In this poem I was trying to understand some of the meaning of ‘blessed are the poor in spirit’. I can’t say I got to the bottom of what it truly means as it is a great mystery and impossible to fully grasp, yet a great comfort. It came out of my own suffering knowing that Jesus is near to me in spite of, but also because of it.
King
Lonely wanderer
Still your troubled brow
Take a moment to sink
Into the easy embrace
Of the warm lamb man
Who comforts those who mourn
And bears the marks of thorns and nails
The bright blessed flawless ones
Walk on heads held high
Striding forward into the glorious heights
But he lifts up the broken, and the weary
And they get taken to his sanctuary
To the intimate place
Where healing and union happen
He binds up the wounds
And washes the feet
Of the unwashed and the weak
So faint from suffering
They cannot lift their heads
Cradled in his arms
Rags put off and robes put on
Laid down beside the river
That gently meanders through the meadow
The sound that soothes the soul
He sits, just sits right there
Never leaves and when ready
The dove breathes
The poor and weak revived.
I am Joanna. A mother of a 22 year old daughter, Katie and a wife of Derek. During 2007-2010 I experienced a real awakening and experienced a powerful move of the Spirit through various ministries and at my church. I prayed for many people and it was powerful sometimes. However in May 2010 when I was 42 years old my life changed forever when I experienced a small but devastating Cerebellar stroke. It affected my balance and has caused me perpetual vertigo ever since mainly a rocking sensation and is an unseen disability which greatly limits my life. I had to give up my job working in a university library which I loved mainly because of the friends I made there and our wonderful relationships. So I have lived 12 years in the desert effectively and suffered a great deal at the hands of my illness which has led to trauma and anxiety. It has caused me to at times be in deep despair and to question my faith and whether I even have a place in this world. However, it’s as the disciples said to Jesus when he asked them if they still wanted to follow him ‘where else would I go’. I have known him in the valley and on the mountaintops in the past and he is ever present in both places though I experience him differently now than I did. It is more of the still small voice than the waves of his presence and experience of glory etc.than I felt in the past. I would love to be healed but have learned to accept things to some extent and wait to see if things may ever change? I do my best to be ‘salt’ and ‘light’ where I find myself but fail I’m sure on many occasions. I am always searching for answers and understanding though which is partly why I have written poetry and other reflections on issues affecting our world.