Before me every knee shall bend.
By me every tongue shall swear.
Where do our paths wend.
Can we ever try to dare.

I am the Lord unrivalled.
I form the light and create the dark.
This truth cannot be denied.
As we try to renew the spark.

I make good fortune.
And create calamity.
And we importune.
For we are one family.

Like St John we can only pray.
More than that we cannot say.

…. …

Dark night of the soul
Comes to all of us some times
We can only pray

……

See Isaiah 45: 6-8, 18, 21-25

You too have to be patient, do not lose heart.
Because the Lord’s coming will be soon.
Before us is laid life’s chart.
And before us is some coming boon.

I was dreaming of some disappointment.
But as a door closes , another opens.
With fate a new appointment.
And new notions.

Do not make complaints against one another.
Brothers so as not to be bought to justice .
Better in silence suffer.
Just say , trust us.

So the dream ended .
With the heart mended.

……

Worry for failure
After all what is the point
Something will turn up

……

See James 5: 7-10

Rejoice so highly favoured.
You have won God’s favour , listen.
Concerned and soon to be belaboured.
Mary’s future would yet glisten.

She asked herself what this greeting could mean.
But the angel said, do not be afraid.
To this heavenly queen.
The promise was made.

Would we give the same answer.
Let what you have said be done.
Or are we plagued by doubt’s cancer.
Will we ever win immortality’s crown.

The choice is ours to take.
For ours and his sake.

…….

We’re given a choice
We can give Mary‘s answer
To let it be done

……..

See  Luke 1: 26-38

Let the wilderness  and dry lands exult.
Let the wasteland rejoice and bloom.
Belief can be profound and no mere cult.
Releasing us from self absorbed gloom.

I was dreaming  on the theme of I’d rather be.
For instance have a hard job than be retired.
If you look on the bright side doubts flee.
Somehow you feel  just a little buoyed.

Or I’d rather be criticised than ignored.
I’d rather be tired from duties than lazy.
So much contentment can be stored.
But what we want is often so hazy.

It’s better to say I’d rather be here
Than always thinking of there.

…..

Be content with this
Became it is all you have
And it is the now

….

See  Isaiah 35:1-10

Everyone who listens to these words of mine.
Will be like a man who built  his house on rock.
He needs to look for no further sign.
He only needs to knock.

So Matthew was a tax collector.
Despised by so many .
An image of the occupier cast by projector.
In the midst of need a man of plenty.

He had built his house on sand.
Rain came down and it fell.
The Lord took him by the hand.
And all was well.

Like Matthew we await a call.
And we are then in his gentle thrall.

…….

He called St Matthew
And we now await his call
I thought I heard it

…….

See Mathew 7:21, 24-27

Follow me.
And I will make you fishers of men.
Let me see.
Again.

I doubt too much .
I see too little.
I try to stay in touch.
But my faith is so brittle.

At once leaving their boat and their father.
They followed him.
I need to see further.
If ever I am to find him.

How many of us just leave our boat.
We’re too afraid we won’t float.

……

He has called us
And then we just carry on
As we were doing

…..

See Matthew 4: 18-22

Bless you for hiding these things from the learned.
And revealing them to mere children.
Regret can be turned.
We can be more trusting like children.

I was regretting lost opportunities in my career.
Suddenly I snapped out of it, I hadn’t done so bad.
All we have to reject is fear.
There is no need to be sad.

Nobody knows who is the son.
Except the Father.
It’s like looking into the sun.
Truth retreats further and further.

Regrets come and then they go.
So we veer to high  from low.

…….

Nobody knows him
Except the Son who is gone
So we await him

……..

See Luke 10:21-24

Watch yourselves or your hearts will be coarsened.
With the cares of life.
The day will come and you will be trapped.
As with a knife.

Stay awake.
Praying at all times for the strength to survive.
All that is going to happen for his sake.
And you will yet thrive.

I was pondering this prophecy.
Realising cares need to be held in perspective.
Looking to the end constantly.
Soon all will be held in retrospective.

But then we worry about some future day.
But all that matters is this day.

…..

The day is coming
And it will be here quite soon
So think on today

….

See Luke 21: 34-36

Heaven and earth will pass away.
But my words will never pass away.
In his hands we are just soft clay.
Where will we end up on our hurtling sleigh.

On this crisp and clear November night.
I can see thousands of stars  arrayed.
Here in the country nothing pollutes light.
And all this transcendent wonder was made.

What now of worries and criticism.
How they are dwarfed by this splendour.
How insignificant our earth bound vision.
The stars a humming celestial choir.

But even all this will pass away .
And what of the word , will that pass away.

…….

We worry so much
Then we look at all the stars
Concerns put to shame

…..

See Luke 21: 29-33

Stand erect, hold your heads high.
Because the day of your liberation is at hand.
There is no need to cry.
We are destined for a better land.

We can derive comfort from our work.
Giving us a sense of purpose.
It may be something small , not a life work.
From depression a kind of Habeas Corpus.

I was reading about the Bill Nighy film ‘Living’.
About how even at the end we can find fulfilment .
Even in a small project beginning.
After a humdrum life , achievement.

We wonder what we are achieving.
It is in small ways , giving.

….

What do we achieve
Perhaps it’s very little
But it is something

…..

See Luke 21: 20-28

You are not to prepare your defence.
I myself will give you eloquence.
At whatever expense.
And regardless of any consequence.

I wonder if we make if ourselves a fool.
By writing this sort of stuff.
Being to ourselves cruel.
Or a thing of just puff.

He tells us none of our opponents.
Will be able to resist or contradict us.
I wonder, they too have their moments.
So we will continue to discuss.

I’m sure it’s worth bearing witness.
Even if people sometimes think us witless.

……

You spread the Gospel
Are you holier than thou
Or do you do good

…..

See Luke 21: 12-19

So the angel set his sickle to work on the earth.
And harvested the vintage and put it in a winepress.
We hope we are all of the greatest worth.
We can’t be sure, we can only guess.

What does the Book of Apocalypse foretell.
Is it the world’s end.
Or is it apocryphal, who can tell.
Will it be a time to ascend.

More likely our sun will end a a red dwarf.
A billion years will pass.
Who knows into what we will morph.
We look through a distant dark glass.

But it’s no bad thing to be aware .
And  calmly to prepare.

……

The Apocalypse
Is it just apocryphal
Or is it the end

…..

See The Book of Apocalypse 15: 1-4