October 28, 2005
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When I behold October’s fire
Alit within the trees;
And stand; bathed by the golden breath
Of Indian Summer’s breeze.
I think on Him Who lights the fires
Within the human heart;
Who ‘decks the world with tapestry
Unmatched in all man’s art.
How frivolous; extravagant
For God to give such gold:
A testament through which His love
And glory may be told.
I thank you, Lord for autumn’s glow
For fire You give, so free
To light the way and warm the hearts
Of small ones such as me.
copyright 10/2005 james a. smallish
jim
Comments (22)
Oh Jim! Can I be the first to tell you how beautiful your poem is?
And the new look is great, too. Did you take the photos of the leaves? Nice shot. The leaves are not quite so colorful where I am.
The picture and poem are both most welcome to me. I never get to see the leaves this close up, being about 3000 miles away from them!
I saw your comments on little2blue’s site and had to laugh out loud at myself. You want it fixed, ask a guy. Glad you had some genuinely good thoughts to offer her. I’m afraid I’m too right-brained to think through a thing like that. Good job.
“How frivolous; extravagant
For God to give such gold:
A testament through which His love
And glory may be told.”
There is autumn warmth in your poem.
Last night my husband and I stepped into the back yard and took in the amazing display of stars in a cold winter sky. I think you are right, such beauty in our world is extravagant and evidence of the great love of the Father.
ryc: (on the Churchhill quote at fishtree’s Xanga)
Wow Jim~ what a good illustration! One I needed to read today. I think it is an ongoing, life long struggle to see clearly, a struggle we need help with.
“What struck me as odd was that any film would show what everyone else had seen…officials who were human but even-handed, and a girl who merely fell down.” Jim
So often people are really doing the best they can and either the dirty lense of sin, or our enemy, Satan, works tirelessly to convince us that we are being mistreated. I often think of Joseph, and the account of his life in Genesis, especially the end, where his brothers realized they were now facing the very brother they had treated so cruelly, and Joseph says to them, “What you meant for evil God meant for good.” Which brings into the picture that even if someone is choosing to harm us the arm of our God is still involved and not short. Paul wrote to the Philippians, “Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near.”
everyone: I apologize for any difficulty in reading the text of comments with the current look: I struggled with a good mix, and am resorting to “highlighting” them ( doing the “left-click and drag” )…any suggestions are welcome. I may move the “leaves around and see if that helps.
Deb: You win! It seems your comments are first! thanks
Breath_of_Dawn: LOL! I guess you’re right about my comments…had to laugh myself when I re-read them in the light of what you said.
Secureintruth: “Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near.” I so love the sense of this by Paul…it’s one of the things I aim for in my growth.
Let me also be clear…I am certainly aware that I have my own filters with which God and I must deal in order that I might see more plainly that which is transparent to Him.
Thats a very nice reading
Ill keep you up to date with the Navy thing.
I dont know much about whats going on with him, something about his heart. I dont know if he’ll be ok, or get worse. I guess im on a need to know basis
RYC – Your comment was one of the best I’ve ever read. I hope you don’t mind if I update my own answer based in part on that. Oddly, the answer I had posted at the time was actually the answer to the next question, not this one. I did a copy/paste mistake. The “right” one is there now, but it will be amended before morning to include some of your concepts. Again, such very good and complete thoughts. Thank you.
Hey, thanks for the comment you left on my site! I had to come by and read you blogs and man, isn’t God good? I mean, yea, some of my posts are pretty depressing sometimes (well, a lot of the time, lol) but that doesn’t change the facct that God is STILL good….ALL THE TIME!
While I was reading that poem about October (btw, did you write it?) but yea, I posted a reading on Jesus in Halloween on my blogger if you wanted to read it. I like to write – a lot – so I have more than one blog, lol. The link to my blogger is : http://godlivesthere.blogspot.com/
But yea. Keep posting. I’ve learned that you never know just who you’re going to bless when you aren’t even aware of it. And today? You blessed me.
Hope you have a great weekend.
+ Danielle +
ryc – thanks for your kind words
. yes, usually I prefer free verse when I write, I guess I thought it was ‘cooler’ when I first started writing in high school. Your stuff is quite nice too. I especially appreciate the one above since I’m in love with autumn. If you’ll forgive me cluttering up your comments, here’s some free verse from high school, and my feelings may only have intensified since then:
the land will sing
when the clouds arrive
to live in an october blue sky
and look over the winding roads
all lined with autumn tree colors
and blanketed with their leaves
yes i know the beauty
i feel the seasons in my heart
and the fall
my haven will last as long as i
and longer still.
How about if you make the text a nice forest green? Try it, although it may make the background look too pink. Hmm. Well, you could try a nice brownish. That would keep the yellow in the background from turning pink and still provide nice contrast for easy readability. But do try a deep color for contrast.
I really came over to see the leaves again (which I never see in the desert, mind you) and thank you for the lovely comments on my site. I’m finally over this migraine that has laid me low for the past two days. Yup, wrote all that with a migraine. Go figure. Maybe I shouldn’t take so much credit for writing it. Abba…. If it was good, then we have not me to thank.
What a beautiful poem. Thanks for sharing it ! It is very refreshing.
God Bless you and yours!
Love in Christ
Nikki
Lance: Too kind…glad I could contribute.
Danielle: You are awesome…and yes, it’s wonderful that we can rely on the foundation that GOD IS GOOD! Yes, that’s my poem. Other comment on your sites.
leftOverture: thanks for sharing this poem. I echo the felling it gives; that is, that what we are really longing for when we enjoy sweet moments “here”, is the real thing, the place of which all this worlds colors are but shadows…we long for the “haven” which never fades.
Nikki: Thanks…keep on “encouraging the saints” as you do on your site…just not enough of that in the world.
Breath_Of_Dawn: So glad to hear that the migraine(s) have let up. I’ve always said that I never feel quite so good as when a migraine has finally left. If I didn’t say it before, I was so impressed at the writing you did while “under the weather”…grace under fire, for sure…..what do you think of the “forest green “?
Nice, and what a great testimony to God. Thanks for sharing your poem. Funny, but it was nature that first allowed me to realize that there had to be a God, the vast variety. Where I live is where people come to look at fall folliage, and every day, I find myself praising God for each new picture that He paints.
Heather
I like the forest green. That highlight color seems to work really well, too. As you see in your comment above “the Lord is near” the word Lord stands out better than the rest. But I think it’s all good. All your colors work well together. The green is good
I generally just play with mine until I’m happy. I’ve made some changes today and am not sure I’m truly happy with it, but I have to shove off to work in a bit, so I don’t know if I’ll make more changes today. I’m about to move into a November theme, beginning with All Saints/All Souls’ day, which is somewhat in keeping with my search for my ancestral lines.
alternate version…
When I behold October’s fire
Descended on the trees;
And stand; bathed by the golden breath
Of Indian Summer’s breeze.
I think on Him Who lights the flame
Within the human heart;
Who ‘decks the world with tapestry
Unmatched in all man’s art.
How frivolous; extravagant
For God to give such gold:
A testament through which His love
And glory may be told.
I thank you, Lord for autumn’s glow
For fire You give, so free
To light the way and warm the hearts
Of seekers such as me.
Beautiful work, Jim. And by the way…I loved the limerick you left on my site. I needed a good chuckle this morning.
RYC: Amen.
Both versions of your poem are beautiful.
I think on Him Who lights the flame
Within the human heart;
Who ‘decks the world with tapestry
Unmatched in all man’s art.
This moves me deeply. May our flames be lit at the throne of God; may they be a fire that never goes out. May we and others feel the heat of it – we for cleansing and purifying our hearts, others to feel the burning passion of His love.
Nicodemus: thanks…very kind. (I’m glad the limerick was to your liking.
Breath_of_Dawn: ” May our flames be lit at the throne of God; may they be a fire that never goes out. May we and others feel the heat of it – we for cleansing and purifying our hearts, others to feel the burning passion of His love.”….
Awesome…..I got chills (good ones) reading this…”Amen” is about all I can respond.
(as for the revision..I’m touched that you like it…in fact, I tend to inwardly “tinker” continually with things I’ve written…there have been a number of versions of this in my head. I’m sure you know how that goes with writing.)
Yes, I sure do. And I really liked your limerick on April’s site. Very good!
Hey Jim,
Thanks for checking in on me lately. I’m back in the states and will update my blog soon. All is well. God is good.
Blessings,
Deborah