Poetry

I Choose Joy

“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”
Dr. Seuss

“The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.”
Nicolas Chamfort

“What day is it?”
“It’s today,” squeaked Piglet.
“My favorite day,” said Pooh.
A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh

‘Oh yes, nodded Pollyanna emphatically, ‘he said he felt better right away, that first day he thought to count ’em. He said if God took the trouble to tell us eight hundred times to rejoice, He must want us to do it – some.’
Elenor Porter, Pollyanna

From the moment we begin a day,
foggy though we may be,
a choice is made,
destiny laid,
to carry on through eternity.
A deep connection to God
and how we fit in His plans
each dawn’s birth
we must employ.
But I can’t imagine
God and beginning
unless I’m beginning with joy.

I choose joy!
though circumstances
shout a different direction,
though news in its varied guises
favors a negative slant.
I choose hope over despair
though hopelessness
clamors for attention,
and tries to blind us
to better horizons
before our faith
has a chance.

You may call me a Pollyanna,
but I don’t mind.
In a world filled with darkness
count me in
with the light giving kind.

Give me joy!
A better, not bitter mindset
is fighting against the tide.
But God wouldn’t tell us to rejoice
without giving us fuel for the ride.

In the course of a day
on this earth,
we make countless choices
that affect
ours and others’ lives.
I have a certain faith,
God’s not playing with loaded dice.

I choose joy!
It’s a habit worth promoting
a way to identify
life
versus death.
When waters threaten to drown,
joy makes you taller.
I’m enrolled
in God’s Hope University,
so I suppose
that makes me
a Joy Scholar.

Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy.
Psalm 47:1

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13

© Joel Tipple 1/19/2019

Reflection

“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen; Not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”
C.S. Lewis

When you view your reflection
in the mirror,
what you see
is largely up to you.
You can see your size
through God’s loving eyes,
or you can conjure a negative view.

You can see your heart
like that belonging to the Grinch,
several sizes too small.
You can see your height
as too high,
or maybe you believe
you’re undertall.
Unless you learn to see
what your mirror can’t see
you don’t know yourself at all.

Don’t cover up how God’s really made you,
by painting over it or willfully not seeing.
Thoughtful reflection
can overcome rejection
when you pause to reflect
on these things.

© Joel Tipple 12/8/2018

Ask

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.
Matthew 7:7 NIV

I trust my Father to give
and I stand, expectant to receive,
that which is good, beneficial,
what I need.
I pray first before I ask,
that my desires be made like His.
And that my attitude
is open hands
instead of closed fists.

© Joel Tipple 12/7/2018

Peace

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:7 NIV

When you seek peace,
it often eludes you.
The tighter you hold it,
like a fist grasping water
the faster it rushes away.
But the peace I give,
says the Lord,
the more you give away,
the more you’ll keep.
The peace I give,
you can’t exhaust,
the more the thunder shouts,
the more the waves are tossed.

© Joel Tipple 12/6/2018

Expression

I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.
Psalm 139:14-16

“Never confuse the size of your paycheck with the size of your talent.”
Marlon Brando

God gives to each a gift to express,
its type or size is immaterial;
That our gifts are given expression
is the thing.
Our nature seems to be to compare how we’ve been made
with others,
but that’s akin to comparing crocodile feet
with bird wings.
One is not greater,
or of higher quality
than the other.
They’re each perfectly made
for fulfilling their being.

© Joel Tipple 12/02/2018

Worry

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Philippians 4:6

Do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6:34

Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow.
Swedish Proverb

I’ve wasted the sun of too many todays
predicting dark clouds for tomorrow.
Anxiety rents space but never pays.
Facing this moment is all
God’s ever asked me to do.

I have my job
and He has his
and the blessed thing about it,
is His promises are true every day.

Every day, no doubt about it,
the Bible’s pages light up a path,
the leather’s worn, the pages thin
but when fear of the future has me in its grip
the security of God’s Word
weighs more than worry’s mass.

© Joel Tipple 12/01/2018

Drive

But if anyone is a hearer and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in what he is doing.
James 1:23-25 ESV

“God provides the wind, but man must raise the sails.”
William R. Inge

Church records attest
I’m a regular attender,
an attendee, if you will,
of the regular sort.
I stand up and sit down,
and amen render
with nary a protest
or wayward retort.
But if my heart and gumption
isn’t where
God wants it to be,
it’s all show
and no go, you see.

Mediocrity isn’t anyone’s stated goal.
It’s just where we slide back to
when we stop reaching,
so it’s okay if His teaching smarts a little
and makes you decide
to stop riding and
drive.
Get an oar out and paddle.
It’s time for you to
drive.
Put your foot on the throttle.
Go ahead and
drive
and even if you make some mistakes
God honors His servants
who are willing to
get in,
ask God for direction…
and drive.

© Joel Tipple 11/29/2018

When the Seasons Come

When the Spring comes,
God, you help me grow.
The word you planted in me
shows brightly in all its colors.

When the Summer comes,
you cool my feet
in your river of life.
You give me rest
under a canopy of trees.

When the Fall comes,
you nourish me
with your bounty of blessings.
You make me strong and whole.

When the Winter comes,
your house shields me
from the storm.
And your love
keeps me warm
and safe.

You have prepared Lord,
for all our needs,
no matter the challenge,
so that we may weather…
every season.

© Joel Tipple 11/28/2018

Use Me Anyway

(God doesn’t use “perfect people.” He uses “available people.”)

All of God’s people are ordinary people who have been made extraordinary by the purpose He has given them.
Oswald Chambers

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:10 ESV

It doesn’t do any good to protest,
or to presume to tell God He’s mistaken.
The Spirit of God begins a work in us
from the moment we’re reborn.

He chooses someone like you,
with the qualities you like
and those you’re unsure of,
because a puzzle piece simply takes its place,
for the picture wouldn’t be right without it.

© Joel Tipple 11/27/2018