Our Sowing Seeds Ministry Writing Contest winner for Poetry is Ronna Wilson from Orange, Texas who wrote a beautiful poem about the empty circles we find in our lives. Yet God has answers… “Are we too proud to see?”
Circles
If our lives are empty and there is something more we crave.
There’s a reason for that longing ache, to which we’ve been enslaved.
We fill our lives with our money, our jobs and self-esteem.
Climbing higher, ever higher but always more we need.
We keep ourselves so busy, hoping not to see,
The gnawing deep inside ourselves and what could set us free.
So why don’t we just face it? What don’t we tell the truth?
Something’s wrong! Something’s missing! And yet we act aloof.
We say, “I’m sure that I can fix it. What should I try next?”
So we start a new adventure and only end perplexed.
How long will we wander? How long will it take?
If only we could see the endless circles that we make.
God… you have the answers. Are we much too proud to see?
That all we ever needed… was You to be complete.
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Poetry Contest Runner-Up — C. Lowell Hallenbeck
Light Source
Demons
roamed the caverns
of my imagination
found dark pools:
guilt, fear, anger, hopelessness.
They walked the floor with me at night.
Whispered: “You fail!”
Chattered: “See what you did!”
Shook their heads: “Worthless.”
I believed them.
The dark pools deepened
became an abyss
trapped me
— no place for my feet.
(How can darkness be so heavy, oppressive, absolute?)
One day
came a voice, comforting;
a warm hand, insistent, loving.
The imps now restless, moving away.
Time escaping from me
(months? Years?)
Voice and hand
more often, more insistent.
And then I pondered
another darkness, a cross:
the earth moved, graves opened,
a thief entered paradise.
The imps fled.
My feet found a path.
The abyss faded, the pools shrank.
The voice again, in vast kindness:
“Your Father speaks
and the universe kneels.
Why listen to the imps for so long?”
I stepped into the fierce daylight.
My spirit rested.
Poetry Contest Runner-Up – Patricia Hill from Cedar Rapids, Iowa
What Are You Wearing to Meeting Today?
What are you wearing to meeting today?
Is your dress nicely pressed? Does your hat look okay?
What of your hem length? And is your slip showing?
Remember, you’re seen both in coming and going.
And what do you wear when the worship is done?
Are your clothes showing Jesus or some other one?
Do you hang up your best clothes till next Sunday’s show
And put on your grungies with folks that you know?
Are there good clothes for some folks and old clothes for others?
Are you different to strangers than to your own brothers?
Do you wear cover-alls to conceal your Master?
Do you throw on an apron to hide a disaster?
Do you wear what your Father would have you put on?
Is your attitude straight? Is your grouchiness gone?
Are you wearing a habit of whining or yelling?
Your words may be nice but your clothes do the telling.
Put on humility, patience and love;
Wear the garments of righteousness sent from Above.
Wear compassion each day. Put on kindness each morning.
With actions be sure that your faith you’re adorning.
When you’re wearing His robes for your business each day
Then your attitudes “go with” the words that you say.
Wear them inside and out; wear them coming and going,
And people will see that your Father is showing.
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Other Poetry Contest Runners-up
Debbie Egger – “All of Heaven is Silent”
Stephanie Nichols – “The One to Call”
Stephanie Nichols – “In His Presence”
Marshall Adams – “The Power of a Mother’s Prayer”
Julie Hayes – “A Prayer of Acceptance and Healing”
Jennifer E. Brown – “My Life For Your Glory”
Sherry Byers – “Standing By”
Jacquelyn Lockhart — “The Thorn”
Robert Impastato — “Getting Back to Business”
Daniel Cameron — “Gospel Fundraiser”
