CONSTANT
HOPE
The cold of winter,
the sight of sun;
kindness will melt
the frozen heart.
© Andy Costello, 2008
Saturday, January 19, 2008
A MARRIAGE
Yes, there are the big scenes,
the “Where we first met?”
or, “How we first met,”
and the decision moment,
the “Yes,”
then the wedding,
the honeymoon,
the “I’m pregnant”
the births, the first word,
the first steps, the clapping,
school, plays, recitals, going to games,
graduations, marriages, grandkids,
and oh yeah, the big mistakes,
the ones that can’t be forgotten
and sometimes hard to forgive,
the hurts, the cries of pain,
the cries of passion … but let’s be honest,
marriage is the small moments,
mostly small moments,
the holding the door for the other
remembering the other has an appointment,
the recognition that something is different in the other,
the small looks, the slight touches,
the looks across the kitchen,
the putting down of the papers,
the turning off the television to talk,
moments on a couch together,
the asking of the questions,
listening, being quiet, asking again,
trying to understand the meaning,
the feelings, the small stuff,
all those moments called, “Life”,
called “Being married to you!”
called, “Thank You, God. Thank You!”
Yes, there are the big scenes,
the “Where we first met?”
or, “How we first met,”
and the decision moment,
the “Yes,”
then the wedding,
the honeymoon,
the “I’m pregnant”
the births, the first word,
the first steps, the clapping,
school, plays, recitals, going to games,
graduations, marriages, grandkids,
and oh yeah, the big mistakes,
the ones that can’t be forgotten
and sometimes hard to forgive,
the hurts, the cries of pain,
the cries of passion … but let’s be honest,
marriage is the small moments,
mostly small moments,
the holding the door for the other
remembering the other has an appointment,
the recognition that something is different in the other,
the small looks, the slight touches,
the looks across the kitchen,
the putting down of the papers,
the turning off the television to talk,
moments on a couch together,
the asking of the questions,
listening, being quiet, asking again,
trying to understand the meaning,
the feelings, the small stuff,
all those moments called, “Life”,
called “Being married to you!”
called, “Thank You, God. Thank You!”
© Andy Costello, 2008
QUESTIONABLE?
Wedding rings mean something,
even when so much of the sacred
has been squeezed out of a marriage –
a marriage that has become
like an empty, wrinkled, flat tube
of toothpaste left on the sink –
a marriage of two who don’t seem to care
for each other any more –
especially if there was the quick slipping off
of a ring in an affair:
the death penalty to most marriages.
Can there be a re-marriage to a marriage?
Can the blessing return to a ring?
© Andy Costello, 2008
GOD SMIRKS
A little girl is laughing and singing
in a car all the way to church ….
She dances her way
across the church parking lot ….
She delights as she sees sunlight
playing on her maroon coat.
She skips up the stone steps
of the great big grey granite church.
She loves it as she enters
into this joyful crowd
of Sunday morning people.
Standing on the bench
she whispers a loud comment
to her daddy’s left ear.
Heads turn. Then come
the loud looks: ““Shush!”
“Be still!” “Listen.” “What are
you doing here?” “Bad girl!”
She sits and tries to slump
into the hard wooden bench,
but the only thing soft
is her daddy’s hug.
It’s no longer fun to be in church
till she hears
the gospel words,
“Let the children come to me
if you want to see
the kingdom of God.”
She smiles. God smirks
in every child’s heart.*
* Luke 18: 15-17
A little girl is laughing and singing
in a car all the way to church ….
She dances her way
across the church parking lot ….
She delights as she sees sunlight
playing on her maroon coat.
She skips up the stone steps
of the great big grey granite church.
She loves it as she enters
into this joyful crowd
of Sunday morning people.
Standing on the bench
she whispers a loud comment
to her daddy’s left ear.
Heads turn. Then come
the loud looks: ““Shush!”
“Be still!” “Listen.” “What are
you doing here?” “Bad girl!”
She sits and tries to slump
into the hard wooden bench,
but the only thing soft
is her daddy’s hug.
It’s no longer fun to be in church
till she hears
the gospel words,
“Let the children come to me
if you want to see
the kingdom of God.”
She smiles. God smirks
in every child’s heart.*
* Luke 18: 15-17
© Andy Costello, 2008
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
BALANCING ACT
Lord, so much of life
seems to be a juggling act,
appointments and disappointments,
scheduling and rescheduling,
committing and recommitting,
sometimes weather permitting.
Lord, so much of life
seems to be lines,
lines I like and lines I don’t like,
standing on lines, traffic lines,
and sometimes there are lines
I never knew were there before.
Lord, so much of life
is a balancing act,
playing roles, sometimes wearing different hats,
sometimes even a crown of thorns,
dealing with other people’s expectations.
Is this my way of the cross for today?
Lord, so much of life
seems to be a juggling act,
appointments and disappointments,
scheduling and rescheduling,
committing and recommitting,
sometimes weather permitting.
Lord, so much of life
seems to be lines,
lines I like and lines I don’t like,
standing on lines, traffic lines,
and sometimes there are lines
I never knew were there before.
Lord, so much of life
is a balancing act,
playing roles, sometimes wearing different hats,
sometimes even a crown of thorns,
dealing with other people’s expectations.
Is this my way of the cross for today?
© Andrew Costello
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