A Stubborn Lot

Can a penny buy a morsel of some dried unleavened bread?

Can a nickel have some meaning to apologies unsaid?

Can a dime hide a confession that we want to keep inside?

Can a quarter take the place of the regrets when we have lied?

Can a dollar buy a drop of love from someone we have pained?

Can a ten buy us full freedom, though it's we ourselves we've chained?

Can a hundred cover up our sins so we can't be enslaved?

Can a Million pay for all our sins so that we can then be saved?

Can a Billion buy a sliver from the cross where Jesus died?

Can a Trillion buy a seat in Heav'n so we can't be denied?

ALL the money in the world can't buy one SPECK of space

in Heaven where the God of Love bestows sufficient grace.

It's loving dedication and full faithfulness we owe.

Our money is so worthless - yet we idolize it so.

We are a spoiled people in our air conditioned cars.

We're over-entertained by our most fav'rite superstars.

We are a prideful people and we're such a stubborn lot -

but owe to Jesus EVERYTHING and EVERYTHING we've got.

by louis gander © 2022

http://www.ganderpoems.org 

Blessed Homeland

Gliding o'er life's fitful waters,

Heavy surges sometimes roll;

And we sigh for yonder haven,

For the homeland of the soul.

Blessed homeland, ever fair!

Sin can never enter there;

But the soul, to life awaking,

Everlasting bloom shall wear.

Oft we catch a faint reflection,

Of its bright and vernal hills;

And, though distant, how we hail it!

How each heart with rapture thrills!

To our Father, and our Savior,

To the Spirit, Three in One,

We shall sing glad songs of triumph

When our harvest work is done.

'Tis the weary pilgrim's homeland,

Where each throbbing care shall cease,

And our longings and our yearnings,

Like a wave, be hushed to peace.

—Fanny Crosby

The Child Ran Into the Sea

 The child ran into the sea

but ran back from the waves, because

the child did not know the sea

on the horizon, is not the same sea

ravishing the shore.

What every child wants is always

in the distance; like the sea

on the horizon. While, on the shore

nearby, at the feet of every child

shallow water, eating the edges

of islands and continents does little more,

little more than foam like spittle

at the corners of the inarticulate mouth

of some other child who wants to run

into the sea, into the horizon.

- Martin Carter

Better Beauty Beyond

The world with its beauty and charms

Comes to me with wide open arms;

Its pleasures allure to embrace

But will end in pain and disgrace.

There is better beauty beyond

That I will enjoy before long;

The most beautiful and the best

Is the One who gives peace and rest.

—Perry Boardman