Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Sarah, Pretty, and Tall


"But all of you, leaders and followers alike, are to be down to earth with each other, for - God has had it with the proud, But takes delight in just plain people." 1 Peter 5:5

little mermaid kareoke under the sea
dreaming of stages and neon marquees
backyard movies with bangs in her face
cartwheels to put a smile on his face
image shaking with his wheezing laugh
the first drop of the golden calf
daddy gone just before her teens
gunstart approval races by any means
Weary-eyes mother does her best
tries to be her bulletproof vest
but working double shifts and overtime
left her no harness and a cliff to climb
so she searched the world for a chance to belong
muddled gray fog of right and wrong
now a leap of faith became the jump of her life
no looking back like Lot's salty wife
a step at a time, the left then the right
toward even the tiniest beam of His light
if she starts to back up, we might give a little nudge
much like a volleyball expert line judge
Lord, bless her efforts to move toward You
unmask the lies she has accepted as true
Thank You for letting us be there for it all
For we love her so much, our Sarah, pretty, and tall

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Fashion Police

"Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." Colossians 3:12

altruism was given six months to live
and I'm holding his hand, whispering wind to keep him steady,
wheezing breaths of selfish ambition
news stories shaking in his hands
tiny domes of sweat tickle his temples as we crash into one another
and the signs are everywhere you go
the eye-glaring, frown-wearing
hip-holding, brow-folding
foot-tapping, baby-slapping,
how-do-you-dare!, what-do-I-care?
life of lookin out for number one
treading in it to keep my head above the surface
in the concrete box of public education
and in this wired world that my daughter skips through
pigtails bouncing with blissfull ignorance
where everyone is Santa Claus and
danger is something in a cartoon villains's song
cynical adolescent faces smirk with bitterness
like the taste of a penny between their lips
When compassion, humility, gentleness, patience, love
all bear only one synonym
weakness
and only the strong survive
the penny taste is forming faint on my tongue
let me taste Your goodness once again
so I can swim upstream, keep altruism alive,
and clothe myself in Your qualities
even when they're going out of style.