So many, I have known on this journey to find God.
So many days, I journeyed.
So many classes, paths, and ways.
So many disciplines!
Truth is:
He finds us.
He entered our world, and loved it and loved us,
just as we are.
He is as close to us as He can be.
Truth is:
The Holy one holds us and prunes us and loves us,
lifting sin from us,
bridging gaps,
freeing us.
He brings new life,
here in this degraded world.
He loves us, and we find life in the light.
Truth is:
He finds us.
I may know life, and may know the fattened calf,
but I will not be tangled in guilt.
Rather than the needy and the unholy,
I would rather always be holy,
still knowing the mist of grace upon me.
I seek each day hope and reconciliation.
I seek real meaning, knowing the master.
Let not my ‘holiness’ be a stumbling block.
Let me be aware of His grace,
and covered by grace each day.
Let me be holy, even as it seems so hard.
Joy in the Word!
I was thinking about, and writing about, my faith when I wrote this in December 2012.
Hand in Hand
My Faith, fragile, Help my Faith
I believe, I believe, I believe, I believe, and yet: Help my unbelief today and yesterday and all this week and forever. How can it be? Redeemed and healed, I am often filled with joy, And yet, Where does this unbelief come from? Where was it hidden? Was it hidden at all? When this faith becomes doubtful of itself, it stands in temptation again, as it was in the beginning, in the edge of the garden. Fragile in our faith, we are sorely tested each day. But we have not been saved by our faith. It was God’s love—his grace—in Jesus that saves us. It is our faith that takes us there to gaze on Jesus, To grab hold of His grace, His forgiveness, His empowerment; Lord, I ride my faith to return to your power. My faith is in a great, great God. Yet my faith can be so small; Help me Lord.
I hear new waves this morning
Splashing on the shore not as warning,
But waves splashing on my soul,
Calming me, lifting my spirit full.
Jesus loved to be at his lake,
And at my Lake Michigan I am fully awake.
Crowds passing me, and the water breaking at the pier,
I have left dull sadness behind, sunny waves flushing my fear.
In this community of Christ’s disciples, support circles me in waves.
I am uplifted by folks who have been with me for days and days.
Support comes in waves.
Spirit holds me; He saves.
Shepherded by disciples who hold me,
And let me look through many eyes to see,
My spirit leaps, and I am lifted high,
Joy fills my dull senses, and I reach to the sky.
Today we are celebrating the 80th birthday of June Jentz, my mother-in law. Happy birthday!
Mother June, Sister June
Of mothers lost and mothers found,
and love learned and lived,
I found mother June in my life.
In decades past, and in days recent,
she took me in her house just as I am
a wanderer, a drifter, a disciple.
When I was single, alone, and coughing in fever,
she put me up, put up with me,
and fed me just as I was.
She has connected us with the saints in our times, reluctant but
stable and solid in good times and hard times,
and connects the times through ages known.
A sister of sisters and mother of daughters,
she gathered in sons, husbands of daughters,
and a husband, she held, a best friend forever.
She has been a hostess of families, friends and clans,
a center of the table, ready or not, and
a center of the living room, energized and when worn down.
She remembers us and loves us,
even when we are unsure of ourselves.
She lifts us up and knows us,
even when we question our lives and our place.
With Paul, she partners to complete the team,
to make the home, the central place in sacred life.
With daughters, grandsons, granddaughter, and new
generations,
she seized the days and lives the life.
She is blessed to be a blessing to a family of families.
She is blessed to bless our community,
communities grown over years old and new.
She hems our hems,
Hears our harrumphs,
Heals our hurts,
and does the things we forget to see;
she does these things with quiet dignity.
She lives her life, a model, a special one.
She has been a daughter, a wife, a mother,
Grandma June,
and always a wonder-filled Wisconsin woman.
In the center,
on a special day,
we lift June to celebrate her day.
Happy birthday, Sister June, Mother June.
Bless you on your blessed day.
(c) Tom Bolton, from Milwaukee, 19 April 2014
I am always thankful that my mother-in-law and father-in-law have adopted me as their son in so many ways. On the event of her 80th birthday this month, I was thinking about June Jentz, my mother-in-law. I am sharing this poem with her today. June is a very special woman.
This awesome video history was created by my Sister-in-Law Barb Hoeft.
Hopeful 