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- After Christmas Sale
- Soul Hunger
- Storm Shelter
- The Faith I Want
- Dark Glasses
- Paint the Whole Portrait
- Truth and Joy, Together
- Missing Hopes Bureau
- The Heart of a Stranger
- A Perfect Heart
- Some Have Hit the Wall
- The Carrot's Horse
- Seeing Spots
- What to do with the Rope?
- This Bough Won't Break
- How Firm a Foundation?
- About Your Children, Lord...
- More than a Feeling
- Foolishness
After Christmas Sale
It's hard to resist a bargain;
Especially for something you need.
And I wonder--
Would souls flock to churches
the way shoppers at malls
can stampede
If salvation was offered at 1/2 price:
An early-bird special for all;
And the churches were open at 7AM
to compete with the crowds
at the mall.
For it's hard to resist a bargain;
Especially for something you need.
But I wonder--
Could folks figure out for themselves
What is 50% off
of FREE?
Lori Fiechter
12-25-99
Soul Hunger
(Psalm 63:1)
When you crave chocolate,
lettuce won't do.
And you know that;
Even if you've never
seen chocolate.
You know instinctively:
"There must be more to life
than lettuce."
Our soul hungers for God
and we feed it
philosophy or pleasures;
Or else we lead such
busy, noisy lives
that we can't hear
our soul growling.
But when you are hungry for God--
whether or not you realize it--
nothing else satisfies.
Not for long, anyway--
(Right, Solomon?)
Lori Fiechter
12-29-99
Storm Shelter
(Isaiah 25:4)
There is
A shelter from the storm
of the ruthless ones:
from the fierce peltings of
the critics and oppressors,
the tormentors and naysayers.
A shelter from storms internal:
the worries, anxieties, stresses, and fears
which rain on me relentlessly.
But I stand outside,
feeling sorry for my miserable self
and I never even bother to open up
my umbrella.
Lori Fiechter
12-29-99
The Faith I Want
(Job 13:15 &23:10; I Peter 1:7)
The faith I want is
rock solid;
granite faith;
A faith that
never wavers, never doubts.
A faith that holds on to God
when I feel nothing
but a cold blast of emptiness.
I want a faith that is never fickle,
never floundering;
A faith that doesn't need
constant reassurance.
A faith that not only believes, but knows.
I want that kind of faith,
and then,
after I have it;
I want the guarantee
that it will never be tested.
I want the gold
without the fire.
Lori Fiechter
12-29-99
Dark Glasses
(I Corinthians 13:12)
You see through a glass, darkly;
Your mirror is blurred,
its reflection dimmed.
But my glass is clear.
If you would just see
things my way,
you would see clearly, too.
No.
Why is it so hard to admit
that we all
see through a glass, darkly?
We are all blind men,
touching only one part of the elephant
and trying to describe the whole.
One day, the scales of earth
will fall from our eyes
and we will see clearly:
face to face.
But until then, perhaps
a little humility is in order.
Lori Fiechter
12-29-99
I was looking in my book club catalog and a biography of Charles
Lindbergh caught my eye. Perhaps it was the photo of him on the cover...
Paint the Whole Portrait
Paint the whole portrait--
both highlights and shadows;
the strong and the lovely,
the ugly and weak.
Paint the outward and open,
the inward and hidden;
the noble, the hopeful,
the base and the bleak.
And when it is finished,
I will not dare to read it,
cannot bear to see it,
for in painting the whole:
the motives and manners,
the flaws and the foibles,
You have painted my character;
You have written my soul.
"For the word of God...is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of
the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things
are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do." Hebrews 4:12,13
Lori Fiechter, November 3, 1999
Truth and Joy, Together
Truthless joy is a smile without substance.
Joyless truth is substance with no smile.
Joy and truth need each other.
Joy without truth is a bubbly babe;
a bright, sparkling bauble
tossed gaily on the waves.
Life is fun and frills.
(watch out for those sharp rocks!)
Truth without joy is an ascetic scholar;
a cold, sharp scalpel.
It gleams in the light surrounding it
but it has no warmth.
Life is a grim business.
Truth and joy together balance one another:
Joy makes truth more appealing;
Truth gives joy depth.
The smile has substance.
Lori Fiechter, October 15, 1999
"Excuse me; I was wondering if you could help me?"
Yes?
"I seem to have lost my hope."
What kind of an anchor was it?
"Anchor? No, it was more like a balloon."
A balloon?
"Yes."
What happened to it?
"Well, it was on its expiration date..."
Your hope had an expiration date? Real hopes don't.
You must have bought one of those cheap imitations. But go on.
"Thank you. Do you know the story of Icarus and Daedalus?
This hope went Icarus on me. It was soaring high, aiming toward the Sun;
Next thing I knew, splashdown. Right into the ocean."
You let go of the string?
"I didn't mean to; it just got away from me."
Sounds non-recoverable.
"I hope not."
Tell you what; why don't you start over again with this new hope.
"But it's an anchor."
That's right.
"Balloons are more fun."
Anchors don't pop.
Lori Fiechter,
September 15, 1999
After reading an education article on the use of the word "heart" in the Bible, I got out my little concordance to look up some bible verses on "heart". This verse in Exodus piqued my imagination. The expression "heart of a stranger" kept rolling about in my mind.
The
Heart of a Stranger
("for ye
know the heart of a stranger..." Exodus 23:9)
You were a stranger in Egypt;
Never feeling quite at home.
That's how it used to be.
But now you've forgotten
that heart of a stranger;
you've settled in permanently.
The vision is lost;
The longing for home
is replaced;
you are comfortable now.
Life's no longer a journey
but a destination itself;
You've lost the heart of a stranger;
but how?
Lori Fiechter,
August 27, 1999
A Perfect
Heart
(Psalms 101:2, Ezekiel 11:19)
It's the heart that matters
and hearts are not something
that are easily seen.
We see good works and pedigrees
But the heart is a mystery
With hidden chambers and mazes
only God can perceive.
The heart of the matter is the heart;
God wants a perfect heart:
A heart that seeks after Him,
Longs to be close to Him,
Wants to obey His commands.
Old hearts are cold hearts,
stony and hard;
deceitful and desperately wicked.
We need a soft heart,
a warm heart, a clean heart;
We need a new heart from Him.
A new heart that waits for Him,
Looks for Him, yields to Him,
God wants a perfect heart.
God wants a perfect heart.
Lori Fiechter, 7-16-99
The Christian race is a marathon, not a sprint. And some of us have "hit the wall"
Some Have Hit the Wall
(Philippians 3:14)
Some of us have hit the wall;
We started straight and strong and tall.
We've run so hard, so well, so far
but now, the prize eludes us still
and we have lost our will.
The strength to persevere is waning;
I've felt it too; we're running blind
and yet, somehow remaining
on this course,
We plod along, pick up our feet,
then,
standing tall, we move on past the wall.
lori fiechter
6-24-99
A reminder to keep your eye on the prize.
Philippians 3:14
The Carrot's Horse
The carrot is gone
Or at least, obscured.
The horse keeps on running
but his gait is less sure.
He can't see the
succulent, coveted prize;
Soon, he's off nibbling daisies
the grow alongside.
He wanders, meanders,
losing all sense of time;
He's forgotten the race track--
and all else, besides.
Except for those daisies,
those daisies he finds.
Lori fiechter
6-3-99
Seeing Spots
(James 1:27; Jeremiah 13:23)
A freckle of greed;
A pimple of pride--
World-spots.
Moles of self-indulgence,
red patches of lust,
World-spots.
You can't change the leopard's spots,
But the One who made the leopard, can.
The unblemished Lamb
can keep you unspotted.
(unless you've grown fond of
your spots and won't let Him.)
lori fiechter
6-3-99
What
to do with the Rope?
Give an expert a rope;
He will examine its content,
quality, and strength.
He may study its place
in history or literature;
He may compare it to other ropes.
Does he need it?
It's just a nice piece of rope.
He puts it in his garage to
use as a tow-rope;
and for the occasional
game of tug-of-war.
Now, throw that same rope
to a drowning man.
If he has any sense at all,
he will grab it and hold on.
He won't complain about
the color, he won't examine
its fiber content,
He won't wait to see if the next
rope is better.
That rope is his lifeline.
But, what will he do with
the rope when he's safe?
And what have you done with yours?
Lori fiechter
6-3-99
This Bough Won't Break
(Zechariah 3:8; Proverbs 13:12; Psalm 71:5)
Looking for a place to hang my hopes;
On a Branch that will not break.
I'll hang my hopes on His promises
And pray to stay awake.
Yes, I will work and watch and wait
But I won't hang my hopes
on a future date;
Because disappointment's hard to take,
I'm gonna hang my hopes
on the Branch that will not break.
Lori fiechter (song)
5-8-99
How Firm a Foundation?
(Psalm 11:3)
We changed the blueprint slightly,
added on a room or two,
Then completely remodeled.
It all looked great from the outside:
Ultra modern, sleek, avant-garde;
A complete break from traditional ideas
about architecture and decorating.
After a few decades, we noticed
a hole here and there.
We patched and painted until
things looked good as new.
We never even thought about termites--
Until the walls came crumbling down.
Lori fiechter
5-8-99
About Your Children,
Lord...
(read I John 3 and 4)
Lord, I love You
But some of Your children
drive me crazy.
They are nothing like You, Lord!
They are so imperfect;
Are You sure that I have to love them?
Some of them grate on my nerves;
Some bore me to tears.
They are foolish or rude;
They are petty or ignorant;
They misunderstand me.
They are nothing like You, Lord;
You, I can get along with.
I wonder--How do You ever put up with them?
oh, I see--
The same way that You put up with me.
lori fiechter
4-28-99
| "Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another." |
| "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth
not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" --I John 4:11, 18 |
This poem goes along with the previous one. It is another way to complete the sentence, "If we say we love God, then..."
More than a Feeling
(Luke 6:46; I John 5:3)
I love You, Lord.
I know I do because of this warm feeling
I have inside whenever
I think of You.
I love to read all of the wonderful promises
in Your Word.
Wait--I hadn't noticed that one before:
"Why call ye me 'Lord, Lord'
and do not the things which I say?"
An aberration, no doubt.
Perhaps a copyist's error.
But there are more. Like this one:
"This is the love of God,
that we keep His commandments"
Does obedience mean that much to You, Lord?
I thought that love was just a feeling.
Maybe I don't love You quite
as much as I'd thought.
lori fiechter, 4-28-99
The "New Age" is really just the old-time Babylonian
religion
Foolishness
(I Corinthians 1:18-23; Isaiah 14:14)
We preach foolishness
and stumbling blocks;
A cross and an empty grave;
Sin and death; new life and hope;
"Repent, believe, be saved!"
No self-help course in miracles;
No philosophy degree.
Just the Son of God made flesh
and bleeding on a tree.
It sounds too quaint, old-fashioned:
low-tech reality.
We'd rather tap the power of
our mind's own energy.
We don't want faith or truth or grace,
Just spirituality.
We do not want to please God;
It is gods we want to be.
Lori fiechter, 4-29-99