Because I can’t seem to get out of my rutt but want to post something, I will include one of my old poems. Incidentally, my poems all came to me in one sitting as I struggled through my disagreements with but love of my ministry college.
Defying Gravity/ World, I See You
Erin Ritchey
What does it look like to defy gravity?
To stand against the given truth and make life what you want it to be?
How can I fly if I don’t have wings?
If I’ve kept myself from following my heart’s drummings?
I’ve never flown before,
Scarred from life, so bruised and sore.
What makes me think that now I will
Fly high above and no longer stay still?
I’ve been lazy all my life
Both creating and avoiding strife.
Is this really a dream I can achieve,
a love I could never leave?
Or is it a wish floating in the air,
Nearly foreknowing its future of despair?
Is it wrong to wish on stars
To dream of lands and princes from afar?
Is it so naive to believe
That life is magic, and it’s more than we can see?
So life is hard and cruel and bitter,
Everyone’s out to get me, around the world, evil is littered.
You say I must bow to the inevitable, a dark truth uncovered.
An evil in front of which I once shuddered.
People surmise as to why they live
And why the universe has time to give.
None of us perfectly know. And its so wonderfully humbling to admit.
But in my life, I have discovered the Almighty God to be a real and comforting fit.
It’s not about the Bible, the letters and the books.
It’s about the experience and the ever-present evidence if we could just look.
He’s everywhere all at once, in me and watching you.
Not to judge and destroy
But to bring us into ever-lasting joy.
His love is deep, I know this to this to be true,
But, how you react, well, you decide what to do.
He looks at the heart
And He gives a new start.
He is above me forever yet walks beside.
He’s a stronghold in which to hide,
a shoulder on which to cry,
a hope through which to ride.
And, once we invite Him, I’ve felt it myself, He lives inside!
I don’t need to know the answers, in fact I feel I know nothing at all.
I just know I’ve felt Him catch me whenever I fall.
So yes, world, I hear you. I’m listening to your fears,
I see the hearty laughter, the confusion, the joy, the tears.
I hear your songs, I’ve watched your pain.
I’ve seen you lose and I’ve seen you gain.
Your hearts are so fragile, your lives so shattered.
But I look at you, every single one of you, and I say that you matter!
What I think, and how you hurt me, it doesn’t affect me anymore,
I’ve thrown that pain into the ocean and it’s sunken down to the deep dark floor.
Forgotten and forgiven, with you I have no qualms.
I want to listen and understand your lives through your psalms.
I can’t remember the girl I used to be,
who took every action to be against me.
I neither budged in who I thought I was , nor saw you for who you were.
You’re more than your pain, more than your scars,
More than your lostness- truth is, you can’t travel far.
Listen to Him, He’s calling your Name.
Let Him grant you peace in the midst of life’s cruel games.
He just wants your heart, your committed love,
So He can fill with a peace and joy that will take flight in you, like a dove!
You don’t have to be like me, I don’t have to be like you.
Each time He created, it was something new!
Be who you are and be His!
And you’ll find there is more to life than just this.
Maybe it’s a little preachy but this was during a time when I felt a need to justify my new behavior of questioning the status quo. With that, I am previewing the next two posts, they will be here tomorrow. Wicked= Defying Gravity and Descendants and other Disney Channel Original Movies will be the subjects. Look forward to writing more.
Finding Pearls in a Sea of Sand 