To paraphrase Soren Kierkegaard, life must be lived forward but can only be understood backwards. Thus, does it not suggest that our lives are in front of us?
We live, we love, we laugh, we cry, we suffer and we grieve, and only afterwards can we understand the meaning behind the moments.
A little different Monday Motivation post for this week. I am hoping I can motivate you to take some action, read some great poems and cast a vote for your favorites.
You now have the opportunity to head over to the A.B. Baird Publishing website and cast your vote(s) for your favorite poem. I would be thrilled if you like my poem ‘Wake the Beast’ and cast a vote for it but better yet, read all the poems and vote for your favorites. There are some amazingly talented writers out there and you won’t be disappointed.
Just click this link A.B. Baird Publishing and either scroll down the page to the My Still Waters or click the My Still Waters hyperlink in the left hand column. The directions for the People’s Choice voting are easy, read each piece and cast a vote for your favorites. It is that easy!
Also, if would be appreciated if you are on Twitter to follow me @mwschutter and tweet the link below.
People’s Choice voting is live until 8/5 at https://www.abbairdpublishing.com for the upcoming anthology My Still Waters. My piece is ‘Wake the Beast’ and would love to have your support. #PoetryCommunity #WritingCommunity #Poetry #Writing #WritersLife #MondayMotivation #MondayBlogs
Well, the thought occurred to me as I have watched the autumn weather change from the overcast of gray clouds, to blowing winds and sideways rain, to the rainfall suddenly stopping and the clouds breaking to reveal splotches of blue beyond the gray curtain. Then snow, really snow, which quickly changed back to drizzling rain.
Before the sunshine slowly peaks out playing hide and seek, then disappears and the sky again began dumping buckets of raindrops the size of marbles and then back again to clear skies of forever blue and bright sunshine. Over and over, it does repeat, round and round it goes as the world moves on and it’s still all shit!
We cannot be everything that everybody wants us to be!
Hell, sometimes we cannot even be what we want to be!
These fears haunt me invading my dreams while I sleep and taunt me from the moment I wake, never leaving me alone. These voices in my head that scream condemnation walk beside me each day.
There are doors swinging open and opportunities that beckon and yet… I am so confused. The ideas and possibilities swirl around me in a chaos of hurricane winds and in flashes of lightning that carve the midnight sky, leaving me tired.
Does anyone care?
I silently scream. While I sit here quietly and watch the seconds tick slowly by, distracted by nothing and everything all at the same time.
My thoughts are a mess; my heart skips beats to a rhythm only it can hear as I wonder at the absurdity of it all. There is no choice but to embrace the only absurd choice that is available.
Do I dare? Would you?
Do I have the courage? Do you?
To believe in hope, when our faith as small as a wisp of smoke. A single light far off in the dark that is all. A small thing that keeps me going before my hearts stops beating, while I keep hearing the banging sounds of drums repeating.
The world has gone mad, each person, each mother’s son, everyone!
There is hate and evil, remorse and regret, an eternal tag team we meet to do battle in the ring of our hearts. This ugliness and fear seek to devour our souls, as cruelties unfold.
Mercy
Grace
Faith
Hope
Love
Are all that can stand against!
Our lives’ are brief, as memories linger, and the finality of death overshadows the past. Nothing makes sense. Our memories of yesterday are quickly gone, replaced by the tragedies seared into our brains through social media and the six o’clock news.
We need a lifeline, a belief in a hope that does not disappoint. Future memories of what could be, we see a light in the dark, a beacon of hope, and a reason to go on.
For if we do not, the world will move on and we will find ourselves repeating the refrain, “It’s all still shit!”
We tiptoe quietly around, afraid to wake the beast He lies quietly sleeping, his power unreleased Carefully hidden lying deep in the dark hearts of men The anointing, a legacy, a dormant strength within
Stand tall Stand straight Be bold, be courageous
In moments we quietly shrink, in condemning fear When the true path quietly lays before us ever so clear Silently we slink around the throne of our hearts Forgotten from where our true power comes Actors bound in chains we forsake our destined parts
Stand tall Stand straight Be bold, be courageous
We quietly fear the unrestrained strength The powerful emotions, the uncontrolled lust For deep inside the small dark place in our hearts Is where the beast resides in each of us
Stand tall Stand straight Be bold, be courageous
Moments try to define us for a lifetime Feeling we are left with nothing left to fight From deep inside out of eternity passed Into the dark shines the source of all light.
Stand tall Stand straight Be bold, be courageous
For in each heart resides this nature The conflict we all in this life must bear And yet this which dwells so deep With love is defeated when we dare
The passage below was the inspiration for this poem, which talks about the war between good and evil that wages within each of us.
For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.~Romans 7:15-18 (NASB)
Sin is a deadly beast that resides within each of us. We have the power of Christ and yet, we tiptoe around afraid of sin. We struggle to win the battle within, while the enemy condemns us and we believe his lies. Yet, as Paul writes it is not us, but sin which lives in us that is the problem. We are sons and daughters of the King and we need not fear the beast, but rise up and fight, for God loves and delights in us! Remember “you matter and have been redeemed!”
This post was inspired by Neil Vermillion and written at his urging. Be sure to visit his site for more inspiration and daily prophetic words, you won’t be disappointed.
We tiptoe quietly around, afraid to wake the beast