The Gate of the Year

by Minnie Louise Haskins, 1908

I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year,
“Give me a light that I would tread safely into the unknown.”

And he replied, “Go into the darkness

and put your hand into the hand of God.

That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way!”

So I went forth and finding the Hand of God
Trod gladly into the night.
He led me towards the hills
And the breaking of day in the lone east.

So heart be still!
What need our human life to know
If God hath comprehension?

In all the dizzy strife of things
Both high and low,
God hideth his intention.

   

At the turn of the year, in the midst of yo-yoing between cities, the Christmas rush, seeing family and friends, New Year’s Eve parties, sales and plans, it is important to take stock of the year passing, to put aside what needs to be put down, but not to lose the perspective of ‘who’ is taking us onward into the unknown with its opportunities, possibilities and uncertainties and the ripples of things begun and started that have within them power to transform the next chapter

I discovered this poem at the beginning of last year. ‘The Gate of the Year’ was written by Mary Louise Haskins in 1908, yet it seems so relevant and significant, that having pondered it through 2011, it feels right to carry on mulling it over and gleaning from it into 2012 too. This is the first poem written by someone else on this blog. I hope it resonates and connects with you as it has and continues to do so with me. There are a couple of verses in Psalm 139 that this poems brings to mind,

“If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.” (Ps 139:11-12, NIV).

Despite a lack of posts lately, mainly due to being a yo-yo across the country through November and December), I have written quite a few poems recently, so look out for them over the coming weeks and months.

Whatever this year may bring and however dark and unknown it may look, I pray you will see God’s faithfulness, his power to bring in the dawn and breakthrough in things seeming impossible and his hand at work; holding, renewing, refreshing and equipping you for the coming year.

Happy New Year! x



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/