The holiday is over,
we’ve all said our thanks.
So we rush to the stores
to fill up their banks.
I need this and
some more of that.
Leave me alone,
I’ve no time to chat.
You want this,
but so do I.
So drop it now
or get a black eye.

In prayer,
Tom

My mind feels quite swirled,
almost inside out.
And settled within it
is a pile of doubt.
Did I hear unclearly?
Did I chase my pride?
What forms the confusion
that has settled inside?

Some time ago,
I was given advice.
When you’re sure in the daylight,
when it’s dark, don’t think twice.
It is so very easy,
when my plans fall apart.
To question my listening
and how they did start.

Did I talk myself into
what should not have been done?
Or am I learning a lesson
that isn’t much fun?
Do I have to see clearly
why things are this way?
When I go back to God
to hear what He will say.

I know God works all things
together for good.
For those He has called,
with Him they have stood.
So, as I regather
the thoughts in my mind.
I search more intently
so His thoughts I find.

Then I cast on Him
the cares of this day.
And trust He’ll provide
all that I have to pay.
But more so than money,
I hope I will see.
this failure won’t change,
His great love for me!

© 2017 by Tom Lemler

Sometimes I have poems show up in my mind that I am eager to share with others — this is not one of them.  But as I finish out a weekend that didn’t go as planned, this poem took up residence in my mind and it doesn’t seem like a good idea to keep it trapped inside.  I know I have people who follow my blog and social media postings who want everything to be positive and uplifting all the time, but even in Christ that isn’t how life is — at least not for me nor for the majority of people I know.  Life is full of failed plans, broken promises, unmet expectations, and even concern for what others will think.  I know I can’t control how others respond to God’s promptings and leading in their lives, and I’m not even the one who says what those are for them, but sometimes it is difficult to move forward in what feels like confident obedience only to have the work seem to be a total failure.  As I’m sitting in a costly cabin, not only did my primary plan become a complete flop, but my secondary plan hasn’t yielded the resulting work I had hoped.  Even in this, I am confident that God was not caught off guard by any of what has or hasn’t happened so I wait as patiently as possible for the if and when there are lessons from this weekend that He will reveal.  I do pray that my posting such a transparent look into my mind is a help and encouragement to others whose plans don’t always turn out as expected or hoped for.

In prayer,
Tom

I drift alone on open sea.
Where waves of darkness cover me.
And as I drown within my mind.
There is no peace that I can find.

The water tosses me about.
Will it hold on or throw me out?
With each new crashing wave I feel.
I lose more hope that I can heal.

Yet in my darkest lonely hour.
The waves are not the only power.
I feel it near, though faint it be.
I’m not abandoned to the sea.

As I ride these wild waves.
I call out to the One who saves.
Lord, I need help; I’m too tired to swim.
I raise my voice and call to Him.

And while the waves still crash about.
And often I’m not lifted out.
I look around, and look above.
And know the presence of His love.

The crashing waves don’t seem so dark.
When I view them from His ark.
They’re still around me, this is true.
But I have His love to see me through!

© 2017 by Tom Lemler

I know there are people who don’t think I should write about the struggles I have, yet these poems show up in ways that make me feel it would be terribly wrong not to share them.  I don’t know why my mind functions, or doesn’t function, in the way that it does, but I do hold fast to the One who created it and understands how to use if for His glory.  This poem was one that just showed up in my mind and it wasn’t until I was typing the end that I realized God was using it to remind me that He has prepared the ark of His presence to carry me through the storms of life so that I don’t have to ride the waves alone.  I pray that He would use this poem to encourage others as He has encouraged me through it. 

In prayer,
Tom

If just one more moment
was all that we had.
Would it bring joy,
or would it be sad?
And while you do ponder
just which it would be.
There’s a larger picture
I want you to see.

Our life’s filled with moments,
they all do pass by.
Some we have planned,
others make us ask why.
There are moments we notice,
and some we ignore.
Some make us excited
and some are a bore.

But back to the question
of happy or sad.
You get to choose
which moment you had.
For even in darkness
and bitterest thought.
You can make the choice
to do what you ought!

The moment is changed,
not by what you receive.
But by the gift you do offer
because you believe.
When you share God’s love
in just a moment of time.
You open a window
to a moment sublime.

So, seize this here moment,
it may be all that you have.
And speak of God’s mercy
like a cool, healing salve.
Be kind to a stranger
and strengthen the weak.
Then you’ll find that your moment
is the one you did seek!

© 2017 by Tom Lemler

This poem rolled out of my mind this morning though I’m not sure what prompted it nor what God will choose to do with it.  I suppose that is how the moments of life are — we either share them with others as an act of encouragement, or we keep them to our self and miss the blessing that God wanted to give us as well as someone else.  I pray that no matter how bad things may appear, that my moments are made better by what I give to others.

In prayer,
Tom

Every day can be a journey
as we travel down life’s winding road.
Each step is somewhat different
as we walk beneath our load.
Sometimes the path seems easy,
the load feels rather light.
But other times it’s heavy,
as we journey through the night.

And in those nighttime hours,
the darkness makes us feel alone.
Like no one walks beside us
and there’s no signal on our phone.
We’d call for help, but what’s the point,
for no one is around.
Our path has led to hopelessness
where despair is all that’s found.

But if we listen quietly
within that darkest hour.
We will start to feel the presence
of the One who’s filled with power.
He is walking right beside us,
He has never left our side.
But His help was pushed away
by our selfish, stubborn pride.

And in those quiet moments
as we listen to His voice.
He promises to be our light,
if that would be our choice.
And if we choose to listen
and pick up our heavy load.
We find it’s not so heavy,
as He carries it down the road.

So, I follow in His footsteps
as darkness turns to light.
And I see the others also,
who have been there through the night.
They too are walking freely
as our loads have now been shared.
So we bear each other’s burdens,
lightened by the One who cared!

The help we give each other,
is help we have received.
And it’s not too far away,
if we only would believe.
Our load is made much lighter
by the One who reigns above.
So that we can care for others
and show them God is love!

© 2017 by Tom Lemler

I am currently in a season where my mind does unfriendly things to my body.  Something internally gets out of balance and the heightened anxiety and panic soon snowballs into a lot of restless nights, which only makes the anxiety and panic attacks worse.  I never want to make a bigger deal out of these than what they are, so I often willingly travel this road into the darkness thinking with each step that, “it’s not that bad . . . I can still see well enough to function.”  I am learning though.  I am learning that there is a point that I can’t manage it on my own and I need help.  I am learning that just because I can’t see others around me in the darkness, it doesn’t mean they aren’t there — many have walked a similar road. I’m learning that turning to, and finding the Light, in the darkness is news that I ought to be sharing and that is difficult to do without also talking about the shared darkness.  I pray that God uses this poem, which showed up this morning after my getting some help for some of the “darkness” symptoms, to encourage others to seek both God’s help and the help of people to find the light that He wants you to walk in.  For me, part of that help is having the humility to listen to my family and my doctor in taking some anxiety meds for a season while the mind heals and is restored.

In prayer,
Tom