............................................Tender Care...................................

Sitting in the presence

of another's pain and grief,

stripped clean and hard

of all but your unadorned self,

is a physically exhausting undertaking.

In such a state

of weakness and despair,

it's not hard to recognize

another presence there;

the gentle strength of Love

that holds us all with tender care,

and breathes hope

into lungs scorched and sooted

by a fire named Fear.

© 2014 Todd Jenkins

Path

The paths we trod and daily beat,

though we are convinced

are constructed with our own

good efforts to reach God,

may well turn out to be

the clearing of the vines

and brambles that separate us

from the selves we've settled for

and the ones we've spent

our lives convincing others

are the real us.

It just might be that,

once we journey

through the wilderness

to our honest selves,

we will find that God

has been there all along,

patiently waiting for us

to show up to the life

for which we were created.

Wouldn't that be

a joyful homecoming?

© 2014 Todd Jenkins

Spiritual DNA

The math of inhumanity to humanity

is zero sum in the worst sense,

though nothing about it resembles a game

where anything remotely near winning

can take place, unless you've convinced yourself

that there is a measuring stick for life

and your ranking is clearly superior

to the lives you're devaluing and destroying,

which is pretty much the same

as declaring yourself to be God.

In this case, even our animal instincts

are betrayed, as community is jilted

for the shrinking self of individual,

and nothing of our spiritual DNA

is allowed to grow and bloom.

Holly J. Williams reading one of her "Peanut" books to students at Ralph Askins

© 2014 Todd Jenkins

Rebel Tears

These rebel tears you've cried,

I say, tell me of the depths

from which they flow.

Tell me of the salt they left

upon your cheeks of rose.

Tell me of the stories

that flashed across

your heart's big screen;

and how you, at once wished

to do them all over again,

yet knew that this would rewrite

too much of who you are.

Tell me how you simply came

to know that grace applied

from wells deeper than your own

would change your world

in far more valuable ways

than a lifetime full

of re-attempts at perfection.

Tell me this and more.

I've heard it whispered

from places deeper than

I knew I had, but long

to hear its joyous regale

from the cracks and creeks

of other hearts, because

I know its gift is far

too great a pearl to hide.

 

Decatur, GA 1966

© 2014 Todd Jenkins

Dividend

What do you do

when complementary

is not at all complimentary;

when the conversation

reveals diversified opinion,

and the rift threatens

to become a continental divide?

What is the common core

that can hold us together;

the knot that can

keep us from unraveling?

Hope placed in anything less

than the self of God,

faith raised in anything but

divine mystery's recipe,

cannot withstand life's storms.

A willingness to recognize

our own personal shortcomings;

an openness to learn the stories

of those who feel mostly "other";

these are the threads

that weave us together

into the drama that will

one day become a narrative

of unconditional love.

© 2014 Todd Jenkins

Hue

All creation is woven together

into a work of art so complex

and so beautiful that,

if we are awake and

attuned to the moment,

surprises us and takes

our breath away

at each intersection,

every day of our lives.

How then, in this

glorious interconnectedness,

can we dare to believe

that we were put here

to isolate and elevate ourselves

based on privileged elements

of our circumstances,

most of which are constructed

by the accident of our birth?

It is as if a single hue

in a vast masterpiece

has declared itself superior

to all others because

it sees itself, reflected in the mirror,

as the painting's focal point.

© 2014 Todd Jenkins

Which?

Looking at your calendar,

you may imagine that you

don't have time to pray;

that you've got too many

things to do, places to be,

and people to see.

You may even believe

that you're "prayed up"

with a surplus of

divine-human conversation

at the spiritual level.

Or that you'll set aside

some quiet time later

to seek a merging

with God-frequency.

Here's the face-smacked

truth of it: you're more likely

too confident; resting assured

that your own plans,

holy-infused as they may be

and feel, are the equivalent

of God-entered GPS mapping.

I dare to make this accusation

only because I know, all too well,

this wilderness wandering,

with its milk and honey overlay.

Turn around, don't plow ahead

through these deceptive deeps.

Better yet, stop, drop, and breathe.

© 2014 Todd Jenkins