A Spoon of Grace

A child with a spoon, standing on the beach

A bit of water we’re trying to reach.

The tide comes in, the water is vast,

Come splash and enjoy, it’s here to last.

God’s love, joy and grace are never ending.

The tides may change but he never stops sending

them rolling up and down the shores.

His mercy he continually pours.

He made you to sparkle with life to the full,

to know His goodness and that He’s faithful.

He created you, He created it all

Elements and matter, waves and shore.

The story and vision goes that St. Augustine was at the sea-side, and there was a child trying to spoon the ocean into a pit in the sand he had dug out with a spoon and it is said that it was easier to spoon the ocean into the hole than it was to explain the mystery of the trinity.

Quite few years ago, I heard someone talk of a similar analogy, from a picture that I’ve tried looking for without success... again it was a child going to the ocean with a spoon. But he described it as a picture of grace, a child coming to the water with a spoon to try and collect the ocean. Grace is so much more than we deserve or could hope for ‘His grace is sufficient’; ‘His grace is enough’- not because it is rationed or we make do with what we’ve got but because it is poured out and plentiful. There is an abundance of grace, A spoon of grace is an oxymoron, paradoxical, contradictory. So don’t just try to collect a token of water, live in the fullness of it, because God is not stingy with grace.

In response to what I know of St. Augustine’s vision, theology should not be about using a spoon to fill the hole with water or take a sample in a glass jar to analyse because although you could do tests and analyse its composition, apart from the ocean it lacks life and power. Maybe it’s about delighting in him, and letting the tide roll over the hole, fill, submerge and cause it to overflow.

I wrote this at the end of August 2011, it is adapted from part of a poem I wrote for a friend, and loosely inspired by Boticelli's picture,
"the Vision of St. Augustine."

Free

This is a story

A story of me

This is no fairytale

but of truth that sets free

I’d been plodding for Jesus

But with the weight of a bus

Dragging behind me

While it started to rust.

“I’ve got big shoulders”

I always said

But the weight of the world

was more than lead

Life’s race- a spiritual battle

Been pushing onwards

But with a yoke like cattle

I was worn out and starting to rattle

But this is NOT how it’s suppose to be

It is for freedom that Christ set us free

The weight of the world, he took on the cross

He paid the price, to rescue the lost.

The bricks we carry,

He says- “Let me!”

Throw them into the water,

That makes fresh even the sea.

Shake off the ties,

The things that bind

Enjoy ALL his freedom

Seek first and you’ll find

The peace and the healing,

Come enjoy, taste and eat,

Lightness- so freeing,

His freedom complete.

I’m running for Jesus,

Pushing on for the prize,

He took it all on the cross

And put to death all the lies.

The Spirit of God wells up inside

The sowing of tears,

At last- Put aside!

In laughter and joy, it’s time to abide.

His precious daughter, no condemnation

I am a new creation,

His grace is enough for me

His love redeems and carries me.

“Not your shoulders, but mine instead!”

Because the weight of the word*

Was more than lead

He paid in full, then rose from the dead!

This is a story

A story of God and me

This is no fairytale

But of truth that sets free.

*Thought you found a typo? I'm afraid 'word' rather than 'world' has been left in on purpose, but can be interchanged. 

As part of the freedom that took place over the summer that inspired this poem, it had been words, a kind of 'promise' to God (well meaning but powerful and binding words)- many years ago that had 'tied me up' and made me vulnerable to being weighed down by more burden that wasn't mine to carry. However powerful words are, God's grace is enough and the new covenant takes away the requirement of legalism. It's taken close to a decade for this freedom to break in and break me out of this which had disguised itself as a God promise, I just needed to renounce those words and come to a place of repentance and God did the rest- amazing freedom and joy and life in multicolour.

Following Jesus, had involved the 'spiritual art' of plodding and slogging, i.e. keeping going despite spiritual opposition and pushing onwards, but it's a bit like in Hebrews 12, after God broke through, and we threw off all the stuff weighing me down and getting entangled around my feet I feel able to run (physically and spiritually) in a free way!

Tree from the Rocks

 


'Tree from the Rocks', Acrylic on Canvas



It's about rocks like a tomb, trapping a tree, 

Blocking the light, but the tree bursts free.

Pushing the slab of rock aside,

I don't think I could if I tried!

The dark is too dark

How can you survive

Hope is so small

but it is alive.

Life has strength and power

and Hope does not die.

A tree stands firm like a tower,

from a seed of faith buried on a hillside.

When the power of heaven join and face

The struggles and darkness of this place

Hope goes hand in hand with reality!

Rocks like a tomb, but the tree bursts free!



Inspired by a tree discovered off the beaten track in the Lake District, while I was on a walking trip with my Dad and stepmum the weekend before Easter 2011. I took a photo of this prophetic tree and decided to paint it for the June Project Art Space and up sprung this poem while starting to write the blurb to accompany it!   



Original sketch: water colour pencils





When I wrote this in June, poetry was not something that I considered to be 'my thing'; particularly as I'm dyslexic, it was quite the opposite. I always struggled getting thoughts and ideas on paper in anyway other than a mindmap or picture! (Although, I did used to write very long letters- that only occasionally made it to the postbox!) 

So I was quite surprised and totally amazed at how natural it seemed to write, and how easily this poem had appeared like a new spring!

Hope you like it! :-)



Do you want to be a Zebra?

Do you want to be a zebra, a lama or gazelle?

Run away really fast when you hear the warning bell

But what about the others? When the enemy strikes

Run for your lives! Forget about the tykes?

Each for their own! The strongest will survive?

Take what you want, have it all! As long as I’m alive!

The sick and the injured, the young and the old

Abandoned by the others- they didn’t fit the mould.

Aspire to be an elephant, a meerkat or rhino!

When the enemy comes prowling, you’re safe because you know

The weak are not abandoned; they’re in the middle of the herd,

They are cared for and protected by the Good Shepherd.

The rhino charges onwards, trusting in the One,

He can’t see into the distance, but weighs about a ton.

The elephants stand firm, side by side by side

Rather than attack the enemy runs to hide

We are all in this together, a meerkat community

Look out for one another, keep watch for the enemy

Let’s not stand back or run away, but trusting in the One

Let’s stand our ground and take back land in the power of the Son.

Are we content with someone else sitting on the throne?

Picking off the exiles and spitting out the bone?

We want to see His kingdom come, His will on earth be done!

Let’s bring in this reality! The battle’s already won!

Special thanks for the words that have inspired this poem, in particular Ruth P, whose point on elephants and zebras has provided the catalyst for this poem and to others particularly at Revive and Harvest through whom God seems to be calling people to stand up, stand firm and like Gandalf say,

"You shall not pass!"

and remember, it is only in His strength and power (Eph 6) that it is possible... Gandalf reminds me of Moses and it was God with him that parted the Red Sea!

Welcome to Pondering Poetry

Welcome to Pondering Poetry. This page is part of my Pondering Pancakes blog, but is set aside for sharing my poetry and maybe some related art with you all.


I hope it is an encouragement and inspiration to you. It is inspired mainly by faith and what God is teaching, reminding and revealing to me through creation, others and of course, himself. I'm a Christian, have been for a long time but recently discovered in a new way a fullness of freedom, life and joy in him as he took the shackles off my feet and the weight off the world off my shoulders. As a friend put it,

"You can get Israel out of Egypt, but you gotta get Egypt out of Israel"

- the Israelites had crossed the Red Sea and heading for the promised land but for many the familiarity of slavery and the melons and cucumbers of Egypt seemed safe and meant many lived as if they were slaves not free people...


Through discovering what it is to live as a new creation, living a new story, where his yoke is easy and his burden is light, a new creativity seems to be flowing... I was quite arty before but I have discovered writing poetry, there may be a couple of earlier poems too- it seems to have been brewing over the last year or so...


I hope you enjoy them and it gives you something to ponder!

Check out my blog http://ponderingpancakes.blogspot.com/