Kindness

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, …
Colossians 3:12 ESV

“Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.”
Mark Twain

Do you have any to give away?
If you do, then it was given.
The inexhaustible supply began
with Jesus.

Warming the cold,
filling the soul
with goodwill till it’s overflowing.
In an angry world on fire,
kindness can extinguish the blaze.

It has a wonderful
rejuvenating quality,
energy for another mile.
Sometimes all it takes
is giving away a smile.

© Joel Tipple 11/24/2018

You Know Me

Even the darkness is not dark to You.
And the night is as bright as the day.
Darkness and light are alike to You.
Psalm 139:12

“Not everything that is faced can be changed,
but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
James Baldwin

Sing to the Lord the new song He gave.
Sing to the Lord, and be amazed.
Oh ohh, never let go.
Sing to the Lord when the battle seems lost.
Sing to the Lord when the cost seems too high,
and you want to cut and run.

It’s easy to give up on supernatural.
It’s easy to abandon what isn’t naturally known,
even when the known is getting you nowhere.
We cling to familiar like a broken-down car,
sit in the seat though we can’t get far.
allowing our lives to be run by fear and regret.

Since you are with me wherever I go,
since you know my every thought,
I might as well get to know you.
I can’t run so fast as to get away.
I can’t stop the sunrise by holding down the curtain.
Of all these things I’m certain.

You formed me, designed me,
made me unique for a purpose.
When I was still an unformed substance,
you saw me, you knew me,
you knew where my piece fit in the puzzle.
Lord, help me find my way in the puzzle.

© Joel Tipple 11/23/2018

You Gave

All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.
2 Corinthians 4:15 ASB

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live by them.”
John F. Kennedy

This Thanksgiving Lord
I’d like to say, thanks, you gave.
When, as Christians, we try to thank you,
we start with the price you paid.

As with all gifts,
there was a cost for life
and, that eternal.
In our small human way,
we try to understand
why you saved us
from the infernal.

You created us.
You gave us
the freedom to choose.
From the moment we are able
to decide for life,
it’s ours to win or lose.

Our time in this body
is a fraction
of that resurrected.
Thank you
for giving us
the book of life
so we can read
the directions.

© Joel Tipple 11/22/2018

A Grateful Heart

The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly, I will show the salvation of God!
Psalm 50:23 ESV

“There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy.”
Ralph H. Blum

Take from me everything I own,
but don’t take my grateful heart.
It’s a God-given wellspring,
a supernatural joy thing,
of my countenance the better part.

The choice of thanking God for who He is,
and His attributes so numerous,
takes us to the foot of His throne,
where praise is never onerous.

© Joel Tipple 11/21/2018

Matchmaker

When I prayed for a friend,
God knew best,
and He sent you to me.
And though I might have thought
the choosing was mine,
I know now that couldn’t be.

Maybe some twenty-something-year-olds
have a good stock of wisdom and plans
but we had to pick it up along the way
such has been life’s varied demands.

You pray and hope for a good wife
as a woman prays and hopes for a man
to hold a hand when it’s needed
or to push when you need two hands.
To be cover in bad weather,
to be shade when the sun’s too good,
to say stop when you shouldn’t,
then go when you should.

Though I’m not so good at baseball,
I’m certain you’ll be great for late innings.
Of course, we can’t say for sure
how long the game will last,
though we’re far from the beginning.

So thanks for keeping your promise to me,
as I’ve kept mine to you,
to be there for happy times,
as well as when times were blue,
and remembering, sometimes,
when we thought one was choosing,
God was choosing two.

© Joel Tipple 11/20/2018

Don’t Leave

Don’t leave me yesterday,
when today
is when I need you.
How could you believe
leaving was easy?
It’s not easy.
It’s not easy at all.

Don’t leave me yesterday
when I had hopes
of getting to know you.
Maybe that was just a dream,
but it’s what I had.

It’s hard to stay,
I know.
And though I don’t understand
yesterday,
I want to.

Even the stuff
that’s hard to look at,
The heavy darkness
you feel powerless to share.
You think you take it with you,
but instead
of laying down in the grave,
it lingers in the world.

I wish
I could convince you
then
that peace and joy
is possible.

For now,
for those who struggle,
don’t give up,
and don’t leave them
yesterday.

© Joel Tipple 11/18/2018

Why, Poet?

Why, Poet?
Are these your Psalms?
Like David, have you felt
you don’t belong?

Have you felt your words
float into the ether
without a corresponding hail?
Have you expressed desperation
when especially assailed?

Chin up, poet!
For like the bards of old
God won’t leave you
because you’re bold.

Continue to sing,
without notes, just words.
Continue to speak,
though you feel absurd.
Continue to shine,
even when it rains.
Continue to share,
’cause we all feel pain.

© Joel Tipple 11/17/2018

I’d Rather Be Blind

If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.
James 2:8-9

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
“I Have a Dream” Martin Luther King Jr.

If what my eyes tell me when I see you
prevents me from getting to know you,
I’m better off blind.

Jesus died for all
and He admonished us to be kind,
no matter what kind.
Even “that kind.”
And what is “that kind?”

The lazy, hateful, divisive,
assumptions
we make,
make us all poorer.

If we claim to have Christ
in us,
then we should be all about
breaking down barriers
between ourselves
and the “different.”

After all,
some rules
were made to be broken…
not just bent.

© Joel Tipple 11/16/2018

Encourager

The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know your name trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.
Psalm 9:9-10

“Everyone has inside them a piece of good news. The good news is you don’t know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is.”
Anne Frank

Speak life,
and encourage
everybody
your body
runs across each day.
Be the salt
that seasons
every conversation.
Be the light
that illumines,
your part
of your nation.
Step in
when someone steps out.
Lift your voice
when they can’t shout.
Ask God
to let you
have a part
in His answer
to a desperate prayer.

© Joel Tipple 11/15/2018

 

Good Shepherd

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
John 9:10-11 NASB

“It takes some of us a lifetime to learn that Christ, our Good Shepherd, knows exactly what He is doing with us. He understands us perfectly.”
W. Phillip Keller

“In most, when you go to church, most churches when they have images of the good shepherd, they show Jesus carrying a nice fluffy lamb. Now fluffy little lambs don’t stray from their mommy. The lamb that will stray is the most obstreperous, troublesome one.”
Desmond Tutu

God, I struggle to believe you are a “good” shepherd. For I believe good implies average. An average shepherd would go the reasonable distance, put forth a reasonable effort. A good shepherd would weigh the odds of success in each effort to protect a lamb from harm. A good shepherd wants to live to see another day, another paycheck, another warm meal. A good shepherd might take into account whether his health insurance is going to put him back together again if an aggressive wolf decides to test his resolve.

But you’re not just a “good” shepherd, are you, Lord? No, you’re the kind of shepherd who would and, in fact, did, give His life for His flock. This kind of resolve and protection was not modeled accidentally. The lessons made manifest in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ are many; enough to ponder over a lifetime. Help us to recognize the difference between the average shepherd and the greatest.

© Joel Tipple 11/14/2018