Monday, February 23, 2015

Contemplating the Crucifixion...

A poem for Lent...

Photo Credit: IplanandGodlaughs.wordpress.com








HE REFUSED

They mocked
and struck and spat and stripped
and drove spikes
through His hands and feet.
One offered wine and myrrh
to take the pointed edge
off the Excruciation.

The Savior
peered down
through kind, hot eyes,
pursed His parched lips
and shook His bleeding head.

He chose...chose!
to bear the fullness
of the sin
that nailed Him
to those crude
crossed beams;

chose to drink
the brimming chalice dry,

chose to pay the full price,
without bargain or barter,
without wholesaling
or discounting
or quibbling
or niggling it
of its terrible,
priceless
Value.

Maude Carolan


Monday, February 16, 2015

Happy 40th Anniversary, Carol & Rick!

My sister Carolyn married Richard Mingeram in the little stone chapel at Shepherd's Lake in Ringwood, NJ, forty years ago today. Their reception was held in my home, then in Cupsaw Lake, Ringwood. It was a wonderful day and they've enjoyed a wonderful life. Congratulations, Carol & Rick...I love you...God bless you & may He grant you many more years of happiness.

Today's poem lauds their Ruby Anniversary & Valentine's Day as well...



A THREE-STRAND CORD
Genesis 2:18; Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Alone is not good, is what we read
in Scripture. A helpmeet fills the need.

A hard task for one’s easy for two;
two can’t be lonely; have nothing to do.

The Bible says two’s better than one.
It’s certainly true, two have more fun!

A buddy’s nice inside a shelter;
an asset when one needs a helper.

Two’s better than one in a wintry bed;
those icy percales, they hold no dread.

Now listen to this; this is the key…
God says even better than two…is three!

Not easily severed, a three-strand cord;
I’m one, you’re two, the third is Our Lord.

Three’s better than two in time of prayer;
when you and I pray, God is right there!

Three’s better than two through joy or pain;
God’s with us in sunshine, with us in rain.

We are entwined…you, me and Our Lord,
tightly united in His Good Word.

Two’s better than one, but three is best!
Three makes matrimony…Heaven-blessed!


Maude Carolan

Sunday, February 8, 2015

A Visit to Mount Bental, Israel

Mt. Bental Observation Point
Photo credit: haaretz.com









SOMETHING LIKE SCARECROWS
Israel Pilgrimage—2006

We drive up and up
to what seems to be
the top of the world
and when we can drive
no farther, we walk
to the observation deck
of an old bunker
atop Mount Bental
in the Golan

Black silhouettes—
metal die cut-outs
of armed soldiers
rifles cocked and ready
are strategically situated
at the summit
to warn of Israel’s surefire preparedness
against any who would attack
the apple of God’s eye

deterrents—
like those vigilant
floppy-hatted scarecrows
stuffed with straw
poised to protect our crops
like the flat black metal hound dogs
I’ve seen wired to fences
in cemeteries and parks
to chase the Canada geese

Col. Shalom tells us
when he was twenty
he was given command
of sixty-four men, his age
It was here—
It was 1967
It was the Six Day War

2000 tanks
from Syria, Jordan
Egypt and Iraq 
versus Israel’s 200

Israel was victorious
It was miraculous

…and yet
he still hears
haunting cries in the night
of a wounded brother soldier

Maude Carolan Pych