The wildflower grew

   and no one knew

 nobody saw

                          but God

It existed only to give God pleasure 

For no one but God ever saw

             this tiniest of treasures

yet it's worth was beyond measure 

There are those who serve God and no one sees

 no one knows          no one perceives 

but God

                 He sees and knows every sacrifice, 

                  every consecrated life 

                 lived not for personal gain or glory

                  or to seek the praise or attention of men

                but to please God alone

                 who sees what is done in secret

                 and lays up a reward in Heaven,

               our eternal home

 I sit in judgment of my fellow poets, for

 by saying so, openly, I invite them

 to sit in judgment of me.

 Which they would have done anyway 

  without admitting it

    but I disagree 

         with their reveries

               too often trying too hard

                      to sound witty

or as if their conundrums

held anyone's interest but their own

still, ego will not permit them

   the option of not stringing 

     syllables together and

      sharing them for all to

       wonder why?

but  - if ill-spoken

  perhaps still, their memory

means more to them

than the embarrassment 

    of sharing it......

 So "the last shall be fist and the first shall be last"  are good words to live by, in any fellowship.  In other words - those who desire to have the preeminence among us and all in leadership,  should be servants of all. They should be the last among us,  in all things; while the last among us, the least, should come first in all things. The lesser, the weaker vessels, should receive the highest honor, the ignored, should be ignored no more. The silent should be given the floor. We should honor and esteem the poor. Oh my people! I beseech, i implore! May the last be the first from this day forth.....

 let it rain,   let it pour

 oh my God,  i need you more

let it rain,   cleanse my soul

 oh my God, help me grow

weaken me  - trembling 

  oh my God   make me whole

Chris  -

   Don't say you're sorry

   Be you're sorry 

   Do you're sorry

   The time for words is passed

   It's time for you to act

   It's time to see

   what you've been confessing 

   Real change in actions

   brings eternal blessings 

Words can be

  a waynto deceive

   a mask we hide behind 

   time after time

   to make us look good

    in people's minds 

Words are not enough then  

    till our actions measure up to them

 I now call my scars

    a blessing                 from afar

when       i received them

     I thought the pain          would never end

but with age

with the years gone by 

I now see that every tear i cried

brought to me a love I'd long denied

For You                  dearest God

                  love those

                                  who are broken 

                                                        inside

So now, though I never thought I'd say this -

 thank you for my Judas' kiss

For the betrayal of a friend, 

for pain for wounds, and hurt i thought would never end  -

For what brought me to my knees, 

crying out for the love that never fails me,

for the stedfast love of my Father above, 

poured out on me here below,

for Your love, my God, will not let me go!

 There is a love     that

    one can't embrace 

         till years have been spent

                 beholding the other's face

There's a certain      love

   one cannot know 

        till years have been spent

                  building a home...

For years season love

    like a rare and costly spice

       such is the love

           of a faithful man and wife

who have endured

    all life's trials

     all life's smiles

               together

a love that lasts is

a love that surpasses 

any other love known to man

Indeed -  God's love has the sweetest refrain

by far, because God's love always remains -

never stumbles, never fails

besides His, all other love pales

 and i saw the cabin lost

     among the trees

calling out to those

  who want God's purity

to come        apart from

 all that the flesh seeks

     to rest upon His bosom

or lie still at His feet

I had to enter in

   to that holy place

      where i lost sight

of me

in the shadow of His grace

Oh my Jesus

You're all i want to taste

all other desires fade

when i look upon Your face

Oh my Jesus! 

You clothe my nakedness 

you take these dry bones

abiding long in death

and you raise me up

by the power of your breath

 I saw the glint of the sunlight 

 through the veins of the leaves You made

and my heart rejoiced to see it

 for I am in love with Your ways

the stream never ceases to worship

 and give to You it's praise

And You never cease to cause

 my soul to be amazed

the tenderness and detail

found in all You do and say

Fills my soul with longing

to be likenthe trees and the stream each day.....