Poem Sampler

From Celebrate This Moment! Prime Time is NOW!

VERTICAL THINGS
Leona Choy

Lord, I'm so horizontal.
I live too much on the plateaus of life
oblivious to lofty mountains
that I haven't even tried to climb.

Too easily I link arms with others
who are content to mill around
expending no effort
going in circles on the plains
getting nowhere, accomplishing nothing.

It costs me more to do vertical things:
to lift my spirit
to commune with God
intercede for my fellow man
point my brother upward
bear his burden, if I can
reach down to the hurting
on the lowlands of discouragement.

Engaging in matters eternal
and investing in vertical things
releases me
to scale life's mountains
and rise above the horizontal
by giving my spirit wings.
*******

I NEED TO FLY
Leona Choy

Jesus, I know You understand
my need to fly.
You walked the dusty Judean hills
earthbound for a season
yet You walked on the water too
eventually You flew into the heavens
before the invention of planes
and space shuttles.

My spirit was born with wings
but the ordinariness of life
keeps them clipped, or at best
locked behind me with handcuffs
so that I can't take off
into the sky lanes.

I have a suppressed hunger for free flight
for newness and ecstasy
for breaking loose from gravity.
I live with the urge
to explore the uncharted
and search for tantalizing treasures.

I yearn for abandon to kick off my shoes
and run barefoot
through fields wet with dew
and not worry about snakes and thorns
or who's watching you.

I'm tired of mediocre achieving
and being dependably responsible.
I'm weary of plugging along
resigning myself to grey life.
I'd rather move toward risk.

Lord, have compassion upon my unrest.
I'm hard pressed
to settle for the humdrum.

I don't ask for swift descent
from the pinnacle of the temple
with the safe arrangement
of a catch-net at the bottom
in case the angels are on coffee break.

You talked about it Yourself, Lord:
You promised a LIFE of MORE
You offered ABUNDANT.
Whatever it means
that's what I'm looking for!

If I'm not asking too much
would You let me enroll, Lord
in Your beginners' class
on water walking?
********

SHIFTING SCENE
Leona Choy

No life structures last
for all will pass.
Adjustments and change
transitions and turning points
crossroads and crises --
nothing stays the same.

As soon as I'm serene
God shifts the scene.
He kaleidoscopes my life
and my settled world
shattering and fragmenting it
into a totally new pattern.

God quicksilvers
my human securities
not in caprice
but with Divine purpose.
He is in pursuit
of my transition
from temporal roots
to a heavenly climate.

Then I shall embrace
that which deviates
from my comfortable place!
I will ride the wave
and joyfully let Him
rearrange my life
and not estrange
myself from change.
It is my angelic friend
conducting me
along the road of transformation
sandpapering me
abrasing my inclination
to petrification.

God is intentionally
keeping me in motion
preparing me for The Great Change:
my transfiguration
into the person I shall be
when I exchange my mortality
for His image in Eternity.
********

(Note: You are welcome to copy any of my poems, but please give credit to the source and the copyright.)

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