Debris: Listen: Prayers and Poetry

                       Debris

                        Like a wind-blown wave

                        crashes against a still shore

                        pounding it with debris

                        churned up in a storm

                        so our hearts, our lives,

                        actions and reactions

                        engulf those around us

                        swept up by hidden

                        currents.

Reflection: Decay: Listen: Prayers and Poetry

Reflection Questions

1.     Do you ever feel trapped in a difficult situation because of someone else’s decision?

2.     Have you ever made a choice that put someone you love in “a bondage of decay”?

3.     What attitudes toward ourselves and others can bring repair?

4.     Bring your own sense of decay before the Lord and ask for prayer this week.

Share: Is there a special word that gives you hope in the immediate circumstances?

Decay: Listen: Prayers and Poetry

Reading: Romans 8:21

“That the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.”

“In hope.”

In nature decay is considered a life generating essential process. A natural recycle system that decomposes in order to release enzymes that allows nutrients to be absorbed.

For us personally, decay of body, or heart, or relationships seems to us as disease, or brokenness, or rejection. Yet when brought openly into the light as medical diagnosis or honest communication healing can begin. In hope.

When we are willing to bring our darkness into God’s light, decay is recognized and we are also set free from the bondage we are engulfed in, whether caused by our own actions or by others. In hope.

In life and in death Jesus went into battle for us to obtain that freedom—that glory which is still often beyond our understanding. Yet the promise gives us His hope. Real hope.

Strength for the battle, healing for our souls, new beginnings. New nourishment. Every day. Sometimes every minute. Released from bondage.

Set free from the hidden debris we carry. New hope.

Lord, please bring Your light into each of us, so that Your glory may reside in our hearts turning our decay into Your new seeds of life.

Psalm of Worship: Proverbs 8:20

“I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice.”

Reflection: Decay: Word Ambassadors: Prayers and Poetry

Reflection Questions

1.     When have you doubted God’s promise of eternity?

2.     Do you accept His design of each of us created in His image? Why? Or why not?

3.     Does the cycle of life give you hope or fear?

Share: What oath from God gives you the strength to hold on in times of  distress?

Decay: Word Ambassadors: Prayers and Poetry

Reading: Acts 2: 29-31

“Fellow Israelites, I may say to you confidently of our ancestor David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn an oath to him that he would put one of his descendants on his throne. Forseeing this David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying, ‘He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh experience corruption.’”

A promise made to which David clung throughout turmoil, war, death, and corruption. A relationship he cherished. He saw beyond the limitations of earth bound decay to God’s promises. He trusted God’s oath—living—breathing words beyond man’s experience.

Although not descendants of David, we too are given the same promise of a new life—a new image—a future and a hope beyond the cycle of creation.

And yet we do not often trust. Instead we fight to conquer the corruptions of heart and body and mind and death with our limited skills. Not ready or willing to give up control, not willing to believe, or hope, in His image of resurrection. We hold onto our limited sense of power to find a way to cheat death our way.

A place is prepared for each of us. A promise extended to all. Nature unfolds the design cycle daily as one realm closes and new life grows again. Re-birth in His image the gift of life. Re-birth in His sacrifice the oath of eternal life.

Lord, help us to truly hear the blessing of Your invitation to live our lives in a daily relationship that fully trusts now and into a future You alone can give. The only source of no corruption or decay. Remind us daily that You have created us in Your image.

Psalm of Worship: Genesis 1: 27

“So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

Refining Words

Dark Covers

Like a vehement toddler

ducking, twisting, to

avoid the bath.

Or a vigilant stare

from a youth

under question.

We vigorously avoid

light’s ray ready to

pierce sin, selfishness.

Prefer our dark

familiar covers

hide the smell

of decay.

John 3