Poetry

Missing pieces

Missing pieces

To the puzzle of my life

Fall into place

Not all at once

Bur as I keep moving forward

Along the path

Laid out for me

Round the bend

The fog clears

Answers come.

The worse thing I can do

Is to stop moving

That is when

The fog gets thicker

The voices from the darkness

Grow louder

The vines begin to tangle my feet.

As I start to move again

Towards the light

Hope arises in my heart

Joy springs into a song

I laugh out loud

With each purposeful step

Here comes another piece

To the mystery of my life!

© 2012 Julie Clark

Categories: Life, Paths, Poetry | Tags: , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Reflections

Make him known to me

This one I cannot see

It is only in reflections

Of his heart and face

That I can catch the beauty

Of his truth and grace

Make him known to me

Show me the father’s house

I hear the orphan is welcomed there

I have lost my way

All I see are bars and gates

Which keep away the stray

Make him known to me

You, given charge of

Salt and light

People of the book

Show me how he loves

Show me how he looks.

© 2012 Julie Clark

Categories: God, Love, Poetry | Tags: , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Lake Roesiger

Reflection in the lake

Makes me ache

For the beauty of the other world

I know is there

 

There are reflections of that world

Everywhere

But

The noise of the city

Can drown it out

The hyper-speed

Of our wired heart beats

Can skip us right past the beauty

Laid out for us

Like a table set for a banquet to begin

All that is needed

Are for the guests to arrive

And begin the feast

© 2011 Julie Clark

 

Categories: Poetry | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Looking for the Light

It is dark and gloomy outside,

And inside for some of us.

This is my third Christmas back,

And I think I am finally getting it, about all the Christmas lights.

We need light!

We crave light!

It reminds us that there is hope,

That we will not be consumed.

It is our stand against this encroaching darkness.

Yet, somehow this darkness is our teacher.

Slow down, relax, build a fire, eat some soup, sleep,

Give way to this season of life.

Waiting is not giving up, it is an inside growing and maturing.

It is where hope gives birth to faith.

I am reminded of another search for light.

It’s about a people walking in darkness who saw a great light.

It’s about a star pointing the way on a very dark night in a very dark time.

This light is still shining and making a home in us,

Until, we are a City on a Hill,

Shining brightly and giving light for all to see.

I am also reminded to look for the light in others.

It is there!

We are all image bearers of God.

We all have light sides and dark sides.

Can we search, as in a treasure hunt, for the diamonds in others?

When all around is so dark,

It is time to shine for others who are struggling in their battles with the darkness.

It is time to lend a little more light to them.

Use our good deeds: our hands, our feet, our ears,

Our words of encouragement, and even our money.

Whichever way we shine the best.

© 2011 Julie Clark

 

 

 

Categories: Faith, God, Hope, Life, Poetry, Seasons | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The Last of the Plum Tree Leaves

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The last of the plum-tree leaves

Are stubbornly hanging on

They have been through storms of rain

And shaking wind

As the darkness keeps growing

Encasing us on both sides of the day

Their fallen comrades have been raked

Piled and composted several times now

Storm drains cleared again and again

Keeping a lake from forming in the middle of our street

When will these last holdouts succumb

To the pull of gravity and their fate?

What still clings to me, dead and dying?

What still needs to go of my negative attitudes and unbelief?

Impatience and arrogance

O Wind shake them off!

What about doubt and despair?

Yes, please come and blow them away too!

Something in me wants to hibernate for a while

I am ready to

Let the outer bareness take over

And surrender

To an inner working

Where strength slowly gathers

Like sap in the inner core

Eventually after a long winter’s rest

To give way to new life and being

But not just yet

Let the rain, darkness and wind come!

Shake me once again

Until all has fallen that needs to fall

For this season I now embrace

© 2011 Julie Clark

Categories: Autumn Poems, Life, Poetry, Trees | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Here is what we do with shame

Here is what we do with shame

We wrap ourselves up in it

Like a blanket

Hiding our brokenness

Because

Somehow, somewhere, sometime

We believed we were meant

To be perfect

Yes, we were

But, we are not

Not a single one of us

We are all in this together

Yet

If we walk towards

The light

And little by little

Throw off the dark blanket

Bringing each broken place

Into the light

Then something new and beautiful

Begins to happen

We are changed –transformed

A becoming perfect begins

Not all at once

But one step at a time

Because

That light is love

And that love burns like fire

We will not die but live

And be made whole

And we will see God

© 2011 Julie Clark

Categories: God, Love, Poetry | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Leaves aflame

Leaves aflame

With sun light fire

Seen through

The stained glass

Reminds me of

The night sky

Falling

With shooting stars

Falling, falling

All is falling

It is time for the earth

To renew itself again

Aided by time and gravity

Keeping it all here

The death and the dying

The brokenness and the shame

They aren’t going with us

When we fly

© 2011 Julie Clark

Categories: Autumn Poems, Faith, Poetry, Trees | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

You Spent Me

You needed me

I signed up

When I said: I am yours

You took me at my word

You asked me

Will you do this for me?

Will you go?

Far away from your home?

Take this with you: my love

I said yes

Off I went

Back and forth for 30 years.

Gave it my all

Sometimes it didn’t seem like much

Or not enough

I forgot about seeds

They surprised me

Then I remembered

Where that seed came from

You

That is why the fruit is so sweet.

 

You spent me

Now restore me

Am I being too demanding?

Maybe

You were the one who said

Ask, seek, and knock

And keep at it

Until something happens

And what about that woman

Who badgered the shady judge

Until he gave her what she wanted

Justice

Or the neighbor

Relentlessly knocking in the night

Finally the door is open

And the other neighbor

Hands over his bread

There is something about you

Always trying to get my attention

Trying to get me to talk to you

Like a middle school boy

Playing tricks on me

Until I notice you

Or you just show up

When I am not expecting you

Saying

Here I am

I love you

Ok

Please restore me

© 2011 Julie Clark

Categories: God, Love, Poetry | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

There Are Wings

There are wings

That make us light

As their feathers

Lifting us upward

Like a ballerina’s

Leap

Only we can keep going

And dance and fly

And dip and soar

All with our feet

Off the ground

 

There are sacred words

That can do the same

Lift our souls up

And through

Dark barriers

Promises

Pulling us forward

To hope

And forgotten dreams

When all seems lost

© 2011 Julie Clark

Categories: Poetry | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Devil’s Churn Oregon Coast

Don’t I have some of those places in me?

All churned up

Weak and weary spots

Chinks in my armor

Where worry and fear

Anger and pride

Stand guard

The water

Constantly battering those places

Wearing away the defenses

Caving in the walls

Churning up the deadly waters

It is a spectacular sight, really

A beauty to behold

The power of the water is astonishing

Maybe the water is not the enemy

Maybe it is the artist’s paint brush

Turning ashes into beauty

Suffering can do that

Building our character

Making us stronger

Would that my caved in walls

Hold more living water

And be a beauty to behold

A masterpiece

Where the artist’s

Passion is displayed

© 2011 Julie Clark

Categories: Poetry | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

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