Is Your God is too small?

As long as we can keep God confined to an image

or a person, we can control the use of him/her

to conform others to think like we do

~believing we are the only ones~

While others find God’s Spirit all around them

Experiencing love and blessing in all they do

Exchanging religion for real spiritual connection

Photo: Dwight L. Roth

Today at d’Verse, Merril introduced us to Puente, bridge building in our poetry. We are to take the first verse and connect it to the third verse by a single bridge line that completed the first verse and leads into the third. This is a first for me, so I am sharing some thoughts running through my head today.

Join us at: https://dversepoets.com

Truth and Lies

Very unsettling to see

truth and lies woven into the same strand

Hypnotized by strong need to believe

when obviously on shaky ground

Being right at all cost

closes eyes to see what went down

Feeling all is lost

Settling into the quicksand around

Truth and lies come in many forms

People believe what they want to hear

Everyone takes their stand

as truth and lies are woven into the same strand

***

Painting – Dwight L. Roth

Jaded

Let us not become jaded

With reports of senseless violence

Brought to us in living color

Real time action like virtual reality

Worn across our eyes

*

Let us not become jaded

Thinking all is lost and evil has won

Don’t believe it do not fear

Brother helps sister when danger is near

*

Let us not become jaded

For love is not lost / truth will triumph

Tragedy brings unity

Realizing what is really important

We stand arm in arm and hand in hand

Knowing that in the end

Love Wins!

Photo: Dwight L. Roth

Open link night at d’Verse. It is easy to become jaded with all that happens in the world around us. I have revised this piece from a couple of years ago, to remind us that truth is light and love is truth and Love wins!

Join us at: https://dversepoets.com then click on Mr. Linkey to read our poems.

Christmas All Year ’round

Children look forward to Christmas each year

To toys and presents and Santa’s good cheer

But why do we leave Christmas in December

The joy of Christmas we should always remember

*

The gift of God’s grace coming down to Earth

To live in our hearts and give us worth

So spread God’s love both near and far

Share Christmas joy where ever you are

Give of yourself and lend a hand

To both friend and stranger across our land

*

The joy of Christmas is not in the getting

The true spirit of Christmas is in the giving

Show love and compassion to all you meet

The real joy of Christmas is really a treat

*

Photo: Dwight L. Roth

Christmas is Love

Some may say Christmas is just a myth

Like the Easter Bunny and Santa Clause

A fantasy created to make us feel good

But to me Christmas is Love

*

You may want to debate the details

Or argue whether the Wise Men were three

Or just three in a caravan of twenty-three

Bringing gifts to the Christ child so long ago

But to me Christmas is Love

*

Some may wonder at the story of the Shepherds

Of Angels singing from on high in the night sky

Perhaps the baby was in their stable asleep in the hay

A tiny baby with a story to tell that changed the world

To me Christmas is Love

*

God coming in the flesh is a concept some might doubt

The Word,,, The Spirit of the living God embodied in a baby

A child said to be both human and divine is quite a wonder

Leaving skeptics to doubt and critics to pick it apart

But to me Christmas is Love

*

You see, God is Love, his love shown through the man Jesus

If you get lost in the details you miss the story, for the story is Love

What ever you believe about the Christmas story most will agree

That Love is the foundation of Christmas… God’s love shown to mankind

To me Christmas is God’s Love and Grace to those who need it most

*

Painting “Piercing the Darkness” – Dwight L. Roth

Waiting for the Light

Today is Advent Sunday in the Christian faith. It represents the time leading up to the birth of Christ, Emanuel, God with us. The prophet Isaiah spoke of coming out of darkness and into the light. It speaks so much to the feelings of our life this past year.

“The people walking in darkness
    have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
    a light has dawned.”

Isaiah 9:2 NIV (biblegateway.com)

My Nephew’s wife shared the following post this morning on her Face Book page. I thought is was so well written that I wanted to share it with you.

**********************

Advent feels different this year… it’s not just about me preparing my heart for the coming Christ-child.

Most of us have spent a significant amount of time this year sitting in the darkness of our own personal waiting rooms…waiting for healing, waiting for a job, waiting for pregnancy, waiting for reconciliation, waiting for a visit from family, waiting for lab results, waiting for “normal”, etc.

So instead of trying to ignore the darkness, I will wait a little longer, hoping that “the God who showed up in the hardest parts of our humanity is still showing up today…

…We often forget that the encounter with the incarnate Christ happens in unexpected places — our unexpected change of plans, our unaccomplished dreams, and humble new beginnings.” (Scott Erickson)

I’m looking forward to the day “the weary world rejoices” again.

~Lora Myers Roth~

Photo: Dwight L. Roth

At the End of the Road…

What is you concept of God and heaven? A couple of years ago, I reflected on the concept of God that I was taught as a child; what the Bible taught us about God, and now, in my winter of life, what I think about those images and concepts. I saw this sign along the road a few years ago. This poem addresses more questions than answers. What do you visualize when you think of God?

At the end of the road when my life is done

what will I find will there be one…

who will meet me there at the pearly gates

with hands outstretched  no need to wait?

Will he be tall, short, fat, or thin;

When he sees me will he break out with a grin?

*

Interesting to me how we fantasize

seeing God like us, as we rationalize…

Dreaming that descriptions of hands and face

describe a reality that has no race.

Metaphors become reality as we describe our God,

forgetting he is Spirit, and that would be odd;

For a Spirit has no shape, no hands to hold tight

Only a presence of the purest light.

*

So whether God is he she or it,

the God we meet will probably not fit

the idea we have in the back of our mind.

Won’t it be interesting what we will find

…at the end of the road?

Photo: Dwight L. Roth

Building on the Sand

Growing up in a Pastor’s family, I heard many Bible stories that told of the follies of men who put their trust in things that won’t sustain them. Proverbs talks of the fool and his folly. Jesus told parables of trusting in riches only to lose it all. He also told of the wise man who built his house on the rock while the foolish man built on the sand. Every time I go the the beach I am reminded of that story. Houses sit behind dunes, some up on stilts, and some right on the surf as this one does. It is just a matter of time before a hurricane comes and washes it all away.

Beach house on the edge

Fall hurricanes come roaring

Foolish man’s folly

Photo: Dwight L. Roth

Today at d’Verse, Lisa asked us to write a poem of folly. This has so many ways it could be interpreted. I went back to my roots and my childhood stories in Sunday School for this one. Do you remember the song? How about the motions!? What fun memories!!

Join us at: https://dversepoets.com click on the Mr. Linkey box to read more…

Finding Common Ground

The death of Congressman John Lewis, bring a reflection of the intense turmoil  he lived through during the Civil Rights era. The struggle for respect and equality still goes on sixty years later.  As I look at the division that still remains, I realize it will not be resolved  without God’s love changing our hearts allowing us to live together in peace.

Some views are shotguns blasting away

Others sling shots pelting against the gate.

Let’s have a conversation they say…

Come together // find common ground

Solve our differences together.

*

How does that happen with shotgun politics

and sling shot twitter, that couldn’t hit a brick wall.

When our view is the only right view,

Each conversation become one of persuasion or condemnation…

A ticket to ride our train non stop to our destination.

*

Legislated change without heart change, brings little hope.

History keeps repeating with every rotation.

Change comes with give and take // listening and hearing

Appreciating uniqueness // instead of condemning it.

*

Only a revolution of the heart will bring peace from division.

Perhaps, “love your neighbor as yourself”

are words that could make our world a better place…

Opening the door to finding common ground…

Bringing the “Hope and Change” we really need.

Photos: Dwight L. Roth

Here is a favorite song from the Folk era by the Youngbloods called Let’s Get Together

Perhaps what is missing in this generation is the truth in Folk Music… Music that brought people together!

A Needed Reminder

God loves His children

Message needed for our world

Love is colorblind

***

Photo: Dwight L. Roth