I Corinthians 13:12; Romans 8:24,25; Hebrews 6:18,19; Psalm 42:8; Hebrews 12:2; I Thessalonians 4

This Side of the Grave

On this side of the grave
the mirror is dark;
We don't see You plainly.
On this side of the grave,
We are walking by faith;
as You teach us to trust You.

Yes, our vision is dim
On this side of the grave;
as we walk by the light
that you give us each hour.
With our nearsighted eyes,
we only have glimpses
of Your majesty, glory, and power.

On this side of the grave,
We are walking by faith,
We can't see You, Lord.
On this side of the grave
We are living in hope,
For we love You, and we praise You
from this side of the grave.

Still we wait for the time
and we cling to the Hope
that anchors us, steadies us,
And makes us sing in the dark!

When we lift up our eyes,
and the veil of the skies is rent open.
And we thrill to the shout,
to the voice that calls out,
Come on home now!
And His Face
will erase
all the deafness and blindness and doubt
that has plagued us
and dismayed us
on this side of the grave.

lori fiechter
2-14-05

I Corinthians 1; James 2; Luke 1:52,53

The Chosen Unpopular

We prefer the presence of the popular:
the well-spoken and
well-favored and
well-formed.

Not so Jesus.
He went out of His way
("Let's pass through Samaria")
to rub shoulders with the
overlooked or despised,
to eat with them,
talk with them,
heal them,
forgive them.

We were not created to die.
We have not attained to the
years of our fathers--
Jacob lamented as much.
Our pilgrimage is brief.

(II Corinthians 11:16; I Corinthians 2:14; Acts 26:24)

Having Done All, Stand

(Ephesians 6:13; I Samuel 17:47)

Stand firm, stand fast, stand strong
against the unseen onslaught of
heart-seeking missiles:
Foul arrows
to tempt, to affright, to discourage.
Stand.
It is the hero's role,
though outnumbered and with little strength remaining:

Luther at Worms,
Leonidas at Thermopylae,
Frodo at Mount Doom.

Do not grow weary,
Do not give up.
Hold your ground.
The battle is the Lord's.
You stand in His strength;
You stand by His grace;
and having done all you can,
You stand.

lori fiechter
2-03-05

Casting Life-Lines

Catch! Catch!
The line drifts away.
"I am not drowning!
I'm standing in a puddle.
Stop throwing ropes at me!"

Jump! Jump!
Unheeded warning.
"There is no fire here--
You're crazy! Go away!

Flee!Flee!
"I see no wrath to come.
You are deluded.
I will not take your parachute,
nor your lifeboat,
nor your scratchy rope.
I'm fine, just fine.
There is no danger here,
Stop trying to scare me. 
Stop trying to save me.
Stop trying."

--I cannot. I cannot watch you perish
and I cannot look away.

lori fiechter
2-02-05

The Bible states that even the wrath of man will ultimately praise God (See Psalm 76:10) and yet how hard it is for me to see ultimate good in present uncomfortable circumstances. Think of Joseph as an OT type of Christ. His slavery and false imprisonment turned toward his brother's redemption. Likewise man's greatest evil--the cross--was turned to our greatest good--our salvation. God is in the business of redemption, and working all things according to His will, to His ultimate purpose. Think of Moses and David, of Jonah and Abraham--and you.

God Meant it for Good

(Genesis 50: 20; Isaiah 55:8-11; Romans 8:28, 35)

They meant to be rid of him,
Shake loose of him,
be free of him.
They thought evil,
But God meant it for good,
even for their salvation.
We are still unfamiliar
with His thoughts and His ways and
His redemption of evil things:
of our ill-treatment, misfortunes, and calamity
--yes, and even our own folly--
turning to His glory and praise.
That is the ultimate goal--His glory,
Not our present comfort.
God means to take the present circumstances
in your life
and turn them to His good.

lori fiechter

1-24-05

"It was so good, I could not put it down." There are books like that; is your Bible one of them?

I Could not Pick it Up

It smiled wanly at me
from its settled position atop the end table.
Such an important book--
Why, I could not do it justice
in the few spare minutes I had then.

I smiled back, half-guiltily,
"I'll read you later, when I have an hour."
I felt much better and even
jotted myself a note:
number 15 on my to-do list.
Most days, I never even get to number 7.
Thus I honor my most important Book.

lori fiechter
1-21-05

Asking the Wrong ?'s

(Job 42:5)

We are asking the wrong questions,
Again.
We ask Job's "Why?!"
with far less provocation.

"Why this? Why now? Why me?"
His answers do not match our questions;
No matter, we are not listening anyway;
Our receivers are set to our own frequency.
Like Job, we want--even demand--answers.
He wants to give us
...Himself.

Lori Fiechter
1-21-05

I read an article yesterday by Anthony Falola (Washington Post) about expensive “Princess vacations”, gobbled up by Japanese women who are hungry for fulfillment, but settle for escapism. Fantasy chic, he called it.
I call it achingly sad.

Not Fantasy--Faith

(Joel 2:25, Jeremiah 29:11, Hebrews 12:2)

But faith can offer context--
A different way to see your life
And the world around you.
A glimpse of the wide-angle view
That lies just outside your range of vision here.

Lori fiechter
1-19-05

The Branches Protest

(John 15:1-6)

No fruit--
this branch goes,
But this one can stay;
In it, there is promise,
but also decay--and that,
He must first prune away.

Oh, the branches protest;
They don't mind a dead spot,
A bit of sun-choking tangle,
A little blight or black rot.

But the husbandman knows
What the product would be
If each of His vines
Were allowed to grow free.

So He uses His knife,
But the edge is kept keen;
He'll make no jagged tears;
The cuts are all clean.

And the fruit will be splendid
On those branches that stay
And abide in the Vine
That will never decay.

lori fiechter
1-10-05