Poems

We must face the darkness

The darkness will find us,

it is the natural order of things,

established after man decided to take the first bite of sin.

It is everywhere we go.

And in times we do not see it near us,

it is sitting beside someone dear to us,

causing them sorrow, frustration and pain.

We cannot escape the darkness forever;

we cannot run away from suffering.

The more we fear it, the darker it will appear to us.

And the more we try to fight it with our own strength,

the more the darkness will weaken us.

I have learnt to rest in the suffering,

not to submit to it, but to accept its presence

and welcome God’s providence in it.

The God of all creation and mysteries does not panic at the sight of suffering,

but instead, is the One who permits it for His divine purpose.

There is not a sparrow that falls to the ground without God knowing,

and not a shadow cast over our lives outside His control.

Thus, knowing this:

We rest.

We rest because our God is sovereign,

and although our lives may feel like they are spinning out of control,

our God remains seated as King on His throne.

We rest in His love and protection,

that He is with us in the darkness,

and will never leave nor forsake us.

And we rest in His strength,

knowing that it is sufficient for us in our weakness

and, soon, He will deliver us and honour us,

and show us His salvation.

So, the darkness will come,

and it will be challenging and painful.

But, in God, we have true Light –

which cannot be overcome by even the deepest darkness.

And that is why we rest:

before the darkness casts its first shadow,

the Lord has already lit up a pathway beyond it.

not in our own strength

We were never meant to carry the weight of the world,

even if that world contained only one person in it

and that one person was you.

Similar to the trees and flowers,

we do not have it within ourselves to stand upright,

let alone bloom.

For we too were made

and are thus deeply dependent, as intended from the beginning.

Thus, when we have, for a time, acted independently

and sought strength within ourselves,

more so to be a pillar for others,

we begin to weaken under the weight of their sorrows and circumstances,

and our own,

for the burden was never ours to carry,

it was always Christ’s.

Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

- Matthew 11:28-30

As Long as I Have Breath

There is another chance as long as I have breath,

to meet God again where I had left Him

while following the insecurities, fears and pressures to be perfect.

There is another chance to learn and learn again,

to pick up the book I once read,

to walk in the familiar path

and gain the wisdom I once failed to absorb.

I have fallen many times,

sometimes over the same rock,

or in the same street,

but my God knew I was still striving for Him,

even though my efforts at times pulled me away from His path.

But I still had breath,

thus, He was not yet finished with me.

Will He not present me holy and blameless before His sight?

And, for that reason, I will always have hope.

Do you not hunger? Do you not thirst?

Do you not sometimes ask yourself:

‘Is this it? Is this all there is to life – waking up feeling exhausted, working, sleeping and repeating it all over again?’

When you lay down your head to rest and think of your day,

and the one ahead,

do you not search through the darkness of your room for more,

for something deeper and more satisfactory?

Perhaps some greater meaning and purpose to your life

than attaining grades, degrees, positions and titles?

Is there not more to you than what you achieve?

Can your purpose not be linked to what gives you comfort and security in this world –

this world, which is slowly fading,

this world, that we were brought into and will leave at any appointed time?

What if there were no jobs to attain in this world?

What if there was no such thing as a doctor, accountant, engineer or musician?

What if money was no longer a universal problem, and we all carried it in abundance?

What would then be your purpose,

your motivation to wake up every morning?

Would you even have one?

Would you have a will to live? And for what

...or whom?

“Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done

And on the labour in which I had toiled:

And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind.

There was no profit under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 2:11)

Do not lose yourself in the rapid and mundane pace of this world –

wake up, work, sleep, and so it goes on,

adding, here and there, a few colourful weekend and holiday moments

to hopefully make you forget about the familiar mundanity of your life.

Instead, be still and think,

and seek God, the Creator of all we see.

For who knows purpose but the One who spoke meaning into the darkness?

Who can fulfil your soul more than the One who created you in His very own image,

and nursed you in your mother’s womb?

Be still and think,

and seek Jesus,

to reveal to you something deeper and more worthwhile to live for,

that will satisfy the hunger and thirst of your soul.

“Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you.” (John 6:27)

“If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:37-38)