What is Your Prison?

January 21, 2022January 20, 2022 / The WheatandTares / 2 Comments

Is it pain? That gut wrenching pain that keeps you up at night…

Is it anxiety? The anxious, breath stealing, clammy-palm, lightheaded kind that overwhelms in a nanosecond…

Is it fear? The kind that breaks you out in a cold sweat in the midnight hours, yet no one is there…

Maybe it’s ambition… the driven force that is like a wrecking ball on a chain…

Maybe it’s arrogance… that blinding air which suffocates the most innocent of life…

Maybe it’s vengeance… the fierce, unrelenting thirst for justice that can never be quenched…

Or could it be suspicion? The overwhelming doubt that holds onto the gate, never seeing the broken latch…

Could it possibly be oblivious joy? The happy go lucky laughter that overrides the wounds or visible scars…

Everyone has a prison that is waiting

It can be a prison of lost hope or broken dreams

It can be a prison of lost love or shattered trust

There are bars that threaten to invade and slam shut around your very soul.

But the doors can swing wide.

The prisoners can go free.

You just have to accept the key.

Penned – MG – 1/19/22

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,
Because the Lord has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.
Isaiah 61:1-3

Happy New Year to You!

January 1, 2022 / The WheatandTares / 2 Comments

Let bygones be bygones, and let the past be in the past.

Let yesterday fade into the vapor that it is.

Let the clock keep ticking forward and the things from behind stay in the background.

It doesn’t mean all things are forgotten, and it doesn’t mean tomorrow is more important that the other day.

But sometimes to make progress, you’re going to have to let a few things rest and allow time to live on.

So, say goodbye and say hello, all in the proper order, and let’s get this party started!

Happy New Year to you and yours!

Merry Christmas to You and Yours!

December 25, 2021 / The WheatandTares / 6 Comments

I’ve been a little slack in my writing again. Life just seems to get busy, and the days begin to slip by too quickly. I’m working on that…again. Lol.

But I didn’t want the day to end without posting to say,

Merry Christmas to you all!!

I hope it’s been a wonderful day of celebration and joy for you and yours.

But if it’s not, just sit back and take a moment to breathe it all in.

Because even if you’re all alone, and all hades has broken loose in your life, you can rest assured that there is still HOPE!

If you still have a beating heart, no matter where you are, no matter what has happened, what will happen, or what you have said or done, or experienced, there is still HOPE!!

All you have to do is believe.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:16

Let It Live Elsewhere

December 20, 2021December 19, 2021 / The WheatandTares / 4 Comments

I read this, and it settled in like a long awaited truth to my soul.

This idea of letting go of pain, of allowing it to be placed somewhere outside our body, outside our mind, can be so healing.

When we hold pain and sorrow, it only brings more agony and anxiety.

When we constrain the heartache we’ve lived, it only brings more shattered dreams.

It only brings more grief and breathlessness.

Don’t restrain the tears.

Don’t stop the weeping.

Don’t halt the search for peace and joy.

But do allow that gut wrenching, earth shattering, all consuming knife within your soul to be let go.

If pen and paper bring an ease, then let the words fly as if being chased by a cobra.

If paint and canvas bring a breath of fresh air, then create the masterpiece of a lifetime.

If a song can be sung or a lyric be written, then allow the harmony to find it’s way as a raindrop finds the groove in a muddy hillside.

But clear that affliction from your thoughts.

Issue that grievance a pardon or prison sentence to far away lands.

Surrender that anguish from your heart and begin to breathe again.

Freedom comes with the release.

Now, go live.

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
Revelation 21:4

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partakeof the consolation.
2 Corinthians 1:3-8

The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
Psalm 23:1-3

One Year Later

December 6, 2021December 19, 2021 / The WheatandTares / 4 Comments

Sat down to write Christmas cards tonight

Only to realize, I had to make a transfer to create more room

As I rewrote each name and address, one change kept coming up

So many things are different one year later

A friendship that has been washed out

A wife who decided to walk away

A grandparent has left for the other side

A husband who said goodbye forever

My heart broke after I wrote one name and not the other

My eyes shed tears as I remembered what was lost

My inhale grew a little deeper and the exhale a little longer

So many things have changed just one year later

A bond forgotten for brighter days

A dream shattered beyond recognition

A once in a lifetime sliced beyond repair

A light that grew dimmer until it smoldered

Oh, how I wish I could wave a little wand

Make wronged things right and old things anew

Oh, how I pray You’d come back sooner

Make desolate times dissipate with a feverish hope

You can change so many unraveled in so much less than one year later…

The Hidden Battle

December 2, 2021December 1, 2021 / The WheatandTares / 4 Comments

Memories of you swirl around my head as I swat them away like flies.

I fight feelings of anger and grief as I pick up the shattered pieces of my heart.

I struggle to paint the smile I’ve learned to wear so well as if it’s an extra skin.

I look into the mirror and despise what I see because the reflections of the past come shining through.

Thoughts of you roll through my brain as if they have stolen permission to remain.

I battle the turmoil within, trying to make sense of the void and chasm of pain.

I wrestle with my flesh to hide the sorrow so I might glance with kindness on another.

I gaze at the pictures you left behind and loathe the resemblances that cannot be shred.

Recollections ramble through my mind as that one calls your name as I look away.

I resist the hatred that threatens to take hold, as I reach out openhanded for His love.

I assail the bitterness I can taste as if it were delights for my fancy and raise my hands in praise.

I search and await His hope that is beyond this present state of being and take confidence knowing it won’t be long till His rescue is complete.

Penned – MG – 12/1/21

And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Romans 5:3-5

Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.
Matthew 18:21-22

So Many Broken and Bruised

November 27, 2021 / The WheatandTares

I do not own or posses this pic.
Website: https://pixels.com/featured/mirror-reflection-loriental-photography.html

I look around at the festive gathering and underneath the smile, I see the broken and bruised.

I breathe in the cool breeze and wonder how the atmosphere can change so quickly.

I gaze across the room and fight the tears welling up as I see her laugh to hide the pain.

She wears her smirk as a veil to cover the scars that run too deep.

She flitters past to appear all together, never lighting too long to allow searching eyes to peer in.

She waved goodbye before the stories could resurface and the truth could be revealed.

Yet, in the final farewell, I saw the unshed tears held at bay by the dam of poise and finesse.

I heard the longing in her slight tremble when she claimed she’d be alright.

I watched as her frame faded into the night and wondered what shadows would chase her past the midnight.

Oh, how I wished I could bring her back.

I yearned to call her name and beg her to stay.

I looked in the mirror to see a remnant of her image peeking through the lighted reflection.

If she only recognized His love is still there waiting for her surrender.

If she only perceived His grace is still hanging on right where she left Him.

If she only realized His mercy never walked away.

She could come to know all the healing that she needed are the very things she left behind.

PENNED – MG – 11/27/21

As Our Children Grow

November 13, 2021November 13, 2021 / The WheatandTares

As our children grow, we can learn so much, and we ourselves can grow

If we will only listen.

We can learn to love freely, to speak kindly and to forgive graciously

While we structure consistently, discipline conditionally and disciple unrepentantly.

Mercy must always be balanced with justice.

Wisdom must always be stretched with faith.

Grace must always be enveloped in truth.

One cannot live without the other, and the other cannot thrive without the first.

Our children can bring light to our weary souls, and we can bring comfort and security to theirs.

As our children grow, we can learn so much, and we ourselves can grow

If we will only listen.

We can learn to laugh without limits, seek without fear and be consumed with wonder

While we instill honor for the past, respect for the future and gratitude for the present.

Progressiveness is forfeited when yesterday is forgotten.

Tradition is failed when the future is ignored.

Existence is sacrificed when reality is shunned.

One cannot succeed without the other, and one cannot flourish without the origin.

As our children grow, we can grow, too.

As our children learn, we can learn, too.

As our children spread their wings to fly, we can soar alongside them

If we will only instill truths from the beginning and step aside for their liberation.

Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it.
Psalm 22:6

Just Sit and Soak, Again

November 5, 2021November 5, 2021 / The WheatandTares

Sometimes, you’ve just got to sit and soak and let the weight of the world be washed away.

And sometimes, when you’ve already done this, you’ve got to do it again…

You alone are the Lord;
You have made heaven,
The heaven of heavens, with all their host,
The earth and everything on it,
The seas and all that is in them,
And You preserve them all.
The host of heaven worships You.
Nehemiah 9:6 nkjv