February 3, 2006
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The Gift (continued)
In shells of glass
And failing flesh
the heart of God resides
And in the frailest earthen ware
A kingdom so abides
With feet of clay
and trembling hands
we bear The Gift today
As Joseph’s bride and he
once did
when, wrapped in cloths it lay.
No regal horns
nor crowd’s acclaim
proclaimed this Gift; this King
And when we daily give the Gift
No earthly choirs sing.
It’s our embrace
of those who ache
which ushers in the Lord,
And our own voices,
played with grace,
may herald in His Word.
So look not on
how humbly-cased
God’s “packages” may come,
But see your self
and others, too,
to be His sacred home.
Though not enwrapped in gilded foil,
nor gem and silver crowned
We’re urns of God’s most precious gift;
and precious so we’re found.
©copyright 2006 James A. Smallish
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“…God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. ” (2 Cor. 4:6&7)
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Comments (37)
Jim, this is only the second of your poems I’ve ever read, but I’m blown away. These two latest essentially sum up our lives as beneficiaries and bearers of the Gospel. Thank you! Do you ever put your poems to music? in Him, Gerrie
Excellent poem, Jim. This would be an especially good one to read at Christmas time!
I hope you have an enjoyable weekend.
Kathi
Nice. I so love the imagery of being a passive thurible in the hands of God, with Him walking along swinging us to and fro (woah, not what I wanted to think with a migraine; I’m dizzy enough)- anyway, the incense of His presence wafting along without our doing anything but hosting Him within us.
Very well done, thanks.
excellent!
thanks for the comments, but now you’ve blown my cover. I guess I will have to move to another job…thanks buddy.
Thanks:) It’s getting so that I anticipate the possibility of a double whenever I go in. But I do insist on not working the next day as it is a given that I can’t sleep in daylight and am not safe to drive, much less anything else like critical thinking.
The pain is pretty much gone, though I do feel a vague gnawing. I am at least thinking more clearly today; I know what day it is and I think I can manage a gas pump! I just feel really beat up. The biggest problem is that I’m beginning to enjoy the bigger paychecks. God help me, I must needs repent of that! Still, I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t have to. Monday my friend/coworker came in sick and I told her to go home and I’d stay. Wednesday they caught me coming in and I said yes. Silly me. Should’ve known I can’t do 2 so close together.
BTW: You’re absolutely right re: the rewards of salvation. I liked yours and Mattie’s and Larry’s answers a lot. But I relate to the one who said at first it was being saved from hell (though I never related to hell, just to the darkness of this world); then as time went on, there were the rewards I was taught to look forward to. But those didn’t satisfy. I wanted ultimately to know God personally, to know Jesus personally and walk with Him as He did with the Father even here and now. This is the greatest reward for me, to know Him as He is, as much as possible in this life, to walk and talk with Him, to have a real-time relationship with Him in the here and now that is only the beginning of eternity. Eternity is now.
Thanks for your comments and prayers for Eric, spoke with him this morning and told him you liked his site and heart. He appreciated that. I also visited your daughter’s site and left her a comment. Sounds like she made the team she was auditioning for. That’s great!! It does a Father proud (in a good way) when he sees their children serving the Lord. Have a great day in Him!
Mike
I love this poem! I think you would do good to copyright it and look for someone to wright music to it!
How old are you, if you don’t mind me asking? If you do, I understand. The above comment said you had a daughter. For some odd reason, I took you to be a younger fella. No wander your poetry has such wisdom!
Hey, I just read your comment on cowboy’s site. We must have almost the exact same birthday.
Yay for Dawn!!! If you think that’s funny, you should check out the link I found today.
Woah! By one day! (8th)
Saw your comment on Jenna’s site about the fishies…and then I felt bad, cuz here I was getting righteously indignant about the person “killing all the babies” and then you came in and said (rightly so) that the person him/herself needs help finding the way back to the light because they’re all mixed up and getting hurt, too! Maybe God is a little bit of both, protect the babies but help the misguided, as well:) That is an important lesson! Thank you. in Him, Gerrie
almost twins!
Well, you may find me freaking out over there, being dragged into it against my will. But now that I know I’m not alone in this auspicious occasion…………maybe I’ll live through it.
Excellent Poem!! thank you soo much for blessing us with it!!! WOW!
Thanks for your encouragement and comments on my site! I appreciate it a lot!
Have a bless weekend!
I really enjoyed that…most wonderful…Be blessed always.
Thanks for leaving a comment on my site. I am so glad that you stopped by! I like your poetry! I hope to read more in the future. I also dabble in poetry. I have another site that I am working on that has some of my work in it.my other site
Thanks for the comments about laser and for the prayers. I am glad that someone is also praying for the families of the ferry disaster.. Where are you located right now, USA?
Things have really heated up in the Middle East with the problem of the cartoon of Mohamed. I am living on the West Bank side of Jerusalem and it has been more and more dangerous with the threat of kidnapping. We are praying that the Lord will provide us with another house in his perfect timing.
Have a great day!
Your poems are always very intense..Love them…
Thank you for sharing..
Have a Blessed Sundat..
A hug,
lucy
Please email me at your convenience from the email link on my site. I would like to reply to you with something special. It pertains to the challenge I’m running.
Yes, Life is funny..
..again I say: LOVE YOUR MUSIC!!!
A hug,
Lucy
They aren’t usually too hard on me. 40 was hard. I don’t remember 50. I don’t know why this one should be any harder than the rest but I feel quite resistant to it and I’m having obvious reactions – changing my hair, makeup, etc. I think it’s a lot different for women, as we’re supposed to stay young and good-looking.
Hmmm. Time to quit caring about appearance and go back to my journal: “Don’t concern yourself with anyone’s expectations but Mine.”
Now, there’s wisdom for the ages!
Thank you for your comment in answer to mine (about the fishies). I was definitely feeling guilty! Sometimes I write email comments to you…when it’s something I’d rather say privately. But you seem to answer better here???? So is this a better place to write? I need to know how to connect with you regarding ”Para Ti”, if things still stand. And should I say Happy Birthday? Cuando te vas á México? Yo quiero ir algun día. Dios bendiga. Gerrie
That is so beautiful. I love that! Thank you so much for visiting my site. Yours is absolutely beautiful. I love your picture. It just speaks volumes to me as does your poem and the two quotes after. I’ve see the poem The Gift. Makes me cry every time I read it. May God Bless you and I hope I see you again.
I study through my university.. It’s just a spanish via web course. I do want to learn Spanish. I’ve been to China many times and would also like to learn more Chinese…
Thanks so much for your comments you’re very encouraging! I love hearing about the mission work you do! The song I wrote already has music…and I’ll be using it as one on a cd. My friend and I have written 8 songs now and we’re hoping to record them (her dad has a recording studio in his basement) and to sell them to help raise money for a mission trp to the Domincan Republic our church is going on next year. But feel free to play around with it on your own unless you want me to send you a copy of it. I sang it in church one time and we record our services (its not really the bestly sung but it would show you what it sounds like haha!) blessings, heather
Oops I just realized I said the wrong song… I meant Extiende tu Mano…
Thanks for the Happy Birthday!!! Today I’m older than yesterday… I’ve paid my dues… Time to be more visible to the public. Thanks to Sam & Richard – two kind souls who helped this comedian find more than her sense of humor again.
Since you said that you used to have The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything, but the link went down. This is the one I’m using - sung by Relient K: http://jonk.fobby.net/misc/ptddarock.mp3.
Stop by my other site and check out my funny photo of me…and laugh safely. http://www.agapeischutzpah.blogspot.com
Reni & Katie too.
The funny photo is in the second entry, called “Seeing Double.” I had a lot of fun with this… It’s my gift back to a very dear friend. Reni. ^..^
HOW BEAUTIFUL!!!!
LOVE, CHERYL
If you can plz check my page..
A hug,
lucy
Hey Brother…
Didn’t want you to think I had forgotten to comment back to you. It has been a long weekend for me, and I just got home a little while ago.
Another great Poem.. you ever thought about being a poet ? (lol). As for moving, we are not sure where exactly we are going? (smile). Actually we are staying in the area until the end of the school year and we are hoping to maybe get on at the University where our son attends. We are eventually going to the missions field full time, but are just waiting on the Lord for His timing.
Keep us in your prayers.
Phil
Thank you for the best wishes for my Aunt. I’m writing here because you wrote FROM here. Please pray for me, I think I’m getting sick, and I can’t get sick right now, I just can’t. It almost always happens that if my hay fever goes into my chest (like it did with asthma symptoms), I end up with bronchitis. Now I have a horrible sounding cough, and it’s not the asthma wheezing kind of cough any more. I do have some prescription cough medicine, but it’s got codeine in it and does “things to me” that are inconvenient at school:) I hate this time of year. God bless you, you’re such an encourager. Gerrie
hey! Go right ahead and quote whatever you’d like…I didn’t copyright it haha! have a great day, I’m just getting ready to go to work. Blessings, Heather
Thanks for the beautiful poetic addition! Just goes to show:
Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks – or fingers type.
It’s my belief that the most important responsibility of any Christian is to love; I see you doing that around xangaland.
Shine on, my twin, brother Jim!