perspective

Father’s Day…Delayed

/ The WheatandTares / 1 Comment

There’s an old song that says, “You can’t always get what you want,” and although I don’t necessarily want to promote the song or the singer, the statement holds some truth.

Scrolling through social media on Father’s Day weekend brings this truth to a glaring reality when you’re a daughter of a broken home and a not so idealistic parental relationship.

However, these are also the perfect moments for God to do what He does best. His Word says, “A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families…” Psalm 68:5-6.

Throughout my life, He has brought incredible “fathers” to fill the void, and I am eternally grateful for them and for all He has done. ❤️

So, if you find yourself in a similar predicament, LOOK UP.

Your Heavenly Father loves you and is waiting for you.

And look horizontally, He will bring those father figures close when you need them. 💞

He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds.

Psalm 147:3

Father’s Day…What a Day

/ The WheatandTares / 2 Comments

Father’s Day…

What a day to celebrate.

What a day to contemplate.

Is a father one who rules with an iron fist?

Is a father one who grants every wish list?

Father’s Day fills the heart with love, fear, hatred, and confusion.

Father’s Day fills the heart with suspicion, wisdom, laughter, and illusion.

What a day to let the soul ponder.

What a day to let the mind wander.

Is a father one who encourages, advises and cheers?

Is a father one who avoids, neglects and jeers?

Father’s Day can fill the heart with strength and admiration.

Father’s Day can fill the heart with joy and appreciation.

What a day to let accumulate.

What a day to let captivate.

A true Father is one who admires, enwraps, uplifts and esteems.

A true Father is one who confronts, forgives, purifies and redeems.

Thankful for My Heavenly Father on this Father’s Day that is tough on my heart and so many others…

Penned – MG – 6/18/22

A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, in God in His holy habitation.

Psalm 68:5

Refiner’s Fire

/ The WheatandTares

The trials of life feel like fire to the heart.

They burn and destroy as a forest ablaze.

They break and bend the impurities of our motives.

They draw out the ugly, unusable parts of our nature to reveal the good.

May we yearn for the heat.

May our hearts long for the fires that will bring forth the beauty of character and purity of the soul.

Let the fires burn.

He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver;

He will purify the sons of Levi,

And purge them as gold and silver,

That they may offer to the Lord

An offering in righteousness.

Malachi 3:3

Finding Time to Breathe

/ The WheatandTares

Will it ever let up?

Will it ever relent?

Time keeps ticking.

Life keeps moving.

There is no release.

There is no reprieve.

Normal is never returning.

Yet, was it ever here to begin?

What was will never again be.

So, why are you surprised?

Why are you dismayed?

It has always been as it is now.

Sometimes, stronger.

Sometimes, lesser.

But never really much contrast.

Never really much disparity, indeed.

So, why must you fight it?

Why must you rage?

All you can do is open your eyes and let wisdom reside.

All you can do is exhale and find time again to breathe.

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

How Long Will You Remember?

/ The WheatandTares

We cry in agony as we hear the mother scream for her baby who is no more.

A senseless shooting.

So many innocent lives taken too soon.

We cry in anguish as we watch the news, another life, another home, another country destroyed.

A senseless invasion.

So many blameless lives violated and abused.

We cry in aggression as we listen to a story, a race, a city, devastated once again.

A senseless bloodshed.

So many harmless lives stolen and discarded.

Yet, what about those before?

What about last year?

What about last decade, last century, last generation?

This isn’t the first. It won’t be the last.

The truth never diminishes the value.

It only recognizes the void.

It only reveals the distraction.

It proves the distance from crisis to comfort.

It exposes the distance from tragedy to hope.

How quickly you forget.

Your days move forward.

But when do theirs?

How long will you remember?

The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit.

Psalm 34:18

My flesh and my heart fail; butGod is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Psalm 73:26

Blindsided

/ The WheatandTares / 7 Comments

You came out of nowhere.
Although, I knew you were always there.
You hit me without warning.
Although, I was expecting it everyday.

Blindsided

You flew in like a hurricane.
I saw all the warnings, but I kept on driving.
You landed like an earthquake.
I was wondering, waiting, but I rode on the train

Blindsided

You demanded as a tidal wave.
I resisted, yet you kept pushing and taking.
You dominated as a tsunami.
I revolted, yet you devoured and consumed.

Blindsided

You absorbed like a vacuum bomb.
I can’t breathe, and you come back for more
You depleted like a hand grenade.
I can’t feel, and you return to draw again.

Blindsided

You prance forward as a golden peacock.
I weep, yet not for me, for your hidden demise.
You shout as a heralded trumpeter.
I grieve, yet not for me, for your veiled destruction.

Blindsided

He will come out of nowhere.
Although, you’ve known He’s always there.
He will hit you without warning.
Although, you’ve been expecting Him everyday.

I find myself screaming across the chasm
You don’t have to live to die

Blindsided

Penned- MG -3/21/22

Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.

Revelation 3:3

Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.

Revelation 16:15

Your Potential Extension

/ The WheatandTares / 2 Comments

Potential…

Everyone has potential…

Sometimes, you have to wait on it…

You wait on your potential, wait through your potential and you wait for your potential to arrive. Waiting on your potential to grow and mature can sometimes be exhausting! It can be slow growth with lots of changes and adjustments.

You wait through your potential change and development to arrive at your giftings and abilities.

You wait through your potential shifting to get to your potential extension.

Have you ever met someone who seems to be a “skys the limit” kind of person? It seems they can do anything, be anything they desire, with no limitations?

This is what I’d describe as a potential extension. There is no limit to their potential, because it has extended beyond themselves.

This is where you find yourself awaiting the potential’s arrival or the limit of your potential.

It’s not a “sit down and wait” kind of potential.

It’s not a place of apathy and laziness, “simply growing old and fat,” awaiting your potential.

It’s not a “looking at the clock, awaiting the change to come to you” kind of potential…

It’s a place of pushing, striving and extending your limitations to reach further than you ever have before.

It’s a place of stretching and learning to thrive in your potential as if you have no limitations.

It’s a “how high can I jump and still land on my feet” attitude, a “let me try to fly just once” perspective.

This is your potential extension.

Are you ready for your stretch?

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:13

Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:12-14

We Need Each Other

/ The WheatandTares

Sometimes, it’s quicker to just finish the project solo.

Less instructions, less redirection, less headache.

Sometimes, it’s quicker to just deal with the issue on the fly.

Less confrontations, less explanation, less mistranslations

Yet, a partner brings double time finished and a companion in the battle.

Sometimes, it’s easier to live life single in the distance.

Less expectations, less missed opportunities, less disappointments

Sometimes, it’s easier to survive away and alone.

Less conversations, less misspoken, less overdone

Yet, a friend brings laughter and a lightened load.

Whether we see it as truth or not, we need each other.

We need one who is sunshine and one who is rain.

We need one who is the ocean and one who is the shore.

We need one who is the mountain top and one who is the valley.

For if we are all the same, where is the growth?

Where is the challenge?

Where is the change?

It’s not for me that I live, and it’s not for you that I die.

It is for Him and Him alone.

And He created a ‘we’ to fulfill His purpose and plan.

So, let’s get to it.

Penned -MG – 12/17/21

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

Galatians 6:2

Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

Ecclesiastes 4:12

As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.

Proverbs 27:17

How Grateful Are You?

/ The WheatandTares / 1 Comment
I do not own or possess this pic. (Google search)

It’s that season when everyone is “supposed to be grateful.”

There are commercials, radio broadcasts, and talk shows proclaiming who’s grateful and why.

There are magazine articles and social media posts sharing the gratitude of the heart or how to show it.

But it always makes me wonder, “Why do we have to show our gratefulness only at this time of year?”

That may sound like a ridiculous question, but let me take a moment to explain…

Gratefulness is not simply a coat we should take out of the closet one season a year.

It’s not something we should dig out if the winter clothes to cover our shivering hearts.

It’s not a trinket we should wrap around our necks for the he holidays for all to see so beautifully.

Gratefulness should be a chosen lifestyle.

It should be an attitude we allow to arise in our souls with the sunshine and to glow through the night as the moonlight.

It should be as a keepsake with which we can’t depart.

Something we must carry with us at all times, whether there is someone to see the display or not.

Gratefulness should be a lifeline that sustains us on the highest mountain tops and the darkest valleys below.

It should be the countenance of our face that glitters in every season.

It should be our very heartbeats that remind us of every blessings, every beauty, and every gracious moment that has touched our lives.

It should be the very breath we breathe for every day we remain on this revolving planet.

…in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

1 Thessalonians 5:18

For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving…

1 Timothy 4:4

A merry heart does good, like medicine,

But a broken spirit dries the bones.

Proverbs 17:22

Contemplation

/ The WheatandTares

Somethings in life just don’t make sense.

You can look at it sideways, upside down, and with one eye half open, and it still won’t seem rational.

You can shake it, turn it, flip it, and it will be just as complicated.

You can kick it, throw it, even stomp upon it, and it will not be put on solid ground.

Somethings in life just won’t unravel, no matter how hard you try.

There should be a beginning and an end.

There should be a start, a go, a pause and a stop.

There should be a forward, a return, a left and a right.

Somethings in life just refuse to be easily understood.

If you keep beating against that wall, all you will receive is a busted head and five bloody knuckles.

If you keep walking down that street, all you will find is pain, suffering and utter chaos of soul.

If you keep turning over those rocks, all you will discover are the same nasty worms, devoured soil and littered weeds you found before.

Somethings in life will remain in darkness.

Somethings in life will rebel against any sanity.

Somethings in life will have to be contained in phantom answers if you are to crawl to rest.

So, let the tears roll down the shoreline, and let the shattered dream fade with the night.

For in the morning’s light, you can find hope.

As your heart is seeped in peace, and your mind is consumed by His grace.

Penned – MG – 10/29/21

For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.

Psalm 30:5 nkjv