Posts Tagged With: fear

The Path of Peace

Guide my feet

In the path of peace

May I do my part

That war may cease

 

Teach me how

To listen well

To refrain from judgment

Sending others to hell

 

It’s not my place

It’s not my call

Judgment stirs up strife

It builds a wall

 

May I understand

What it is to be

In another’s place

Not obsessed with me

 

Lean into You

Sit at Your feet

See through Your eyes

Everyone I meet

 

Invite the stranger in

Share a meal

Enjoy diversity

Let kindness heal

 

Fear will die

I can lay it to rest

When I choose love

It is the very best

 

Love will do the job

It will get to work

Root out the darkness

Wherever it may lurk

 

© 2013 Julie Clark

Categories: Faith, God, Life, Love, Paths, Peace and Reconciliation, Poetry, Prayer | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

My Front Door

There is a world out there waiting

An adventure ready to unfold

When I step out my front door

It’s uncomfortable at times

I don’t know my neighbor

I don’t’ know how to ride a bus

Or start a conversation

But once I take that first step

Say that hello

Make eye contact

Smile

The journey has begun

The question moves from

Who is my neighbor? To

Am I a good neighbor?

What if we each do our small part?

What if we stepped around fear?

What would we find?

Perhaps a new friend

Or some way I can make a difference

A new purpose to keep me going

Put a new spring in my step

Categories: Faith, Life, Love, Poetry | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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

Vancouver Impressions

City of green windows

Prosperity and success behind those windows

Far east meets far west

Meets far out and away from home for many

Struggling immigrants

Meets Christmas pageants

Old meets new

Again and again

Violence breaks out in the neighborhood

While we are sleeping

The pressure was in the air as we parked our car

Dreaming that night of a lost baby, lost hope

Their spirits grow faint

Their enemies are great

Will the residents tucked away

Safely in their comfortable homes

Lend a hand to the struggling ones

I met some who are

The uncertainty of the darkness is confusing

Distorting reality

The voices in the mist

Some malevolent

Lead the immigrants on paths

Deeper into darkness and fear

© 2010 Julie Clark

Categories: Poetry | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Selected Poems for November

Snow Day

I listen to the soft crush of snow under my boots.

The snow muffled quiet brings a much-needed peace to the frantic city pace.

Enforced rest by steep, frozen roads is a hidden reprieve to many.

Why does it take an act of nature to teach us to be still?

Why do we shun silence and rest?

Are we afraid if we stop, our world will fall apart?

Are we afraid if we stop, our long ignored feelings and thoughts will rise in rebellion once we have slackened control of them?

It is like long ago we stepped onto a merry-go-round in the park.

At first it slowly turned, but with each revolution it gained speed until now it is moving so fast we can’t get off.

What is this hidden hand, pushing us at this frantic, out of control, speed?

The snow day reminds us:

We can get off the merry-go-round,

And our world won’t fall apart.

Rest will help our minds and bodies work better.

Letting go of control is good for us.   We really can’t control everything anyways.

Maybe our suppressed emotions have something to say to us, need our attention.

Maybe we won’t die if we listen to them and deal with them.

There is a good chance we will find healing.

© 2010 Julie Clark

The Great Exchange

 

You want this?

In your light I see

what I thought was good

To be full of holes

Like a worn out cloth

Hanging from the line.

You want this?

And what is this you offer in exchange?

A radiant purity that I cannot achieve.

A gift you say?

But I cannot release my filthy rags

Unless I move from my smug self-centeredness

To the center of that red-hot core

Called love.

How is this possible?

I will die at that core.

Yes, and live again,

Twice born.

Clothed in that radiant purity

You attained for me.

© 2007 Julie Clark

Fear

Fear has stocked me from childhood.

Like a restless tiger, it waits to pounce on its tired prey.

I’m done with it.

Realizing any fear leads back to the fear of death.

What’s so bad about dying?

It’s the only way out of here at present.

Out of here and into there.

Not that I want to rush things.

But in my time I to will follow my ancestors and every other man, woman and child before me.

I am facing that tiger and saying, my life is in stronger hands than yours.

I believe

I am beloved

And that Love that loves me is stronger than death.

© 2010 Julie Clark

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

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