Tis' The Season

As you may have noticed, I have written below two poems. They are both poems that a little bit fit with where I am at this Christmas Season. I am struggling to ignore the darkness that has so penetrated this world. I am finding it difficult to sit comfortably in my wool socks and sweater, fully loaded with Christmas baking without a second thought towards a large portion of the world. How many people have the opportunity to stop and actually celebrate Christmas? What about those who are frozen on the city streets? What about those who are fighting to survive until tomorrow, not to mention today. What about those who are losing their families to HIV Aids or war? Do most people on a global setting actually have time to think about what Christ did and what Christmas is about? I do not even know if I have taken sufficient time to meditate on that.
Why do I get to be comfortable?
I do not know the answer to why I have been graced with so much...but the only answer that seems to surface is hope. We have hope in Christ, even in the darkest circumstances we still have hope in a loving savior.
What about you; reader? What are your thoughts? Any advice or good solid theology?

Tale of Many Tales

Tales and tales of heartbreaks I hear
Though none bring true depth to what becomes clear
No words, no pictures, no stories would tell
The implications of when my heart shattered; fell.

A brewd of hungry lions less damage would do
than the pain inflicted on me by you
I refuse to drown in the ocean of tears
However my pain is the least of my fears

Explain the change that took on your heart
What stole you? Broke you? Then tore you apart?
I watched, and wept from the distance you held me
I prayed that it would leave you be.

I stare into your clouded, dull eyes
They tell tales beyond your attempted disguise
Where is the sparkle, the joy and delight
that through your eyes used to take flight?

What ales you and steals your very soul?
What has replaced the heart, the passion, the goal?
All that is worthy, noble and true
Not long has it been since those defined you.

A battle is raging within you and for you
Have your eyes been shut so you can't see through?
Someone is longing to protect you from harm
To guide you away from the devils charm.

I beg you to turn, to remember His love
To remember the hope beyond and above
A hope and a future;gifts that He offers
A hand to hold in a pit full of scoffers

Your heart, your soul, allow His love to save
Let Him rescue you from the place which you are enslaved
Focus your eyes back on truth and on life
Not on futile pleasures which bring endless strife. *

~Charis Vaags

Broken Unknown

This is where the rubber hits the road
All that is common is overload
Her timing in life has been misplaced
to her surroundings, she is disgrace

Does anyone hear her crying?
Does anyone know her pain?
Or does it all go unnoticed?
Does her spirit sink to a place of shame?

This is where she can't feel her toes
Under the winter-bitten bridge where she's stowed
Warn out finger gloves all full of holes
The shelter's free blanket wont keep out the cold

Can you see the frost bite;
Her skin pale white?
Do you realize how much
she tries to put up a fight?

If you meet her some day
what is it you will say?
Or will you walk by?
Will you pretend it's okay?

Read the story behind her broken eyes
Trace the lines on her face
Where are they from?
They speak no lies.

Who will tell the story
of the un-kept
the unknown,
unwanted
reject?

~Charis Vaags

Fake Plants

Hmmm...Let me ask you a question. What do you think about fake plants? Are you the type who likes to add a little green to your surroundings but do not want to have to water and care for green things that actually breath and drink? Or are you someone who loves to have a jungle in your front room? Big plants, small plants, exotic plants, red plants blue plants? What is your take on the situation?

I am personally a non-fan of fake plants. I like plants, they make living space feel clean to me. I find it nice to have something that is recycling and utilizing the air that you breath out. How cool is that. I like to have something that grows, and is pretty. Plants do not have a soul but they are alive. It is so nice to know that an inanimate object like a plant has still been given structure and ability to function. What is even more amazing is that there is the ultimate of creativity and science who has thought all this up.

I think sometimes we miss the point. What kind of mindset was formed prior to manufacturing fake plants? Why would we settle for a cop out of what has been created for us. Personally I would much rather immerse myself in God's intriguing creation than to settle on a fake version of it.

How many things in life are like this? How many things are we settling for sub-par levels on? Do we skirt around having real relationships and settle for shallowness? Do we strive to do the bare minimum rather than trying to be as productive in the life we have been given as possible? So we settle for fast food rather than taking full advantage of a nutritious meal? Do we watch movies rather than discovering our own story? Do we settle for an image that someone else has set and paint our faces before going out each morning? It would seem there are a lot of subjects in life in which we choose the fake. I do not know.

I really am not against people who like fake plants, or eat fast food, or even wear makeup. I do wonder why we do what we do. What worldview lingers at the root of these practices? I think it is a good thing to pull things up by the root and look at them. I apologize if I am rambling....but I think that that is what a blog is for not?

Enjoy your greenery!
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