GRACE | pictured words

May 4, 2023

Prayer for my country, on this National Day of Prayer

Photo by Filippo Bergamaschi on Pexels.com

This may be sung to America the Beautiful.

O Father, mold my country’s heart
to seek love’s endless length.
Let all our public servants speak
with honor, truth, and strength.
And gift us with Your favor, Lord,
which we can never earn.
God grant my country
health and peace,
and for You, let her yearn.

O Father, hold my country’s feet
fast to a path of grace.
Let all within her borders seek
to welcome and embrace
our neighbors from around the world,
and see them as Your own
that none should hold
a hungry child,
and none should walk alone.

© Marie Elena Good, 2023

January 1, 2023

NEW WORD FOR 2023

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

Each year, I choose a word.
Grace, joy, giving, hospitality, empathy, prayer …
You know, words that improve my focus
and my life.
Not one for resolutions,
the idea of a word of the year appeals to me.
It is simple. Embraceable.
I nearly chose prayer again,
but after much thought and, well, prayer,
I decided on open.
Open heart.
Open door.
Open to grace, joy, giving, hospitality, empathy, prayer …
Open.
And I’ll open 2023 in prayer
that my Lord will more fully open my heart
to His open arms.

January 3, 2021

A PLEA TO MY GOD

It’s time to unveil
a new year. Inhale fresh air,
and care for what’s there.

Let my voice take wing
to sing in the key of peace.
May mercy increase

where now there are chains.
Where cold-heartedness remains,
may warmth fill my veins.

Let love with no caps
gush compassion, not rationed
in morsels or scraps.

Make me teachable
and easily reachable
when You wish to speak.

Please help me seek You.
In new ways through this new year,
help me feel You near.

© Marie Elena Good, 2021

2 Comments

April 23, 2019

MARIGOLD

marigold-1568646_640

I bring to the garden my birth-month flower,
And admit to being drawn to her modest, unassuming style.
She seems unconcerned that she is common.
She simply embraces her meaning:
Winning grace.

8 Comments

January 27, 2019

MY STRENGTH AND MY SONG

hands-2715976_640

“The Lord is my strength and my song; he has given me victory. This is my God, and I will praise him — my father’s God, and I will exalt him!” (Exodus 15:2)

My Strength and My Song

When weakness takes me to my knees,
My Father’s arms will lift me.
When terror causes me to freeze,
His truths set all my fears free.

My Father’s Son became my Lord
When I was just a child.
To Trinity’s melodious chord,
My soul was reconciled.

I feel His might. I hear His voice –
Astounding grace extended
From One whose love compelled His choice:
From Heav’n above, descended.

He is my strength. He is my song.
I hear His vict’ry ringing!
He’s held my heart my whole life long –
How can I keep from singing?

Cadence and final line are both from the Christian hymn “My Life Flows On,” often attributed to Robert Lowry (1826-1899)

3 Comments

October 23, 2018

SOW

barley-field-1684052_640

Sow
grace where you
may.

Pray
kindness brings good
yield.

Wield
God’s most holy
word.

Gird
softness ‘round your
views.

Fuse
truth to all you
know.

Show
love in all you
sow.

FOR POETIC BLOOMINGS AUTUMNAL POEM-A-DAY CHAPBOOK CHALLENGE, 2018, DAY 10: HARVEST

September 9, 2018

INTERMENT DAY

All day, the sky shed tears, and I,
at times.
I prayed no more tears, graveside,
but they fell

and fell

on faulty umbrellas
and baying bagpipe
and wailing sax
and tone of Taps
and stars
and stripes
and dated stones
and downcast cheeks
and woeful thoughts
and hard-fought fear

while lavish love
flowed fierce and full,
affecting a fragrance
of
unreserved grace.

Patricia A. Fagnano
March 16, 1931 – February 9, 2018

James F. Fagnano
January 7, 1932 – March 15, 2018

Mom and Dad, laid to rest.
In the presence of God
and the hearts of all,
the hardest day of my life,
and a thing of beauty
at once.

September 8, 2018
On the anniversary of their wedding.

6 Comments

April 16, 2017

No Longer Under the System of Law

17862742_10154824618953600_6432886436101224129_n

Amazing grace
complete, profound.
Enslaved in sin, set free.
How great the cost
that shook the ground.
Defining love for me.

(Inspired, of course, by John Newton’s “Amazing Grace”)

4 Comments

June 5, 2016

A WEEK IN HAIKU

Photo by Keith R. Good

“… for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning.” ~ Lamentations 3

Dawn’s light emerges,
Hastening a new week’s cares.
Her knees, eroding.

Vivid moss roses
Flamboyant ruby hummers
Adore(n) her prayer walk

A murky morning.
Gloom seems to silence nature.
A still, small Voice calls.

The sun failed to rise,
She believes. And so she seeks
Son’s radiant grace.

Unsettling dream
Halted by sound of music
Caroled in her heart

Her heart feels absent;
Her spirit, arid and parched.
A gentle rain falls.

As dusk’s light withdraws,
She reaches out for His hand,
And there, finds her heart.

2 Comments

October 13, 2015

And What of Joy?

This world may have some issues I can’t solve –
Some great enough to trigger pain or fear;
Some threatening to make my life revolve
‘round stresses, whether certain or unclear.

This fallen world may never right its wrongs,
May never be at peace, nor ever learn
The value of a love that seeks and longs
To emanate affection and concern.

Though incidents endeavor to destroy,
To pierce our heart’s contentment as a knife,
My Jesus, how I thank You that my joy
Does not depend on happiness in life!

Unending joy of sinner-been-set-free,
Your grace and mercy are enough for me.

4 Comments

Tag: GRACE