TRIBULATION

TRIBULATION

Let there be celebration.
Not just hopeless toleration.

Tumbling into consternation,
Pushed toward my destination?!

Turn to Him in desperation,
Thanking Him for maturation.

Let it be for my education.
A higher plane of elevation.

Then to Him give all adoration.
He is working my sanctification.

Soon will be my glorification,
arising to Him, above tribulation!

Celebrate, not just tolerate.
Let it educate and elevate.

Be not stressed; pass the test!

ANGER

ANGER

"19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires." (James 1)


ANGER is... (an ode to wrath)

No matter my choice, somehow there is anger.
Somebody is shaking their head and giving me the "fanger"!
Make a bad turn in traffic, and there is now danger.
You now have an enemy, who before was a stranger?!

Anger is insidious.

On my new, unblemished truck there is now a ding!
Some fool in the parking lot cares not how that stings?!
Isn't life really about me and all of my things?!
The answer is surely known by Google, or maybe Bing?!

Anger is pandemic.

I am a conservative, and you are a liberal.
Cross me again, and it might be your funeral!
Far from the Garden, we yet suffer from the Fall.
Right or left, white or black, angry are we all?!

Anger is pervasive.

Take a deep breath, and for a moment, step back.
Ask, "for my part, what is it that I lack?"
With no Wind in our sail, how can we change our tack?
Where are we headed?  Calm seas, or into the black?

Anger is destructive.

Is it greed or poverty causing all the stress?
Maybe I just need contentment, with much or less?
With His grace I have already been overly blessed!
Now, how shall we respond to what may be His test?!

In our anger, biting and clawing, will we all be consumed?
I fear lest we change we are all surely doomed.