Iris Depths

Eyes running rivers,
rivers the depth of your eyes,
in the foreground smiles,
bursting through horizon lines.

Undomesticated Christmas,
white skyscrapers,
here we sit in the speech marked by the growth of loss,
of towering pinnacles thawing hearts,
becoming one.

Here we dwell,
calmly abiding,
hearing words,
seeking,
finding.
Your smile speaks,
yet so do your tears.
I hear them all,
please forgive my troubled leers.

I understand now, I truly do,
what the cries mean, what to use,
there’s less mystery, but greater disparity,
when I cannot remedy,
your bellowed symphony.

I hope you’ll forgive,
I hope you’ll pay no mind.
As we learn together,
as you shed that first tear each time,
as we laugh amid bursts of misunderstood cries.

As we sit here together,
gazing into our shared dark rivers,
cooling the forged gray steel that protects our souls,
I thank you,
for allowing me to care,
for allowing others to share,
that blissful little smile.

Bloom forth Eden,
live and grow and flourish,
fill the great potential
of the name given in catharsis.
I’ll be here,
pruning, planting, and caring,
with just as much instinct as preparing.
Root and spread and reach,
for your path I promise,
I will work to equip you,
with peace.

Open up your eyes,
let that deep navy sing,
as it rushes down the mountain,
and in embrace we cling.

The Pendulum

Here,
come closer my child,
you push away,
yet paradoxically scream,
to be held.
Closer! Tighter! My protector.
Do you forget, or do you fear,
that comfort,
will cease to be there?
My words
forever will flow,
until they are sand,
in appearance, mass, and number.
Pure, white, brilliant delight.
Just like you, my singularity,
my daughter and my son.

The Name

His name is frequently heard used,
cursed as often as blessed,
in churches to chastise,
in wars to weaponize.
in any imaginable occasion.
But when wielded well,
that name fired like an arrow,
into all dark nights to fight,
primed in confidence to destroy
all powers that aim to abuse.

But here I walk,
Here I hear,
Those that languish and those that fear,
the name they’ve tainted,
and tarnished by misunderstanding,
spitting upon it,
in their soul’s adolescent ranting.

The name is praised and glorified,
by those that have tasted that powers there.
Unlimited, unyielding, unobstructed.
No enemy can ever truly dare.

With the name, your mouth wields a sword.
But is metal dulled by cynicism,
Or sharpened to be deadly
against every thought goodness has abhorred?

When your words destroy,
does the venomous hatred bring you joy?
When someone else’s words thank and worship,
does it cause agony, and disbelieving hardship?
But what do you know of the name?
Lies, stereotypes, gaudy cries?
What if I told you that in the name you’ve grown to despise,
there are comforts, and there are answered cries.

What if I told you,
That in this world of deconstruction,
of chaos and dysfunction,
the name encompasses and embodies
all attributes universally sought and cherished,
while not once misstepping,
into a single human temptation,
that might cause life to perish.

The name is admired, respected, and inspired.
It attracts and demands,
quiet peacefulness and altruistic kindness,
strong leadership and wisdom of sages past,
Purpose, gentleness, and redemption from every regret.
The name is everything you’ve pushed away from,
but paradoxically everything you’ve always sought.

His name holds power, release, and relinquishment.
The only payment required,
is the name upon your tongue,
sung or screamed or whispered,
with a desperate heart-deep fire.

. . .

I’ll be honest, as much as I try to be neutral and approachable on this site, it breaks my heart when I hear someone use Christ’s name flippantly or disrespectfully without any regard for the meaning behind it. It breaks my heart even more when its combined with profanities. Recently I heard someone use such an expression. It was said so casually, yet at the same time with so much disdain and disregard that I couldn’t help but be more incensed by it.

Perhaps that heartbreak is just residual fear from my childhood of “not using the Lord’s name in vain”, but I’ve tested it. I’ve tried a couple of “Jesus Christ!” exclamations in my day, and the only feeling I’ve received from it is one of filthiness, not because I said a word I thought was inappropriate or societally frowned upon (although, in many ways it is), I felt dirty because some part of me knew I had wasted the power of his name, I had degraded the name in pursuit of sounding “cool” and fitting in with all my friends who were saying it.

Maybe that’s the problem though, that in the face of rebellion and pride, degrading the name is a method of trying to take away the immense power that people know it has. Instead of fighting against him face to face, people take to childish name calling behind his back, because they know if they went face to face with the carrier of the name, they would not be able to withstand him.

The name is power. The name can be the unlocking of every wall and door that you’ve built within yourself. The name is the admittance of who your Lord is, and who you give your life to; at least, that’s the power the name can have in your life if you allow it to.

“Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” – John 14:13.

If you haven’t before, I challenge you to ask. If there’s any part of you that wishes the world was a better place, that your life was less sorrowful, that you had more purpose and understood your place in the world, sometimes all that it takes is saying the name in genuine yearning, and asking for him to make you whole. The name has that power. The name is not simply an exclamation, it is absolutely not a curse, it is not the tool that a bible thumper uses to berate you into some kind of guilty submission, the name is an invitation. For me it was an invitation onto a far better path than I had ever known, it was an invitation to seeking the better way, and it was an answer to every cry I felt like I had yelled into the void.

His name is Jesus. He is ready to welcome you, and even more ready to be welcomed by you.

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