From A Greater Hand Than Mine by Russell D. Holder - HTML preview

Chapter 7... Last Prayers, Last Thoughts

A good friend of mine, named Clint, related to me

a dream he'd had years ago. This poem is based on

that dream, after I obtained his permission to use it...

as long as he liked it... when I was done. I'm hoping

he will like it, since I wrote it based on memory of

his recounting of it to me, and I'll be able to share

it with everyone else.

"Acting on our behalf... in our defense"

In the dream, I was on trial... the prosecuting

attorney was the devil, the public defender

was Jesus... and the judge was father God,

He asked the prosecutor, "ready with your case?"

The devil stood up, cleared his throat... and started

by saying, "this man has been found in violation

of the first commandment, by... ," and I thought,

well, this won't take long... sitting in this place,

it was five years later, and the devil was only up

to the fifth commandment, I leaned over to

Jesus, and said, "but what about the times

I taught sunday school and helped all the kids?"

Jesus said, "patience my child," not saying anything

more and allowed the devil to continue on with

his ramblings, now... more than at any time, even

during my life... my hope waning and on the skids,

after ten years the devil finished presenting

his argument against me... finally rested, it was

now time for Jesus to begin my defense, He

rose and said, "may I approach the bench?'

"Acting on our behalf... in our defense" cont.

As He was close to the judge, He said, "Abba...

Father, how are you?" The judge said, "fine Son,

do you feel ready for your defense of your client?"

Jesus said, "I feel confident the decision I'll clench!”

 Jesus then walked back to where I was,

as the devil looked on and gloated... feeling

confidence, arrogance pure and simple, over all

that he presented against Jesus for my defense,

God the father then asked Jesus, "do you have

anything to say... on behalf of your client?"

Jesus spread His arms... palms out, pierced, and said,

"not guilty." father God said, "case dismissed, no offense."

"The release"

To say things that cut to the core of

someone's beliefs will place you in peril,

even when what you say is essentially

the same... of love, then viewed as evil...

and the damage to come will not endanger

your beliefs, it comes form the release...

the release of someone else's... but know the

love that gave inspiration shall grant you peace.

"Suffer the little children who would grip the hammer firm"

Hallowed is the grip Jesus has on

us all...

precious is it to the ones who've

heard the call,

hard to understand the depth love

sees for all of us,

comfort found is hard to give up...

what makes some men cuss,

even worse to think our sin is why

dear Jesus died,

and why men still turn away form Him...

contentment then denied.

Can't understand why Jesus still holds

us all so tight?

Listen to a Mother's tears of worry

each and every night,

for the love we cherish and feel so

strongly as it's known,

this is why He died... so we could live life

as we were shown

but what will really take your breath

away and pale...

is to find within your own hands the

hammer and the nail.

"Time's ripples"

In space... time is relative,

in time... space is infinite.

When the past goes before us

is a time when things repeat...

as in a continual cycle-

n'er to ever be replete,

a harmonic of time"s ripples...

a fractal we did find,

a residual of vibration...

the tuning fork of God's mind,

solar winds make no sound–

light is eternal day,

time here seems forever-

the space where men do play,

the grandeur of the heavens-

to the stars we'll reach and find

a residual of vibration...

the tuning fork of God's mind.

"Maybe"

From within the lightest atom

found

are the sounds of moving space...

were we to blink and miss

the photons

as light zoomed by our face,

each proceeds past the

vibration that is there,

and the there it here–

indeed...

would be the space therein

we share,

it is found in the thought of

time...

this fluidity immersed to be,

to the wonders of the infinite...

maybe we're just to small to see.

"To touch the effects of stardust"

From the mighty and magnificent to the

mundane and mediocre...

to be uncommonly common or to do the

common so uncommonly,

either can and would be stellar in and of

such unique placement,

where the spirit would rise, and yet...

has the body remaining humbly,

the stars can be reached for and then

also caressed... no distress in sight,

whereby the harvest leaves our dusty fingers...

gilded bright our hands form mystery.

"Pale by comparison"

Can you imagine being

engulfed by love...

a sensation unlike any you've ever felt,

the deepest love you feel now

would surely pale by comparison–

even when you proposed and knelt,

the baby you've held with your

two hands couldn't cause it…

 or the loss of a fallen brother

in a time of war,

the feeling would caress your

being... locked in embrace as no other,

and then to have it ripped form

you... and you'd feel lost,

"Pale by comparison" cont.

like someone pulled away your soul...

and you'd never be whole again,

wanting more... now overcome with grief

of its loss... to feel it again your only goal,

where but in an instant you felt

complete... now a void, devoid of anything

real, having experienced God's truth...

the truth of His love... all encompassing

in reality, harboring a fulfillment

unmatched... your desire for it as your proof.

"For moisture dry ground yearns"

The very irrationality of hate...

of indifference... of uncertainty

will propel and, instilled, can

nudge others, those weak minded

individuals... having no set direction

or the proper nurturing and sense

of true family values, over the ideals

they know to where there is no

value to the vitality of life, without

discrimination for peace and love...

misdirection can only lead to disaster

in the making, a place where instability

lies ahead, unsettled, the destination

manifest of dark purpose... an attempt

to tempt fate and undermine hope itself.

"Encased in serenity"

The warranty of Your favor comforts

the permits of my soul,

it is this that aids my freedoms...

I see no peril of Your goal,

I'll know no disenfranchisement...

no matter where I'm sent,

the cost incurred leaves dispensation

unceasing, it never will be spent,

it is form Your endurance and steadfastness

I now teed on in the main...

it is just the place I find I need,

peace and calm I can attain,

even when confusion and destruction would

have me quake until I expire,

I will remain intact, unclouded, Your solemn

grace my true desire.

This poem's title came form a dear friend, Melanie, and

is dedicated to another friend... Brother Curt.

"What fardels men bear"

To what burdens men carry for wages

and the learning of earnings to bear,

for the tasks of toil, sweat and dirt to

furrowed brow, lament of life to share,

as this too is shared by widows or women

without a man to help her and the pain...

past winter's ebb and spring's defenses

despite tears felt in the pouring rain,

this is the lifelong struggle of humanity–

to bear the strokes of work and chore,

the encumbrances known to wear us down–

uncaring to results, the effects do age us more,

the load day-in-and-day out to benefit the

one to buy the tired soiled hands worn away,

form this charge of bounty, born of necessity,

the price given bargained life in form of pay,

what boxes lifted... what cases moved, chests

transported or containers undertaken often,

knowing full well the passage will lead us to...

directly to one sole destination... our coffin,

so it is form the approach of our conduct-

the trade of our labor to provide a day's wages,

it is the doer in the doing, the exertion to the

action of the daily grind, all throughout the ages...

but one question has begged for man's attention-

why have we turned to slacker, by calling, as we have plod?

To end up being stunned, so unexpected, when the

bundles that need carrying, it turns out, belong to God.

"The man-ape controversy"

when man, by humanistic theory alone, came up with

the idea called "evolution" he came up short,

this new alignment or way of thinking takes or would

remove God form the picture... to actually abort,

to suppose that humans are, in essence, a man-ape...

in order to lend credence to this theory,

placed in a linear graduated time-line and, at the

time, this produced by deduction men's fury...

form the church, a bitter battle ensued that gave

rise to the belief in creation vs. evolution,

the nerve of man to beggar this claim, put forth...

as though it was gospel truth, such prostitution,

since that time there remains nothing but the

controversy itself... the halls of science or of faith,

take it or leave it if you will... but I think man

already existed, created by God too... as a wraith,

form out of Eden came Adam and Eve, their sons

both Cain and Abel, "the Adamic line" to man's story,

this lineage was to be used solely for the purposes

of God... the result to see His glory,

once Cain slew Abel, he went out to the land

of Nod, took he a wife... not of the same line,

this in turn fashioned the pure lineage of

God... form one creation with that of another,

it truly God created man then He created all

men, here we see the truth of men as brother,

it matters little to argue or bicker... there could

be evolution form after the creation, I'm sure

but to say or to believe but in one or the other is

then a mistake... God's truth is for man to endure.

"Wisdom comes form simple things"

To end the plight of human suffering...

to lift the spirits of those contrite,

this is but part and parcel to the reason...

the very reason why most poets write,

to aid the masses to significant insight–

gained inch-by-inch... the way to truly be,

whereby wisdom comes form simple things

 and to see it so will set you free,

I shared in such a blessing bestowed...

as it turns out, fold by my friend one night,

how at the end of the life of her Mother-

a mystery made simple, revealed to her sight,

the beauty seen and found form beginning to end...

that being what we have, life, here we call it living,

and since her Mother was now in a coma,

Teresa was there for her, her time of giving–

friends, family and contacts all said what to do...

read to her, hold her hand and comfort her,

all of us, as humans, need contact and touch...

without it we shrivel up... disassociated, shunned for sure,

what Teresa read to her Mother was my poetry,

christian in nature, speaking of love and the Lord,

since she felt the words, my inspirations and not even bored,

when the decision was made to pull the plug, form compassion,

while holding her hand... her Mother just awoke,

and what unfolded by the scene of the event

can not be heard, since no one ever spoke...

"Wisdom comes form simple things" cont.

Teresa's Mom did, on her last breath, open her eyes

but form looking forward she then looked up...

it was then she expired, as Teresa fold me with full

eyes of her welling tears... tears to till a big old cup,

it is my prayer that I follow in her shoes,

the simpleness to the lesson shared a treat,

can't you see it... what was she looking to or at?

To the dying here on earth... heaven must look so sweet!

[ This poem is inspired by my friend Teresa's relating to me

the events of a very tender and personal moment. I have

been blest form this experience. ]

"We shall understand"

When we are nestled in the hollow

of the palm of His hands,

we shall understand the Psalms

as a continuity of life,

we shall be as the ripening fruit

in the vineyard of men...

we shall be called sons of God, peacemakers,

not led by strain or strife,

we shall be blest for being merciful...

truly mercy will be known,

we shall know that with strength comes

also the ability to be gentle,

this is the very reason we will be

persecuted... for His name's sake,

"We shall understand" cont.

for it will be by His righteousness

that we must remain humble,

we shall be subjected to insults...

cast by men without love,

men who would lie for their own

gain, silver will be their leaven...

we, to them, would be the poor in

spirit but they know us not,

for ours will be to rejoice, to be

glad... ours is the kingdom of heaven.

"Be yea goat or lamb"

Two intersections concerning both

God and man have come...

one past and one quite near,

the first placed Jesus on a cross

for man's salvation,

the other draws close... do not fear,

the second would place man before

God by evil proxy...

when God will shed a tear,

and once the tears have dried

stand clear...

God's hand to come and shear.

"What pictures we see may not be our neighbors"

Lessons... the lessons this old life shows

us with the passing of our days...

the knowledge that comes form living–

be they good or wicked ways,

we all experience times so jumbled,

feeling out of sorts, almost hodgepodge...

still etched within our memories, daily, as

life seems to spin us in a personal montage,

the snapshots when placed in truest order

give the viewer glimpses of our past,

and it they are arranged just so... quite

telling in the truths meant so to last,

as it by realizations firmed through the

swirling twirling actions of our day,

where we've bumbled, stumbled and grumbled

when we shouldn't have... we often say,

"I'll do better, I'll try harder, I'll do more

than I did yesterday," this a human thought...

and the truth is we all can falter but what we

do beyond our failure is what is sought,

life is meant for us to learn form... to

understand the meaning to it all is not,

when this understanding is achieved is the time

to improve our ways and not be fraught.

"Do right and be noticed"

What God notices and responds to

is not what man desires...

it is not man's choice, not

man's call... tools in different fires,

it is not the man yelling loudest

on highest mountaintop,

and yet God hears the whispers

of a child praying harm will stop,

God hears all our prayers, although

some are vain, impure,

these are not the ones God answers...

taxing the limits for man to endure,

it is form the peeled layers and

form trials God wants for us to emerge–

where learning comes form desire

and love and not a selfish urge,

the motives of the heart lay

transparent for God to see...

and God notices and responds when

we are as we should be.

"Being inside us"

The spirit being inside us all would

choose to live beyond this shell...

the blessings untold and unseen are

the greatest to come, so choose well,

find true the important things of this

life: love, friends and family, be stable,

full enjoyment meant to be shared and

understood while seated at the table,

these are the decisions that truly matter

these are the days that matter most,

have you ever made a conscious effort

to know your maker... the heavenly Host?

"Time mankind is tree"

When we step outside will the

inside then be exposed...

to what mankind calls society,

the greater portion that knows

just what they think is going on...

their truth they then perceive,

since all the things that man has

done extends form what he'll believe?

It seems we all struggle to get the

outside in and not the inside out...

it all appears so backwards, as it

we don't know what it's about,

this life we live... the here and now

is mostly extemporaneous, you see...

if everyone would strive to let their

love out is the time mankind is tree.