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You've turned my heart of stone
into a heart of flesh
that it might love gain
that it might dare to believe it does exist
beyond the brokenness

Beyond the darkness
is the day,
beyond the rain, thunder and lightning
is a promise in the sky
arched and brightly arrayed

my heart receives it
and responds with hope

Heartbreak in Haiti!

Tears flood my eyes as I consider the sight
One child naked clings to her leg with not as much as a diaper or shoes
the other she cradles - a little girl, no more 6 months old
wearing only a onesie.
The little girls legs covered with the scars from old burns,
the result of living in a tent.

Now they have no tent.
Shoeless, homeless, hungry and naked
they sleep in the streets of Port Au Prince.
And their mother - is 19 years old.

My heart breaks as I hear her story.
How she covers her children and self with
a plastic bag as torrential rains pour down.
How she hopes to find food from a kind neighbor
(who also lives in the streets under a tarp or tent)
to feed her son and maybe if there is enough herself.
How at times she has no milk in her breasts to nurse her newborn daughter.

And all at once I feel helpless and ashamed.
I want to changed her situation and give her all I own, but I cannot.
I'm ashamed because I too have been 19 with two small children
and have never known the desperation in her eyes.
I have never slept in a street or begged for food.

I have only two things which separate me from this woman.
The fact that I, myself am no longer 19 and my children no longer small.
And the fact that I was born in America.

Seasons Change...

September is here and summer draws to a close with every passing day. Labor Day brought with it a few clouds and the necessity of a sweater. Leaves have begun to lose their color and the weaker of trees have already began to shed.

As the summer pinks, whites and bright greens transform into autumn's yellows, auburns and browns I look back over my year. January brought with it a new year and hope for new beginnings.

As I celebrated Valentine's Day in the arms of a loved one, I couldn't imagine that March and April would bring with it confusion and compromise. Stability or at least the perception of it lost and intimacy with the saviour found. Found in the still of the night, in the solitary walks in the rain.

As summer blossoms began to bloom June brought with it death...death of love, hopes and dreams...perhaps due to overwatering of attention and time. A death that has taken the months of July, August and yes September to fully see...

A flowered plucked before it's time, a plant uprooted before it's fruit is harvested. And so what is left you ask? Soil, the gardener and the rain...oh yes and the few seeds that fell to the ground. The soil is the land that He has given. The seed is what I have to sow. The gardener...well that's me, and the rain...that's the Lord. His blessings, his perfect will and time.

I pray that as I tend to your garden and sow the seeds you have given me that you release blessing on the land like rain and produce for your kingdom everlasting fruit!

The Harvest

Storms are brewing overhead
and beneath our feet the earth is quaking.

The time is near,
the seeds are sown,
our fruit is ripe for the taking.

And while His spirit produces gems
like patience, peace and joy,
there is a snake in our garden
who seeks to destroy,
all that the Lord has built
within His house, home and our hearts.

Lord open up our eyes to see
the devil's fiery darts
that aim to cause confusion,
pain and division.

Lord open our ears
so that we might listen,
to the promises given to your people long ago.
For now and & forever
we'll reap what we sow.

So we uproot bitterness, anger and pride.
You have no place in this house,
no place in our lives.

We open up our mouths to speak,
though we sow in tears,
in joy we'll reap.

People and Trees

People are like trees. Some grow straight up and branch in all directions. Still there are others whose branches are knotted within themselves like a Bonzai tree but well manicured on the surface. And then there are those whose branches move with the wind while their leaves blow with the breeze drooping to the ground.



I wonder, what kind of tree am I?

In Your Garden

To be in your garden for just one day

To sit in the glory of what your hands have made

To taste of your fruits and drink in your smells

To wal kdown the paths your feet have tread

To sit and talk awhile, this is what the heart longs for

Life with you before the fall.

Letting Go

“Let go” he whispers softly in my ear

My heart breaks at his request

“Give him unto me” he gently chides

and “I will, I will but not yet”, I stubbornly reply

First please answer my question,

“Why? Why?”

All is silent. All is still,

‘cept for my falling tears and aching heart.

“Although you love him well,

you must know I loved him from the start.”

“I do Lord, I know it to be true.

But why can’t I love him along with you?”

“Beloved, all this I ask of you

is nothing less than what I’ve asked of him too.

I’m asking you to both let go,

Your love is shown in this.

Surrender all to me alone

For to you I promise this

In due season you shall reap a harvest

Plentiful and ripe

If you do not lose heart,

If walk you by faith instead of sight”

And so my heart is not lost, it is your hands.

And my walk is by faith, faith that we shall meet again.