A Poem Inspired by Hawaii: The Romancing of Paradise

Ah!  The feel of sand beneath my toes, and the warmth of the air around me embracing me...when I wake every morning here in Hawaii, I pinch myself to see if this is real.  "God, really?"  I ask, "This is my home for now?"  Yes.  The answer is yes.  I live here.  There are struggles still, and life still happens, but I also have the reality of God's love for me caressing my eyes each day as I bike to work or walk to the beach.  Poetry helps to speak of the wonder I feel, but it still does not do justice to the depth of Christ's love for us, which He sculpts each day not only within our hearts, but also in the sights and senses around us...

The Romancing of Paradise

Blue, greens, whites, and yellows

greet my eyes with morning hellos.

Twinkling windows wink in my sight

as I lay my head down at night.

The rush of traffic my lullaby

and on my horizon, the limit’s the sky.

Morning warmth wraps me up tight,

holds me in the rays of light

as I feel the sun’s energy course through me.

I run past the swaying palm tree –

standing like a centurion –

the rows of trees my own giant guards in green neon.

After work, the rocking of waves the motion

that calms my emotion.

I sit on my board and watch the surf rolling in,

or just strike out in it for a swim.

This salt upon my tongue

tastes like the song the shells sung when I was young,

only now it’s my reality.

My backyard is truly the sea,

my landscape the palms and plumeria

reminding me, “Keep dreaming, I dare ya!”

The roar of the waves,

the smell of the tropical leis,

the feel of flying over water on my board,

All propels me to its Maker – my Lord.

He loves me enough to paint color across the sky

And kiss me with sun as on the sand I lie.

He graces my neck with flowers

and lets me view diamonds glittering across the ocean at all hours.

He loves me so to fill my senses

with sights and feelings that strip my defenses.

He took what seemed in my life like loose seems

And stitched them together in themes

to bring to reality my dreams –

all the bright color now coming forth – in pictures of this Island it streams.

Here I wake in paradise each day,

Listening for what my Love – Jesus – has to say…

His song the crash of the waters,

His dance over me the sway of the palm-fodders,

And His touch the heat on my skin

as the sun reaches me from the outside in.

Each day is Jesus’ love letter written in creation,

How can I not live in elation?

Thanking God each day for this chance

to dance in the reality of His nature’s romance!

© Krindee Joy, Dec. 2010.  Inspired by the beauty of the Hawaiian Islands, which speak

                                               to me of the beauty of my Creator God’s passionate love!

THE Jesus Bug

SO!  I'm sick.  Really sick.  My throat is burning and I sound like a dying cow when I try to talk.  I had a fever last night and I'm just plain grumpy.  I'm a horrible sicky, okay.  PLUS, I've been training since summer for the marathon which is TOMORROW, at 5am no less.  HELP ME!  I will be honest, I cried this morning because I was so frusterated AND I threw some clothes around the room.  Arrrr... (ya, most of you who know me probably can't picture me doing this...toldya I get grumpy sometimes, i.e. when I'm sick....did I mention I'm sick??????)  But now I have to laugh, because Jesus cracks me up.  When I was reading my Bible, he totally convicted me of my attitude and reminded me that even a sickness can be redeemed by Him!  Then, this poem came out.  It's sort of corny and what-not, but I thought the parallell was interesting.  What if we ALL spread the infection of Jesus' blood (i.e His grace and forgiveness) to everyone??? Our world would be taken over with a pandemic of love!  I think we have to allow Jesus to take over all the other things within our body  that aren't of Him so we become purely the DNA of Holiness.  AND, it's nothing WE do, it's what His blood does inside of us!  Now THAT'S an infection I wouldn't mind having!  :)  :)  :)

THE Jesus Bug

This burn in my throat

Is like the fire in my soul

The pain on my heart is wrote

And in my body takes a toll

Like a fever, I have visions

Of what isn’t real

But what I hope from these missions

Sometimes I can’t help spewing what I feel

The truth kept in grows too heavy

And demands release

To out-flood like a broken levy

Only this water brings life to the deceased

Not death to the living

The more I’m silent the more my symptoms increase

Until I must start giving

I’m infected with this Jesus bug

That burns hot through me

To get out of my room where I’m safe and snug

And venture to the cold world where the hurting be

The symptoms demand I spread love everywhere

And cough forth words of life

It’s an infection I must share

For it overtakes all other pain and strife

And brings every cell within

To shake alive fully

As it kills the virus of sin

Replacing it all with blood so Holy.

© Krindee Joy, Dec. 2010

Discouraging Discouragement

LICENSED to OVERCOME DISCOURAGMENT

                Feeling ‘No’ but Choosing ‘Yes’

I feel lost.

The heart and brain feel disconnected.

My heart wants to reach out, my mind says, “It’s impossible.”

I’ve tried.

I’ve failed…?

Or have I? 

Yes, I’ve tried so hard, and it seems all I’ve tried has been for naught.  My words fall on deaf ears; my extended hand slapped down; my offered heart crushed.  I’ve strove and sought to be and do all, only to find I seem to be nothing and have nothing to offer.

I feel lost.  I feel disjointed.  I feel like a failure.

Why do I feel this way?  Because I’m trying for the impossible – I’m believing for the impossible.  Sometimes there comes a point when I’m waiting for my status-quo to change, or waiting to see a miracle in another’s life, when I stand facing this immensely massive barrier, complete with glinting, sharp spikes at the top.  My neck spazes as I crane to observe the feat.  It’s like the stinkin’ Great Wall of China!  I think, “This is ridiculous, God!  There’s no way!”

“DO NOT SAY ‘NO’ TO WHAT I SAY ‘YES’ TO!”

“Huh?”  I want to ignore this sentence pounding in my head and beating loud on the hardness of my heart, but it comes again.

“DO NOT SAY ‘NO’ TO WHAT I SAY ‘YES’ TO!”

“God, what does this mean?” I question.  The response is still imploding my world. 

“I have called all things possible, and for you to declare something too vast, too overwhelming, or too big or lost for me to overcome is to debase my Godhood.”

Ouch!  I was giving into my emotions over the Holy Spirit’s power, and my heart was speaking continued death over situations which were already “dead” but which God says He wants to revive.  I chose to rest in the shadow of the Great Wall of discouragement instead of the shadow of the Almighty’s wings (Psalm 91).  “God!  What are you saying?” I had to clarify.  “Are you saying anytime I give up on a situation, or anytime I believe something is too much or too big, that I’m devaluing you?”

Scripture verse after scripture verse came in response:

“Is anything too difficult for the LORD?” Genesis 18:14

“I am the LORD, the God of all mankind.  Is anything too difficult

 for me?” Jeremiah 32:27

“What is impossible with men is possible with God.” Luke 18:27

“With God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26

When I lose these verses of truth, my heart and brain really do go in disconnect.  The Holy Spirit inside of me is saying, “Krinda!  You must believe in ME more than you believe in the world’s reality,” while my brain is saying, “Noooo way!  It didn’t work before, it’s been too long, this is impossible!”   I am lost when I go by my brain, because I am swallowed in the darkness that comes from doubts and confusion. 

You see, I’m believing that God brings miracles into my friend’s and family’s lives.  I’ve been praying for months that God restores my friends’ marriage – a situation that seems beyond repair.  I am believing that God brings relationships into my family that bring wholeness and not brokenness; I am believing that God breaks the spirit of self-doubt over myself; I am believing for revival in my workplace.  But, with all these things, I see no change.  When something does progress, it seems only to digress just as fast, or turn to false hope.  BUT (I say again) God speaks to these situations once more –“DO NOT SAY ‘NO’ TO WHAT I SAY ‘YES’ TO!”

I’ll be honest, sometimes I want to give up.  I want to say, “Well, it didn’t work!  I’m not seeing any change, so I’ll just keep it safe and not believe anymore,” because I feel like a failure when my prayers don’t “work.”  That’s the thing though…IT’S NOT ABOUT ME!  It’s about God!  It’s about choosing to say God is God, in every situation.  No matter what, I must choose to believe God is who He says He is.   It’s not about the outcome either, because my finite mind cannot understand the infinite purposes of God’s plan.

Feelings are just that, feelings.  It’s okay to have them, but it’s not okay to allow them to govern what we declare about WHO God is, or WHAT God can do.  That doesn’t mean I don’t feel discouraged sometimes, but if I revere God I must declare His greatness regardless.  HE IS UNCHANGING.

Our “Great Walls” are opportunities to Him who has a history of toppling gates and parting seas.  AND, when Jesus Christ is our God, He gives us the liscense to also overcome this world through Him. 

When you feel ‘NO WAY,’ choose ‘YES WAY,’ and be willing to stand on that no matter the outcome, because the outcome does not change the fact that “With God all things ARE possible.” 

In short, just say "YES" to Jesus Christ.  So simple, and yet, it is the main source to discouraging discouragement!  Christ is our license to live outside of the realm of feeling and in the realm of faith!

© Krinda Joy, December 2010