Thursday, February 2, 2017

Pondering: To Rise

Photo by Sebastian Gabriel 

I'm pondering today with a community of bloggers who write about their spiritual journey on the first Thursday of the month. Each month features a host blogger who chooses the topic. Each blogger responds to the topic and links their post to the host blog. This month Leigh Anne Eck has asked us to write about her one little word for the year--RISE. (I did finally post my own OLW for the year here.)


To Rise

The heart knows more
than the mind can tell.
It sings itself
out of a well.

where it has fought
in bogs of doubt.
It hears wings beat,
lets itself out.

What dares to sing
without words, has power
to rise like hope,
faith, sun, and flower.

--Joseph Joel Keith
Poetry Magazine, August 1928, p. 260.



This is a favorite verse from Isaiah, chapter 60. Some days it feels like the whole earth is wrapped in darkness, but I choose to remember that God is in control. My hope is in him, not in a person or a government or a cause.

Wake up. Put your face in the sunlight.
God’s bright glory has risen for you.
The whole earth is wrapped in darkness,
all people sunk in deep darkness,
But God rises on you,
his sunrise glory breaks over you.

May his sunrise glory break over you today.


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6 comments:

  1. Carol VarsalonaFebruary 2, 2017 at 5:58 PM

    Two wonderful poems-yours give rise to a glorious prayer for me as I read it-"God rise on me, your sunrise glory breaks over me." A big AMEN to this. Thank you for this thought too: "Some days it feels like the whole earth is wrapped in darkness, but I choose to remember that God is in control. My hope is in him, not in a person or a government or a cause."

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  2. Violet N.February 2, 2017 at 6:17 PM

    Two potent pieces of writing here, Doraine! I've never noticed the Isaiah 60 passage expressed like that. Followed my hunch and found it in The Message!

    Just love the first stanza of that poem:
    "The heart knows more
    than the mind can tell.
    It sings itself
    out of a well."

    Rise, Hope, and Faith must be first cousins!

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  3. RamonaFebruary 3, 2017 at 12:18 AM

    Thanks for your sharing of the words from Isaiah. They are especially appropriate for this time when it's easy to feel wrapped in darkness. I love your reminder that God is in control and our need to recognize God's bright glory that has risen for us.

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  4. Irene LathamFebruary 3, 2017 at 8:57 AM

    God's bright glory has risen for you. I needed to hear that today. Thank you, Doraine! xo

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  5. Leigh Anne EckFebruary 3, 2017 at 10:59 PM

    "God is in control" are words we all need to remember, believe and speak. Thank you for the blessing, too! Thank you for writing about RISE this month and sharing your thoughts.

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  6. Alice NineFebruary 4, 2017 at 6:30 PM

    "The heart knows more than the mind can tell"... How true that is! As I read the words "Put your face in the sunlight," I was reminded of a hymn we sang a lot when I was a kid, "Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of His glory and grace." My father would often say, "When His light fills us, there is no shadow."

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