Map

How these letters, spaces

and punctuation marks form themselves

into something remotely intelligible,

and possibly hopeful

has always been a mystery.

We can feel it much better

than explain it.

At bare places where pain

and suffering have stripped

all sense of entitlement and control,

there is a swath cut through the jungle.

We don't need a map

to remember the way.

Each time we hear stories

of a remotely similar journey

by another person,

our hearts take that path again.

Somewhere along the way,

our brains join the trip,

sometimes abducted, others willingly.

As we near that familiar clearing,

the fog lifts, and we remember

the most powerful promise of Divine:

it is not protection, or power, but presence.

This is the gift that opens vocal chords

and directs fingertips to keyboard,

steadying us all in our naked places of hurt,

casting a flicker of grace upon our darkness.

Photo by Todd Jenkins

© 2013 Todd Jenkins

Long Water

Clean water, pure water

more and more each day.

Coming soon to your place?

We're gonna find a way!

God's plan, our goal;

partnerships galore.

Education, filtering,

producing more and more.

A plan for operation,

so it can be maintained;

with God's help and grace

all will be sustained.

Bottle after bottle,

friend after friend,

let clean water flow

everywhere without end!

Photo from Miriam Mazariegos

© 2013 Todd Jenkins

Thanksgiving

Like many regularly scheduled celebrations,

trappings have a way of obscuring

our view of the original purpose,

both when they are present

and when they are absent.

It’s not the food, certainly

not about retail competition

with others to acquire more,

not about stressing to create

a magazine-cover atmosphere,

not even about trying to make

everyone else get along.

It’s about pausing…

to breathe, look, and recognize

that you are surrounded

with relationships and connections

with the potential

to reveal the purpose

behind the universe’s great mystery:

you are a beloved child of God

whose name is known and spoken

regularly in the heavens;

your unique brokenness,

both accepted and held together by grace;

love, the gift that escapes

through the cracks, spanning eternity,

when forgiveness is carved and shared abundantly.

Photo by Lee Lindsey McKinney

© 2013 Todd Jenkins

Knock, Knock, Knockin’…

Photo by Todd Jenkins

My hope is built

on nothing less

than grace and Christ,

whom I confess.

I expect I’ll find out

the full scope of heaven’s

list of invitees when I get there,

and not a minute sooner.

My life isn't really focused

on getting to heaven or identifying

its additional inhabitants,

but rather on living

with Christ-like humility

and grace moment by moment.

© 2013 Todd Jenkins

Heartbeat

(Genesis 18)

Picture Abraham under the Oaks of Mamre,

slipping in and out of the consciousness

of an after-lunch nap, enjoying

the blessed shade of the trees

and security of his tent.

The visitors startle, but

do not frighten him.

His reaction, shaped by more than

twenty years as a sojourner,

is one of reverence – maybe even worship.

His urgency and generosity

are driven by his guests’ need,

not by concern for their opinion of him.

Well aware of the distance between

his own well and the next, he realizes

the life-giving nature of the water he offers.

There is no debate, no calculation of deserving;

only the recognition of a basic need.

Does he know the identity of his guests?

Would this impact the bounds of hospitality?

Shape-shifter that he’s always been,

he might have figured it out by now.

Whether he understands it or not,

hospitality is a lot like exercise.

We may begin it because we know

it’s the thing we’re supposed to do,

but in the end, offering clean, cool water

to a sister and brother in need,

fundamentally and forever

changes the way our hearts beat.

Photo by Todd Jenkins

© 2013 Todd Jenkins

Meant

The words spoken were,

"I don't know if I can

make it through this!"

The words I heard

whispered were, "You

may not be able to make it

through this in the way

you wanted or  expected,

in the way your persona

dreams of making it through,

but you are very capable

of making it through

in the way you were meant to.

When you get farther

down the road, you will understand

and appreciate the difference." 

Photo by Todd Jenkins

© 2013 Todd Jenkins

Distribution

Each breath, thought, word, step, act

is an act of distribution.

Some are completely self-centered;

others reach more broadly.

Ultimate denial comes when

we convince ourselves that the aggregate

of our own distributions

is beyond the arc of history's examination.

We may not be able 

to undo the past, but we are 

certainly capable of imagining

a more hopeful future.

Existence is a window of opportunity

for rebuilding our lives into relationships

that need less repair today than yesterday;

connections that feed the world's deep need today. 

Photo by Todd Jenkins

© 2013 Todd Jenkins

Defining Moments

We're sorry if your definitions

of essential and affordable

are different from ours;

if the things you can't provide for yourself

can't be lived without.

You should have thought about that

before you chose to be born into

your family, culture, and socioeconomic class.

Those of us who chose more wisely

can afford to imagine that we don't

need much help at all.

Law is tilted in favor of the haves,

because the more you have,

the more you need;

but there comes a point when we notice

that others are getting things

from government that we already have,

even things we've gotten "on our own".

That's when we opt for politics,

knowing that we'll get to decide

what's in the line and who isn't.

After a while, we begin to believe

that some people aren't really people at all;

that God loves those who can help themselves

and everybody else is just lazy.

As gratitude and humility evaporate,

they leave a hazy crust of greed and hubris,

through which we can neither

see nor feel our neighbor.

We are left to our own devices,

looking down with contempt,

and up with envy, skewed beyond recognition

to the universe's parallel nature.

God help us!

Photo by Jennie Roberts Jenkins

© 2013 Todd Jenkins

Real

More than the neurotransmission

of pain impulses between body and brain,

what connects us to reality's depth

is an awareness of both experience

and response from sojourners

along time's interactive continuum.

The Velveteen Rabbit knows well

what it takes to embed us

in the here and now: love expressed.

Solace comes with similar stories

from the past; connection,

from people in the present;

hope, a memory of the future.

 

Photo by Todd Jenkins

© 2013 Todd Jenkins

Veterans

Photo by Kally Thompson Elliott

Remembering is how we learn,

how we connect,

how we honor, O God.

As Veterans’ Day approaches,

may our memories be filled

with these things:

gratitude for those who

trained for war, traveled to battle,

served with body, mind, and spirit,

and returned with their lives;

appreciation for the sacrifices

that soldiers and their families make

in order to serve and protect;

respect for the toll that war takes

on body, mind, and spirit,

not only in the trenches and bunkers,

but also in the home, street,

office, classroom, and social setting;

amazement for the way some are able

to overcome war’s lingering demons;

understanding for those who cannot

shake the images, thoughts,

and emotional train-wrecks of war

that have removed from them

all hope of finding normal again.

Give us courage to honor those

who have served, as well as wisdom

to recognize that war is not a path

that leads to your promises.

Instill in us, O Lord, a hunger for justice,

a thirst for righteousness,

and a craving for honesty

that opens our eyes, ears,

and hearts to a higher road;

a road that refuses to settle

for violence, fear, and hate;

a road that is neither easy nor simple,

but one that takes us

on an arduous journey toward

the mountain of your shalom;

a road where peace replaces cease-fire,

where bullets are molded into plowshares

and bombs into pruning hooks.

© 2013 Todd Jenkins

Wed

(Luke 20:27-38)

Three show up to participate

in the observance

of a relationship built on love:

God, from whom love flows

like a rain-swelled, spring stream;

two people who pledge their lives

toward this gift and to one another.

Others may come to observe

this milestone’s marking, or not.

Beyond the three, we can only bear witness,

and help call attention to the broken ways

we betroth ourselves to be open

and receptive to this giving and receiving.

Covenant is the word God used

to describe the lopsided yoking

of divine and human partners

in relationships  rooted in deep places

that only one partner can reach.

We cleave to one another

with all that is within us,

fully recognizing that our

holding pales in comparison

to God’s binding us together.

May you find yourselves,

more days than not, and

never too far in-between,

leaning hard against the pile

of grace left at your door,

forgiving one another

as God forgives you;

searching for and celebrating

the love that blossoms from your union.

Photo by Todd Jenkins

© 2013 Todd Jenkins