Troubled America

May 26, 2015May 25, 2015 / The WheatandTares

She was once such a lovely place to dwell;

Now, she is a reminder of everlasting hell.

She was once a place of freedom and peace;

Now, she is a reminder of an angry beast.

I cry for this country and what she has come to be.

She will soon be a place that no one will want to see.

I pray that we open our eyes and see our ruined ways.

She will soon be a place of darkened, evil days.

Oh please, sweet America! Wake up and see your fate!

Open your eyes and do something now before it is too late!

Oh please, Sovereign Lord! Help us change what we have become.

Open our eyes and reveal the meaning of Your Only Son.

Penned – MG – 1/1/91

We Will Not Forget

May 25, 2015May 25, 2015 / The WheatandTares

I don’t consider myself an incredible poet, but I wanted to have something to pay honor today to those who have given their lives for our freedom. Thank you to every service man and woman who gave your all so that I and my family might live in the freedom for which you fought so hard to obtain, and thank you to your families who have had to say the hard goodbyes. We are forever grateful, and we will never forget…

Young men with hopes and dreams

Old men with wives and little sunbeams

All head to war. To serve their land.

To fight for their freedom. To save their fellow man.

They fought hard. They fought brave.

Some were wounded, captured, never saved.

We will not forget them. We will not close the door.

They gave us our freedom. We owe them so much more.

Their graves are marked with flags so bright.

Their memories held tight within our sight.

They gave the ultimate sacrifice. They paid the highest price.

Gave they their life that I might live. Reminds me of my God, my Christ.

Let us not be so busy that we pack their memories away.

Let us not be so focused on now that we miss their pathway.

This is Memorial Day. The day we honor, we remember, and we say, Thank you.

We will remember the heroes, for our lives are here because of what they went through.

We promise to never forget what you gave up.

What we have to offer can never really be enough.

We will forever say Thank You to our heroes.

We will fight to remember, hoping our debt and gratitude eternally shows.

They fought hard. They fought brave.

Some were wounded, captured, never saved.

We will not forget them. We will not close the door.

They gave us our freedom. We owe them so much more.

Penned – MG – 5/23/15

I Watch You Grow

May 14, 2015August 8, 2015 / The WheatandTares

With this being the end of the school year and many are graduating this week and the coming weekends, I thought I might repost a poem I posted last November…

I watch you grow from day to day

Each new morning it seems you’ve found a new way

To touch my heart and to make me smile

Even if it is just to sit with you awhile

You have my eyes and your daddy’s squeal

Every passing hour brings another thrill

To make me gasp, hope, laugh or wonder

Even as the minutes go by, of you, I grow ever fonder

You have such joy, such energy and life

Lord, help me to never fill your days with strife

I thank my God above for blessing me with you

I pray I teach you His ways in all that I do

I watch you grow from day to day

A man of God to become, I pray you may

Follow His voice and never ever turn back

A life of promise, you’ll encounter with nothing to lack

I love you, son. You are one of the very joys of my life! ❤

Penned – MG – 6/30/03

Fallen and Uprooted

May 12, 2015May 12, 2015 / The WheatandTares / 2 Comments

You have fallen

You have been uprooted

Now your branches remain lifeless

Your leaves are withered and brown

All because your roots did not remain

You allowed the cares to pluck the life and hope from your veins

Yours is not the only life that is suffering

The small saplings that were beneath your nest

Their tender sprouts are now withered and splintered

Seemingly beyond repair, beyond any hope

The winter is coming, how will they ever survive

Your shelter is no longer useful, exposing them to the bitterness

But God…

He is the Author and Finisher of all life

He is the Beginning and the End

He is the hope beyond all hope

He can bring life where we only see death

He is coming, walking near your demise

Will you turn toward His gaze?

Will you call to Him not shielding the pain?

He is loving, true and kind

He will mend and heal, repair and bind

He can make all things new if you will but send them

Come yourself to realign

God is…

Author, Finisher, Alpha, Omega

Beginning and the End

Rose of Sharon, Lily of the Valley

Prince of Peace, King of Kings

Lamb of God, Lord of Everything

Will you come?

I hear Him drawing near

He is gently calling your name

Growth And Change

April 30, 2015April 28, 2015 / The WheatandTares

Round and round we go.

So much complexity.

It’s hard to see clearly.

We fuss. We scrap. We scream.

Nothing is ever as it seems.

Yesterday is gone.

Never again can you grasp it.

Tomorrow is already here.

I can’t ever seem to find it.

Your memories try to grab it.

We live such different lives.

You go your way and I’ll go mine.

I live by my choices.

You live by your circumstance.

How can we ever find a way to dance.

You fell for love and all lost out.

You missed the times You were needed about.

You went away. Destroyed what could have been.

Never ever to be seen again.

You changed, transformed before my very eyes.

You stopped living for joy and lived for the lies.

You long for things to be the same.

I have moved on, grown and changed.

You are now desperate to be like others.

But now my life is consumed with another.

You will only find what was lost when you look to my Brother.
Penned – MG – 4/25/15

Can’t You See

April 28, 2015April 26, 2015 / The WheatandTares

Every day you bite and claw and push against the hands extended to you

You constantly fight and punch and kick against the love we try to give

When rescue is near you run away

Blaming someone else for your mistake

Will you not turn before it is too late?

Can’t you see the love set before you?

Can’t you see His heart will take away the pain?

Can’t you hear Him calling your name?

You fight back like a caged animal

Shaking, shuttering, scratching, snatching

You constantly battle, waging war against those who would help

Never realizing you are simply fighting against yourself

Can’t you see the grace set before you?

Can’t you see His heart will take away the pain?

Can’t you hear Him calling your name?

There will come a day when it will be finished

Then there will be no more chances

The judgment will be done

But until then…

He will not give up on you

He will not turn away

He will continue to call day after day

Will you ever turn to His way?

Penned – MG – 4/25/15

Wrapped Inside

April 23, 2015April 23, 2015 / The WheatandTares

I see you wrapped inside those heavy chains

You think you have nothing more to gain

The smell of death is yet growing stronger

You hold out just a few moments longer

I try to reach to you, but you push me away

I try to stop you, but you keep me at bay

Why are you leaving, there’s no one to know

Why are you running, there’s nowhere to go

The chains, they bite and claw at your skin

The weight of them breaks you, never allowing to bend

The nights are closing in, the screams can now be heard

The bondage you long for makes this all absurd

Can’t you see Him, His light shines so bright

He longs not to harm you, but to make this world now right

Can’t you hear Him calling out your name

If you will but love Him, you will never be the same

Penned – MG – 4/22/15

Hidden Within

April 14, 2015April 13, 2015 / The WheatandTares

Tears fall in the night

Smiles shine in the morning bright

Weary souls hide in the light

Broken hearts stand with all their might

Shadows linger where they don’t belong

Children flinch from being done wrong

Little hands clinch to remain strong

Tiny whispers dark are like a song

When will this pain ever end

Can His love really bring a mend

Will to Him your heart bend

His Son, grace deep, He did send

For only you, he loved so much

For this sin, He suffered such

To some, this faith seems a crutch

To me, this love my life will clutch

PENNED – MG – 4/14/15

Joy in the Sorrow

April 13, 2015April 13, 2015 / The WheatandTares / 1 Comment

We only experience true joy when we’ve experienced deep pain.

We only experience true strength when we’ve experienced great weakness.

We appreciate the sunshine when we’ve been surrounded by rain.

We are truly grateful for home when we’ve been away for a long time.

We all know the feeling when the day has been unending, and we’re so thankful for our own bed. We are more appreciative, because we’ve recognized the loss of it.

A parent values their child most when that child has been lost to him for a time.

A wife truly cherishes her covenant when she sees him marry the other woman.

A husband really esteems his wife after she has escaped death.

A child treasures a friend when he thought all was forgotten.

We get comfortable in routine.

We grow complacent in the mundane.

We grow ungrateful in the familiar.

Sometimes, hard times come to shake us from the average.

Sometimes, trials come to move us beyond the commonplace.

Often times, the trouble will pull us out of the habitual and into a brighter tomorrow.

So, when the storms of life come,

Don’t fight.