It's been a long while since I wrote a poem. I am working on journaling as a way to grow spiritually, interact with ideas, and "craft my soul". This incorporates ideas from a sermon I listened to on Ecclesiastes 4:5-6 (that mentioned Matthew 3:16), and a devotional reading that referenced Psalm 23.
Be Still, My Soul
Be still, my soul.Let my self with its need for attention, distraction and connectednessMelt into the backgroundLike hard wax becoming molten in the presence of your flame.Be still, my soul,Relax the hand that graspsInto an open handFrom which my empty trinkets can be takenAnd into which blessings dropped easily.
Be still, my soul.
Defrag my mind.Untether me from the machine,Unsynch me from calendars and contactsLog me off of status updates seeking friends’ likes.
Be still, my soul.Let me rest like JesusWith whom You were ‘well-pleased’ before his ministry started,Who acted out of that acceptance rather than trying to earn it,Who was content to do ONLY what You had showed Him to do,Not taking on himself everything that others had left undone.
Open up, hand!Breathe out self’s preoccupations -Breathe in Spirit’s life.Safe pastures,Still waters,HE restores my soul.
Be still, my soulCan’t grab the living waterOr quantify it, test its purity.Let it flow over my open hand, where it will.Be still, beside still waters.
I like this part:
ReplyDeleteBe still, my soul.
Let me rest like Jesus
With whom You were ‘well-pleased’ before his ministry started,
Who acted out of that acceptance rather than trying to earn it,
Who was content to do ONLY what You had showed Him to do,
Not taking on himself everything that others had left undone.
This reminds me of a poem Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wrote, at the time when after surviving the Gulag and cancer, he abruptly found himself famous:
"At the crest of earthly fame
I look back in wonderment
at the journey beyond hope--to this place,
from which I was able to send mankind
a reflection of your rays.
And however long the time
that I must yet reflect them
you will give it to me.
And whatever I fail to accomplish
you surely have allotted unto others."
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
The whole poem, "A prayer" is here:
http://ishmaelite.blogspot.com/2008/02/two-prayers-by-solzhenitsyn.html