The blackest of nights
Were never quite so dark
As to extinguish
The stars.

Though darkness surrounds
Me and threatens to drown
I'm not overcome.

I love you as you are
Not as you ought to be.
I'm imperfect too,
As you will see.
The weight of mistakes
And brokenness
Is too much for one
Alone to bear
So Christ sends us friends,
And confidants,
With His Love to share.

Is a friend of mine
A wild streak, a thinker
A noble goof-ball

Skype calls and phone calls
never do the heart justice
in long-distance love.

Of what do you write
If not of man's greatest hope:
That is, namely, love.

I spied you in the library
Laying on the glossy wooden floor
Surrounded by a sea of dusty old books.
Your rough hands gently leafed through the delicate pages
Of her most admired novel.

Worn down edges and dog-eared pages
Betrayed the love she and the little book shared.
Laying there, a tender smile crept up and the sorrow in your eyes disappeared as you discovered the blotchy black stain on the back corner,
Remembering your clumsiness in years past
And her quick temper and dismay
At seeing her little, loved book in such disarray.

Your eager eyes somberly read her little discoveries, her quiet conversations with Wisdom
That she penned down in the margins.
Here, in this moment, she seemed close.
The truth seemed to fade away
And here in this moment
Little Lottie was curled up in the library nook,
Quietly reading her most admired novel.

You are not the scars on your wrist.
You are not the mistakes of your past.
You are not the fear in your mind,
The hurt in your heart,
The regrets of your actions.

You are irreplaceable, irrepeatable,
Treasured,
Priceless,
And a gift to this world and to me.

Your smile brings light,
Your laughter brings hope,
And your life
Is worthwhile.

As light banishes
the dark, so Humility
defeats all our pride.

Her greatness subsists
In simple humility
Praising God, her King.

Winning arguments
Is never worth the ruin
I leave in my wake

A teacher loves others more than herself.
I'd rather be the book on the shelf.
Dusty and Unread
Instead.

I wish I could wisper in the depths,
And create an echo in your heart
You are wanted
You are loved

Heaviness drapes over
The sharpest of minds
Sometimes

But a smile,
a child's toothy grin
a baby's belly laughter
Yanks the gloom away
And freed,
  we can begin again,
  renewed.

Walking on the beach
We happened across you there
Poor little dead crab.

At times I am haunted;
Taunted.
Shame sneaks its way
Through the cracks
Attacks.

One flick of the lighter-
Illuminated:
I am not owned
By those lies.
Wise:
To have once been wrong.

I am not owned
By shame.
My name
is Daughter, Forgiven.
He lives in
Me.

My name
is Beloved, Espoused.
He has chosen
Me.

I am not owned by
Defeat.
I shake your dust off my feet.

I fall. Yes, I fall.
But I get UP every
Time.

Cuz He says,
You
Are
Mine.

The mossy green earth
Kisses my feet
As I wander through grassy fields

And the babbling brook
Trickles and laughs
As its water dances across the stones

Here in this valley
I find repose
This peace, this quiet, refeshes my soul

The sunlight pours in
My soul stretches forth, yearning
For Your love and warmth

Fill me with your love
As morning light fills the sky

Calm, beautiful, perfect
I surrender
and rest in your goodness

Gusts of cool mountain air breathe life in my heart
And I beg for the closeness of the sun, to reach the wide-eyed wonder...
Call me on! *To the heights!

Oh,
but with
the valleys, the
mountains are made
all the more great, all the
more beautiful. Oh, where would we be without our valleys?

When I am with You
there is always  
an element of quiet freedom
that accompanies me