I have learned the secret of contentment
Is to breathe You out and breathe You in again
There's nowhere I can go outside Your presence
Forgive me for how often I forget

If you ask the lilies or the sparrows
If they doubt who watched over them
I bet they cry out without hesitation,
"Jireh comes through time and time again."

I have learned the secret of contentment
Is to breathe You out and breathe You in again
There's nowhere I can go outside Your presence
Forgive me for how often I forget

If you as the rocks why they are singing
Or why they rumble in a mighty roar
It's in the very fabric of their being
To lead us all in worshiping the Lord

I have learned the secret of contentment
Is to breathe You out and breathe You in again
There's nowhere I can go outside Your presence
Forgive me for how often I forget

If you as they mountains why they're moving
Why seas are calm and storm winds cease to blow
You need not look for greater, grander reason
Thank simply that their Maker told them so

I have learned the secret of contentment
Is to breathe You out and breathe You in again
There's nowhere I can go outside Your presence
Forgive me for how often I forget
How often I forget.
|b.g.s|

When I am broken
With nothing left
When fear and heartbreak
Steal my breath
When what's unspoken
Wraps 'round my voice
And words themselves
Run from the noise
Then all that's left
Is but one thing
When all words fail
The soul must sing.

In catching breathes
In wailing sobs
In torrent waves
In gentle bobs
In flowing praise
In flooding pain
My soul will sing
Of your Good Name.
For nothing left
Have I to give
Yet in my darkness
You shall live.

And all around
From underneath
The ground erodes
Beneath my feet
And all around
The panics rage
The screaming winds
The sudden waves
But then my ears
Which often fail
Hear you sing back
Through storm and gale.
"Peace- my child. Be still."
|b.g.|

I wish I could make you feel all I smell and see
When the sun shines through the tall grass in a Southern Maryland breeze
When field flies hover in the golden, fading sunset, suspended in their wandering
When crickets and croakers sing their evening songs, humming along to the universal sound
When twilight fades to startlight where city lights fade to black
When love is planted and pruned in rolling rows of farmland
When new seeds sprout of a life worth falling and staying in love with
When the pages of history are not simply learned, but lived
When a small boat's sail first fully fills with a westward wind and leaves the dock in it's wake
When children come in from play to mothers and fathers, smelling sweet of sweat and sunshine
When sand, soil, shells, and stones pave paths for the bold and barefoot
When brackish water breezes stick to skin like kisses and tans and waves on the shoreline
When Spring fades into Summer, and early May silently yet steadily stretches in her seasonal tension of the in-between
I wish I could make you feel this.
|b.g.|

Little white sails
Skimming the horizon
Little white clouds
Whisped throughout the sky
Little sandy pebbles
Tumbling through my toes
Little loudening thoughts
Of life just passing by.
|b.g.|

Another day another crisis
In this world that feels Christless
Full of lives that must be priceless
As they spill out on the concrete
New disaster, a new hurricane
Mass shooting, new Garner, new Freddie Grey
The patriots pledge and turn away
As their own cry, "I can't breathe."

This, our land of the free
Bound by our own iniquity
Where are the hands, where are the feet
Is the church not called to more?
In her mass modern transgression
God's command we made suggestion
That we run towards oppression
And unlock the captive' s door.

Will the Church choose to stand tall
For every  victim of the fall
Show binding love and light to all
And act upon our creed
Or will we simply hide behind
Our pristine pulpits and our pride 
While those for whom Christ Jesus died
We blindly leave to bleed?

|b.g.|

Don't worry, I'm here
Your ol' heartbreak distraction
New girl, new year
Same masculine reaction
          Of running to his backup in the breakdown.

It's funny, I think
That I'm the friend you flirt with
A laugh, a wink
To pump you full of purpose
          But I have learned to be looking for the letdown.

I wonder, sometimes
If you think before you speak
If you- realize
How this just makes you weak
          And how easy you make it to not fall

And yet, I think
It through each time you knock
That we, could be
Much more than teasing talk
          But I'm just your emotional *******.

|b.g.|

Some people take comfort in labels
Finding which little box to fit in
Knowing just by a glance, by a hashtag, a stance
That others can see what's within
Some people rely on their labels
On things that tell them who they are
That simplify life into boxes of white
Scribbled meaning stuck onto their jar
Now some people, they run from all labels
Afraid that they hold them down  
And losing their minds to a few words and lines
In social adhesive are bound
See people forget that their labels
Are choices, not simply assigned
Meanings can change and symbols rearrange
By those by whom they were designed

So friend, take back charge of your labels
Because You create them in the end
And if labels align, well that would be fine,
But remember that you hold the pen.

|b.g.|

How did I end up back here
Blind to what lies ahead
Yet in the fading road behind
I see each bridge and bend

Like the tide I have returned
With your mem'ry on my mind
Yet like the tide, my lessons learned
Wash away before my eyes

I lost so much with you, my dear
To walk along your way
The path we planned together
Would have led us both astray.  
So,
I washed the silt, the sand, the dirt
In brackish water tears
As hand in hand, God led me on
Back to familiar piers.

The dust I stirred up as I left
All settled with each stride
So here again, I journey on
With you not by my side.
|b.g.|

I loved you once, but somehow
Your heart is the same, but you're different now and I can't help but miss the man you wanted to be but I also can't pretend you were better off with me because now you are happy, more you than you've been, and yet the man I fell for is still somewhere within underneath the new mask and the hair and the smile still your eyes hold the boy I loved, the one who was wild and you still slump your shoulders, rolling in ease and within their shelter my mind was at ease but you've changed so much, love, you seem so different now, and I cannot believe I loved you somehow. Maybe who you are is allowed to change and maybe time can rearrange our priorities now and then. Maybe you can fully be yourself today while burying you from yesterday and maybe it is time that I really learned how to let you be.
|b.g.|

Head in the mountains
Heart in the seas
Feet in the rivers, in bays, in streams
Head in the logic
Heart in the dreams
Hands in the tension sew stitches and seams

Head in the skies
Heart in the breeze
Eyes in the stars chart new galaxies
Head in the wild
Heart in the free
You in my want, but not in my need.
  
Head in the clouds
Heart in the trees
Hair in the wind, like grasses and greens
Head in the known
Heart in myst'ries
Wishes in whispers waiting on maybes.

Head in the wander
Heart in the journey
Faith in the Author of my living story
Head in the mountains
Heart in the sea
Yet, Soul in the prayer of you finding me.

|b.g.|

They say love becomes hate
But love, I've been seeing
I don't hate who you are
I hate who you're being.

|b.g.|

Respect yourself enough to see that
Unlike where your heart may lead,
No woman should date a child.
Remember, new love will taste sweet
Until his comfort outlives his care, and
No woman should make him try.
Realize the vast potential he has
Understand the man he soon may be, but
No woman should make him grow
Raising men is for mothers, not lovers, and
Ungrown things need space and time
Now a woman should let him go.
|b.g.|

Going through the motions
A vast and blackened ocean
Drinking in this potion
They say is for my best
Breathing in and breathing out
Stagnant air flows through my mouth
Vision fading, thirst like drought
No pause, no peace, no rest.

Awoken from my walking slumber
I reach from my realm of under
For a grasp, for a lover
Of my weary soul
New light breaks through ground and grime
I feel a punctured hand in mine
With whip torn flesh, and spear pierced side
He lifts me from this hole.

Lost sight restored to all fullness
My thirst is quenched, the air now fresh
I see Him there, my soul's found rest
My savior, it is He.
And now I will forever praise
The one who saved my life with grace
How beautiful, the bloodstained face
of Jesus, Lord, and King!
|b.g.|

A poetic reflection from my blog--
I have been reflecting this weekend on why we create space for Good Friday and Easter Sunday in our calendars and our minds but skip over Saturday. What I have come to realize is that we as people are so locked into our own experiences and our perceptions of what is happening around us that we remember the visible Gospel work of Christ and not the invisible.

Christ lived a visible life. He spoke in streets, from boats, on mountainsides, and in temples. He did miracles in private and public, depending on the need. He healed a man's servant from afar and healed a few men's friend from paralysis in front of a full room.

Christ died a visible death. He was hung out and hung up to die, strapped and nailed down to a cross raised on a rocky hilltop, bleeding and vulnerable for all to see. While much of His pain is unknowable and unseen, His death and anguish were cruel and yet necessarily public.

Christ rose a visible resurrection! The entry was open, the stone moved, the wrappings empty, and the guards stunned. He appeared first to Mary, then to the men on the road, then to the twelve. Thomas, who doubted much like I do, both saw and felt the holes of his Savior's substitutionary sacrifice. Christ visibly ascended Home, shining with the love and light of His and Our Father as He physically reclaimed His heavenly throne.

But what about the time between, "It is Finished! Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit", and the resurrection? What about the lingering stench of apparent defeat and death? Did His spirit stay in the shell of the body until Sunday morning? As we do not believe the Spirit lingers in our own bodies after death, then certainly we can state that our Lord's did not linger in his mortality. If as the Nicene Creed says our Lord descended into Hell itself, why do we not pause to think about what He was going through there? He took the weight of the world's wrongs on His soul when He died, and how does that weight suddenly disappear when mortal consciousness fails, but spiritual life remains? Just what happened to Jesus Friday evening through Sunday morning?

Christ worked invisible work. My point is that though we could not see the work being done, the spirit of our Lord Jesus was as eternally living and active during temporal death as his word, and the other two members of the Godhead. While His body was in the tomb, His soul was living an eternal weight of turmoil to free us. Eternity was our punishment, and so in three short days, eternity for us He bore. He not only took our grievous problem to the cross, He paid for our physical and full spiritual punishment as well.

Oh Christian, remember today the invisible scenes of the Gospel story.
The world once lived in the tension of the in-between, in the three-day-exhale of a dead Savior before the sudden breathe of Eternal Life with the Father for us and our Precious Co-heir forever. Linger a while in Saturday, in the thought of a spiritually redeeming yet physically lifeless corpse in a tomb, in just how much was needed to save your eternal soul from it's eternal and fully earned punishment, and in the tension of the in-between. For as we linger for but a day, our salvation is for an eternity. As we reflect on our brokenness on Him for a moment, our healing in Him is forever. As we dwell on the severity of our need for Grace, Grace becomes all the more beautiful and amazing.
Hallelujah, He broke the tension! Hallelujah, the soul of our Savior returned to it's shell and He being one in body and spirit walked out of His, and our, tomb once and for all. Hallelujah, He is working invisibly even now to bring us back to Him, and when He returns, remember the immortal truth that every eye shall see Him- Our King, Our Savior, Our Good Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Application-- On this day roughly 2,000 years ago, Christ was doing the dirtiest, darkest, most unseen, and most mysterious work, to save us. If you today feel like your Savior is dead and gone from your life, remember that unseen work he did for you on Easter Saturday. Just because you can't see, feel, or know in the moment does not mean that Christ isn't hard at work for you even still. Wait but a little while longer, and see as He reveals the glorious work He has been doing all for you all along. As Romans 8:28 promises, He is working all things together for the good of those who love Him. We may not see the good now, but there will come a day when the unknown sacrifices of Our Lord manifest as known blessings for our souls. We will see Sunday morning.

Slowly but surely,
As time goes on,
I will fade from lives of those you love.
Slowly but surely,
Our ties will untangle
And my close-to-kin are estranged.
Slowly but surely,
I will miss these moments
These miracles that pause life itself.
Slowly but surely,
The new will know me
By only my name and your memory.

Until, our love is outlived.

I will simply become
A whispered thought
Choked back by fight of mind and heart
I will simply become
A "remember when"
As our songs drift by on an evening wind
I will simply become
"She was not a mistake", an "I miss her,
But not what we had in the end."
I will simply become
What you have become
To me
Slowly but surely.
|b.g.|

Bloom where you're planted,
All women are told,
To thrive.
We are told to wait to be chosen, to be cut, to be picked the moment we blossom,
Only to be an ornimental object,
Some temporary color,
A disposable distraction.
To simply be beautifully brief.
Well I,
I am more.
I am more than a windblown wish
Than petals to be plucked
Than a wildflower waiting to wilt.
I am rooted. I am grounded.
And I,
I Bloom.

Never forget
That only the uncut flowers
Get to keep on growing.

|b.g.|

Even thaw is met with freeze
Even rivers cannot flow
Winter brings her blunt breeze
Winds of change, cease to blow

And here, stuck in the ice
Of winter water's wake
Memories, they fall heavy
Yet ice they will not break.

Numbed down, chilled deep
Bated breath in thawing time
Though we lost our melody
The words I wrote still rhyme.

In time, the seasons change
Winter's sting no longer felt
Til then, in frozen frost I wait
To move, to mend, to melt.

|b.g.|

You.
If beauty lies
    In beholders' eyes
         Then you are all I see
For my heart knew
    Beauty was you
          When you first smiled at
Me.

|b.g.|

We are the
       Awoken ones
       Our muse we hope to stumble on  
Lit only by
        Star-and-streetlight
        Somewhere between the dusk and dawn.

|b.g.|

This game we play
I cannot say
That no one's keeping score

With minds at bay
And hearts astray
Repressing something more

I cannot pretend
You're just my friend
And didn't build these dreams

And in the end
The truth won't bend
This is more than it seems.

|b.g.|

Rest your sleepy soul tonight
Dream amidst the pale blue light
Let your pain and worry go
Under the spell of azure glow
Lightly flowing through your hair
How I wish I was up there
Where hued halos ignight your dreams
Kissing your face where I should be.
Where are we going, what can we do
When we are lost in lonely blue?
It's you who haunts my dreams tonight
My almost love in pale blue light.

|b.g.|

Tell me is it day or night
The dark of dawn or dusk's dim light
Where winds are still yet silence blows
As steady as the river flows
Shades of grey all blend to one
A lost lament of love undone
Moonlit mist or sunless shade
Are all well, or all afraid.
Tell me is life dark or light
Tell me- is it day or night?
|b.g.|

You're just a bird
So fragile and frail
Afraid to fly
Afraid to fail

You're just a bird
Still safe in your nest
With feathers just forming,
Strong heart in your chest

And one day you'll fly
And spread your own wings
Into the clear sky
And over the seas
But you're just a bird
Who'll soon forget me
But always remember
When we shared a tree

You're just a bird
Who sings as he sways
His own little tune
Even as his heart breaks

You're just a bird
So un-self aware
Still learning to love
To consciously care

And one day you'll fly
And spread your own wings
Into the clear sky
And over the seas
But you're just a bird
Who'll soon forget me
But always remember
When we shared a tree

Oh the places God will have you go
And oh the heart that God will help you grow

But

You're just a bird
And wherever you roam
Think of me fondly,
And the tree,
That we
Called

Home.


|b.g.|

We carved constellations
We slipped through the stars
                           Drew deeply new breath
                           When love became ours.
 But fog faded in
Clouds covered the night
                            I only gave in
                            When you gave up the fight.
Slowly all storms pass
To clear moonlit skies
                            But stars seem less bright
                            When not in your eyes.

|b.g.|

She
   People-watches
     Lipstick-blotches
       Kissing her coffee cup
   Daydream-drinker
     Over-thinker
       Brewing in her mind.
   Bold-with cream
     Cool-with steam
       Latte lifting up
   Always stirring
     Wond'ring, worry'ing
       Of love she left behind.
|b.g.|

I wrote to you, my love,
Many lives ago, my love
A dear letter, oh my love,
For you.
My heart is crashing with the waves, Ocean’s flow, ocean’s spray
And I pray it finds its way
To you.
--
It says

The fear of the unknown, haunts me to the bone, as I stand here alone,
without you.
For right has become wrong, in our tragic love song, when I thought that all along, I
needed you.
Though I said that I was done, that my song had been sung, and the battle I won for
my heart,
I still want you near, to calm all my fear, to wipe away the tear, that left
your mark.

Oh My Message in a Bottle
Is Lost at Sea.

Somehow inside, though I thought love had died, I am pulled by the tide, to
your smile.
I cannot control, the relentless pull, for my heart to be full, like
a child.
I thought we could be, just as strong as the sea, completely free, of
this life.
But my faith is fading, I cannot keep waiting, for you to start changing,
your mind.

Oh My Message in a Bottle
Is Lost at Sea            

I cannot hold much longer, the waves are growing stronger, making me to want wander back into
your arms.
In my twisted mind, even drowning I find, I still want you mine, though you sunk
my heart.
The seas foam and roar, tossing me to the shore, where I've been before, oh, this
I knew.

And the fear of the unknown, haunts me to be bone, I still stand alone,
without you.

Oh My Message in a Bottle, is
Lost at Sea
Lost at Sea
is
Lost.
|b.g.|

Sweetly saying sounds so soft
She sings so secretly simple songs
Soothing silence's savage sting
Shattering suspicions
Swallowing shadows
Severing stillness
So softly
So slowly
She serenades scared souls still sleeping so sound
Sunlight shall shine
Soon so soon
Splashing so swiftly
Submerging still slumber
So sleep
Sweet souls
Sleep softly, sleep safe
Sunlight shall shine
Soon
So soon.
|b.g.|