I can't see what I am doing. I am not prepared and cannot uproot the bad junk by hand.

I see strongholds like vines. They are entangled and give strength to one another. It's hard to tell what's there. After years of growth, there is such a mess. God, please separate the roots. Pull them apart. Help us to see them for what they are. Identifying each variety is only the beginning. Mustering the strength to pull them out by the root must come next. Finally, we must prevent their return. Daily we stand over the garden of our soul and survey the ground for signs of reappearing strongholds.

Envision the beauty that spring can be. The surface of my heart, my marriage, my home will be like the surface of my flower garden, smooth and clean. Sunlight will filter in between the leaves and buds. It finds a place to land because the junk is gone. The warmth spreads giving life and growth to all it reaches. The ground is so clean we could easily spot new growth of unwanted vines. Will we be aware? Will we notice them before they choke out the colors of all that is good? The roots hidden in darkness must not be given the freedom to intertwine and choke out all we hold dear.

Where are these strongholds? Under dead leaves of complacency.

Autumn's Glow

Summer heat will soon give way
To cool, to breeze, to laid back day
To memories and childhood play
To warming glow of autumn.

Just before the sun does set
There is a soft content I get.
A peace that calms if I will let,
The warming glow of autumn.

Gentle movements. Leaves fall down
Red and yellow, orange, brown
Draw my mind to God's renown,
The warming glow of autumn.

When I sit to meditate
On all the good that's come of late,
A peace will still my busy gait
The warming glow of autumn.

Though winter death is drawing near
This memory my heart will hear.
Beauty shines above all fear,
The warming glow of autumn.