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

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

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