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A Baby’s Cry

In the stillness
A whisper speaks
Smoke on the breeze
Speaks to a restless world
Love spoken, hovers over the world

A star
Shines brightly
In the winter sky
A baby’s cry
Love
Spoken
In a
Broken
World

Daggers drawn
Hearts torn
Bleeding
Love
Carried by a baby’s cry
Unfurls
To heal the world

Even broken
Whipped
Stripped
Bleeding
Love is spoken
Unfurled
In that broken
World

Tell me
Why
The cry
Of love
Goes unheeded?


Is fear
So ingrained in this broken world
The words
Whispered in creation
Spoken in salvation
Shouted when death’s chains
Were broken
Go unheard?

Still your heart
Let the word
Soothe your soul
Make you whole
For the whisper
The word
Is
Love

Covid-19 – an Update

In 2021, I wrote how the world was turned upside down by a pandemic

Little were we to know, even a year ago there was barely a glimpse of its impact

Whilst things are starting to settle down, Covid-19 is still very much here. True, vaccines have lessened its impact, but I feel as if our lives are now split into pre and post Covid

I suspect it will take a long time for us to recover. For a cough due to long standing issues with pleghm not to stand people scurrying. Colds and flu will still be here, it is naive to think people will not still sneeze, cough and fall ill to these things

In the meantime, there are many pluses that have come from this. The housebound now have the ability to join the Eucharist online. Those previously isolated are now connected

The psychological impact will last a lot longer, depression will be worse, anxiety will appear in those previously unafflicted.

All we can do is take each day as it comes, and live the best we can. If we struggle, be honest, be open. If you meet someone struggling and you feel OK that day, then take the time and listen, sometimes that’s all it takes, to lift the head and heart, and journey on

A Reflection – Changing Times

So many things are changing, work is now an open book, and a period of uncertainty has begun

I’m now entering the second year of my degree

My family is changing, evolving, and new challenges arise. Yet I still feel secure. Lots of decisions are on the horizon, yet I feel OK

For with all the roles, all the challenges, all the hats I wear, all the layers of my identity, I am still who I have always been.

A child of God

When all starts to change, move, and certain steps move onto escalators rather than solid ground, when the lift of my life starts hurtling into unknown territory and the layers start to fray at the edges, I am comforted by the knowledge that I am still blessed.

All I have to do is raise my head, and look once more to Calvary, and then to heaven. For there I see my brother, my friend, my father and the author of my life

I won’t deny it’s hard to raise that head, to stop the dread, the rage and the pain, but it’s worth it. For it reminds me I am valued and I am part of a pilgrim life, a journey that has friends and loved ones alongside me, but is ultimately my own.

So Often

So often
We miss the sound
Of trees
Rustling
In the wind
The patter
Of the rain
On the pavements

Are we so blind
Behind the walls
The safety net
Of our lives?

From home
To work
And back again
Ever indoors
Never being part
Of the world
We inhabited

When shelters were just that
Not a permanent state of being

When did we decide
Being enclosed
Was acceptable
Normal?

When did we choose
To be apart from nature?
To dominate
Rather than steward
God’s creation?

Maybe
This is why we struggle
In the comfort
Of our walls
Of brick and stone
Yet flesh and bone
Was not designed
To be confined


My garden
Is how I am
Unkempt, surrounded by grass
And weeds
Yet still
Somehow surviving
Almost thriving

How can I be so comfortable
Making decisions that help others
Yet feel so broken, fragile
And unworthy


In spite of it all

I take comfort
From the fact
The one who made me
Loved me into being
Will protect me
And in time
Bring me home
To Him

Fire of Your Grace

Help me understand,
My life is in your hand,
And bid me cease my striving
For a peace
That is only found
In surrender

Speak to me
Of the rising of the Son
The new life He brings
The song we sing
As life awakens
And spring
Comes

The seed
Planted in the dark
Peeks out
Into the slowly awakening
New life
Seen in the ashes of winter

Whisper to me
Of the love
Ever present
Yet so much clearer
In the lengthening days

Somehow
In the desert that is my life
And the cave of my tattered heart
I lose my way
And lost
Search frantically
For warmth and comfort
Unaware of the fire of your love, ever present
Just a touch, just a breath away

All I need do
Is cease the pacing
The searching
The self-induced yearning
And turn back to the warmth
To the fire of your grace
Your love,

Your peace

And simply
Be

A Voice Made of Wood and Steel

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Isn’t it strange? When we struggle to pray, silence robs our expression

And here you are

I put you in a bag, leave you aside

Why do I do that?

You are my voice when words falter

Wood and steel

Strings that ring, calling me to whisper my needs to you

Wood resonates, and the words unbidden echo

In my soul

Like the melodies from you

need a voice

yours helps me find it

Maybe
Your presence
Makes me feel less abandoned
I’m not really sure

I just know
When I hold you in my hands
And you sing
I feel alive

Covid has stolen my expression
But yours still sings
Teach me
How to echo
Your melody
And begin
To remember

Mine

A Modern Prodigal – Dare I Hope?

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The road is long
And I’m so weary
I Long for home
And the love left behind

Can I dare hope
That I will be heard
My heart is spent
I must repent
And come to rest

Could I dare He could forgive
And once more I could live
For existing is all I do
Without my God
My life means nothing

Yet broken, torn
I’m straining to see
Those open arms
Ever stretched wide
Reaching out
For me

Could I dare
How could I return?
When all my sins
Burn scarlet
In front of my eyes

I am so lost
I have nothing left to prove
Nothing left to prove
But a stubborn heart
And a foolish heart

For alone I fear the night
That stalks my dreams
Sometimes it seems
The dawn will never come

So, yes, I will go
Return once more
To the arms of my Father
Repenting my stubborn heart
And my foolish pride

For no matter what I do
Or how I fall
He is my all-in-all
For He is love
And love is all
His children
Need