My eyes have seen it

Peace

Calm waters

Glorious sunsets

Green leaves

Surrounding on all sides

Deep in a quiet forest

A single bloom

In otherwise darkness

My soul has lived it

Peace

From deep inside

Peace that worries not

About needs

Or evils

Peace

That knows nothing can harm me

Peace

That feels mercy and grace

Peace

Even in the storms

The great waves

The shadows

I am cared for

I am led

I am protected

The same hands

That created the peace I have seen

That painted the beauty around me

That sculpted

Created

Cultivated

And breathed life

Into everything

That tickles my senses

The same hands

Create my inmost peace

The creator

The Shepherd

My peace

In the world around me

In the world

In me

A decade has come and gone

Years flown right by

But oh the gifts

Those years have given

My feet

Have landed

On dirt

On clay

In rainforests

And searing heat

I have seen the world

In 10 years

I have served

Faces of children

So preciously amazing

Their hearts

Forever fused with mine

I have

Taught and learned

And fallen

Battered and bruised

I have melted

And shivered

And been soaked to the bone

I have walked

Where millions have walked before

And where few feet have ever been

I have stood

Where history and present

Come alive together

I have seen sights known all over the world

And things

No one else in the world has ever seen

I have cried

As I watch a parent suffer

At the pains of their child

And I have cried

Watching God’s miracles abound

I have laughed

And played

And worked

I have seen the sunrise

And the sunset

Over oceans

Seas

And cities

I have held hands

And worshipped

With friends and strangers

I have shared

With friends and family

The miles I have traveled

The memories in my heart

The treasures in my soul

I can’t believe

The gifts God has given me

The things my Creator has enabled me to see

My life in 10

Has been amazing

Blessing

Majestic

Explosively

My heart leaps

At the joy

Of the thought

Of the next 10

The adventures

Still in store

The world

Left to see

Complex

Yet simple

Sunset

In a body wrapper

Smiling

At life

No matter the road

Smooth

Or rocky

The light starts within

I laugh

And I cry

I love

And I hurt

I love God

With all my heart

Yet fail Him

Though I try not to

I live orange

I live full

I get to live

Every day gifted to me

People fill me with joy

And have the power to hurt me

Even still

I love

I am living in the sunset

Living every minute

And praising God

For every second of it all

I don’t know

Why there is silence

Even more

I don’t know

Why that silence

Is felt in my soul

Why I miss your words

Silence

Is haunting me

Echoing thoughts

Exist in my head

Enhanced

In the silence

Have you affected me

In a different way

My quest is for God

My focus is His rock

His path

His plan

But I have been distracted

The silence

Makes me wonder

Maybe the silence

Is a good thing

A reminder

That even in the silence

I am not alone

I am with my God

And if I listen

His voice takes strength

The silence is broken

By the one I should have been listening to

I miss your voice

I miss your words

I miss your smiles

I miss your dance

I miss our conversation

But I will praise

Praise in the silence

Praise for the reminder

In the silence around me

God is all the loud I need

My heart yearns
Desires
Hopes
Dreams
Plans
My language fills
Words like want
Need
My God always knows
His gifts
Greater than I ever knew to desire
When I rely on my Father
Instead of the world
The gifts I receive
Are perfect
Nothing but good
Often not what was expected
Often not when expected
Always exponentially better
Than ever expected
Anticipation
Waiting for His reply
But patiently
With faith
Keeping the question alive
While waiting
For His perfect gifts
I am growing
Learning
And sometimes finding
That in the end
What I am still asking for
Has totally changed
His gifts are perfection
No wrapping or ribbon needed
No price tag
No pomp and circumstance
Just perfection
And this is my long overdue
Thank you note
Long overdue praise
For the perfection
He gives me
Everyday
In everyway

What do you see

When you look in the mirror

What face looks back

God’s child

Or the world’s

Happiness from within

Or a mask

A hint of the façade

Built to protect

Do you know how amazing you are

How beautiful

How fearfully and wonderfully made

Do you know you are loved

Unconditionally

Forgiveness is available

Have you experienced it

Amazing grace

Freedom

Or do you still see chains

What reflection does the word see

Do they see joy

Peace

Thanksgiving

Do they see your light

Bursting from God’s presence

Within you

Do you see it

Or are you trapped in the dark

What do you see

As you gaze on

At the reflection looking back at you

Do you see a hard life

Pain

Shame

Guilt

Do you see a face aged

By exposure to the world

Or do you see the child

Smiling

Happy

Loved child

Flocking to the anchor of Christ

Reveling

In abundant

Exuberant

Faith

Is that reflection

One you try to cover

Hide

Dress up

Or one that you allow to shout

Shout from the mountain top

In praise and worship

For this life

You have been given

For the ashes

You have risen from

For the Lord

The Savior

Who has covered it all

Whose bloody reflection

Has washed yours white as snow

What do you see

When you look in the mirror

See Christ

And break free

Remember me
When you are out and about
Enjoying your life
Freedoms the world talks about
Remember me
As you worship your God
As you study in school
As you sleep peacefully at night
Not a care
Not a worry
While out here we fight
Remember I have an iron fist
Ready for war
But also a gentle heart
And I need your support
And love
To continue forward
To keep marching on
Whether you agree with the reasons
Or whether you don’t
Remember I’m sacrificing
So you have that right
Remember my family
Who struggle on at home
Without me
Without us
They carry on
Remember me
From all of the years
I’m a memory
A loss
A hero
A friend
I have been out there since this country began
And I will continue as long as we stand
Remember me

Pondering thoughts
That dance in my head
Quandaries
Conundrums
Things people have said
I think
I laugh
Smile
Consider
And pray
Thoughts trample
And jingle
And carry me away
Where I have been
Where I will go
Who I have known
Who will walk forward with me
Memories
Theories
Observations
Dreams
Pondering
Absolutely everything
That lingers in the air
Friends
Loves
Joys and heartbreaks
They form who I am
And all that I think
All that I am
All that I will be
Pondering
Thinking
Anticipating
What will be

They aren’t a thing of beauty

Those walls

They used to define me

Hold me in

Crying out despair in the darkness within

Pain

Hurt

Hopelessness

That became the only protection I knew

Held in

By that which held me back

Destroyed by all that I knew

The walls towered above me

Until I could see no way out

No different life

Then the lonely existence

I grew to know in the darkness

In the blackest dungeon

I cried out

Despair

In cold hard steel and stone

Impossibly

A light broke through

His light

His strength

Breaking down what was

Creating new life

From old destruction

They aren’t a thing of beauty

But they are real

They were me

A reminder of what he called me from

What he broke me out of

And hope

To those still trapped within

There is a beat

Coursing through my soul

Life

Screaming to come out

To be heard

To be seen

Not my life

His life

Life that has no end

Life that has hope

Promise

Even in the blackest night

My lungs want to shout

His glory and goodness

My hands want to reach out

His peace

His healing

To those most in need

My eyes want to see

All His majesty and splendor

My feet want to run

Proclaiming His good news to the world

My heart beats

For His love in my life

For His love in everyone’s life

My mind wants to know

All that He has to show me

Every part of me

Every breath I take in

Every delight of my senses

Every pull of my emotions

It is all Him

He is the air that sustains

The warmth that embraces

The water the refreshes

The beauty that enthralls

He is the life beating through me

And my desire is only

That the life I know

Reaches everyone else