Its been a long time

If you have ever met me, for whatever reason, i have to process almost everything on my own time. It does not matter how skilled the communicator or how influential or persuasive the friend, almost nothing will sink into my thick comprehension until my mind has put every bit of information and nuance into its appropriate (or inappropriate) shelf. That is why i have to confess that this post is in response to a question posed by a friend many months ago. This man is one of the closest people God has created around me. On a road trip he asked me, "Do you ever write poetry". Again, if you know me, I am the son of a career carpenter. Poetry has never been an encouraged medium. As a result I shuffled around with nerdy dodges about prose and narrative being more accessible for me. It was the kind of prolonged and poured on excuse which produces an awkwardness that only obvious guile can produce. He graciously went on with his point but he asked that for a reason- he knew me. My default usually is one of a processor. I can process a lot of structures and ideas quickly with the end goal being to teach said ideas and structures. As a result, the scary reality is that I can reduce the great truths that my mind deals with to cogs in a mechanism. So what happens is that frequently I set up a party- I lay out plates, unfold table clothes, plug in the CD player and tap a keg- then i leave. I teach and do not partake in the joy the words create by his power. The point is not to glory in what God is doing but rather to simply DO the teaching, to exercise the mental steps to have people understand the Gospel in so many different ways. So when my friend asked me if I ever wrote poetry he was probing to see if I was glorying in God. Were my emotions and heart tied up into what I was saying?

Tonight I was praying and God worked this into me. He is Good. So Good! Believe and trust in him. Now I apologize for what comes next. I would not try to pass this off as poetry but it is my attempt at being poetic- i hope that this achieves at least that.

Its been a long time since I have read the psalms.

Its been a long time since i have felt your rain,
Since i have swam in your salty oceans,
Since i have tasted your gritty moss

Its been a long time since I have looked into your sun.
Since my eyes have danced diamonds as I bask in your rays.
Its been a long time.

Its been a long time since I have read the psalms

Oh how i miss your Gardens,
from which i have grown absent,
your pleasant Spirit's touch alien from my mind.

Its been a long time.