July 19 Praises to God Bible Meditations Based on Proverbs 22-23
Key Verse – Proverbs 22:4 By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life.
PRAISE BE TO GOD FOR INSTRUCTING US TO BE HUMBLE
Praise be to God for instructing us to be humble making us:
Spirit-filled
Scripturally framed
Salvation, fully founded
Satisfaction, festively flourishing
Sanctification-fueled, faith-furnished
Proverbs 22:19 Praise be to the Lord for
bracing us to trust against:
Attacks of apathy
Afflictive addiction
Abusive accusing authorities
Apprehensions of accursed appeal
Anxieties arising from arrogant affairs
Proverbs 23:17 Praise be to the Saviour for
warning not to envy sinners, but to:
Rest in His grace
Rejoice in His goodness
Repent from greediness-gain
Remember His generosity’s glow
Rely on His great governance and guidance. Amen!
July 19, 2024
Categories:
afflictive, bible, blessing, christian, faith,
Form: Alliteration
Carry me to my exit strategy
where my body doth bid me,
"goodbye my friend".
Thus too, I deliver myself to
all golden rules written/spoken/lived
to all great truths that crown us
with everlasting scope steps of
conscious, spiritual abiding,
Afflictive emotions be silenced.
Categories:
afflictive, celebration, forgiveness, solitude, visionary,
Form: Free verse
I'm plagued by memories I'd rather forget,
and with shadows that linger, I'm often beset.
They hover around me, leaving me daunted
in my waking hours and in dreams ill-haunted.
I've shouted, "Leave me alone!" They smirk
and lie await. In defiance, they loom and lurk,
stabbing far too deep inside my injured heart.
My voice raised in rage, but they do not depart.
Thoughts of yesterday cause sorrow and pain,
tripping me until I stumble and fall in disdain.
Despondent, I continue to pay a hefty cost
with each echo as a memory of what I've lost.
"Leave me alone!" My protests are always denied
A crossroad where memories and sanity collide.
They've begun taking an afflictive maudlin toll,
obscuring my vision, and wounding my soul.
Respite from my memories will never be a gift.
They surround me each day, casting me adrift,
tossed upon an angry sea, where they dwell.
I'm drowning in their whirlpool, headed for hell.
If death is the only solution to rid me of my past
I will sail on the stormy sea, tethered to the mast.
No longer vexed by my recollections, unrepressed.
I choose mortality over being endlessly oppressed.
Categories:
afflictive, sorrow,
Form: Rhyme
There is no mental pain
to one with no expectations.
All fears transcended
by one whose fetters are extinct.
It does not occur to me, "I am"
nor that I live or exist, so
what is there to lament?
All afflictive formations are destroyed
when one sees with uncoupled wisdom
the world as empty, substanceless--
seeking nothing to own as "mine"--no "I" or "me"
one does not desire nor grieve--arrive or leave
there is---no loss no gain, no ego no pain
such is the power of mind liberating itself from
all manufactured sufferings of a cyclic existence.
Seek out the waiting, awakening path--the true one
with the karmic stairway to nirvana.
(*An expansion/variation on a Buddhist passage by the arahant monk Adhimutta)
Categories:
afflictive, analogy, peace, spiritual, universe,
Form: Free verse
Love divine, sovereign in directive
Smites lust, selfish midst carnal perspective…
Though both can be passionately active
True love along life-building objective
Unmasks lust that’s grievously "afflictive".
While love sublime works really effective
Reaching-out: restorative, curative…
Scheming lust is deceitfully protective
In the guise of care, vainly productive
For personal gain; oh, greedy motive.
Love can turn to lust when it’s destructive
Overwhelmed with own wants, so "exploitive"…
Flawed by human nature’s mark: defective
I beg for God’s great love* --- re-creative
To vanquish lust’s force, sweetly seductive.
*Romans 5:5…The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
July 1, 2020
1st place, "COMPLETELY YOUR CHOICE(2) any theme any form" Poetry Contest; Sponsored by Brian Strand; judged on 9/3/2020.
Categories:
afflictive, christian, faith, god, jesus,
Form: Monorhyme
And just when you thought
you are already susceptible to pain,
there will come another heartbreak--
more afflictive than all the hurt
that you've ever experienced.
And just when you thought
you can handle situations like this,
the undeniably searing pain
wounds every inch of you
until you could bleed no more.
And just when you thought
you conditioned your heart
to become emotionless,
you feel the devastating part
of being shattered once again.
Vexacious.
Irksome.
Disturbing.
Categories:
afflictive, abuse, conflict, depression, recovery
Form: Free verse
Tomorrow never comes
Lost in the memories of yesterday
Glories of triumphs bygone
Reveries intermittently broken
As pains from the boo-boos of yore
Break through to the fore
From their sepulchres
Deep, at the back of my mind
Where I'd had them entombed.
Yo-yoing between emotions;
Pleasant and afflictive
In self-motivation
I cultivate amendatory measures for your arrival
Till the sun is swallowed
By the open-mouthed horizon
And the ensuing darkness
Overcome by a golden lunar luminescence.
With a smile, I drift into a slumber.
In you I see a glimmer
Hope, far away on the horizon
That at the passing of today
You will ease the pain of yesterday
But again, I wake
Only to meet another 'today'
As always, you never came.
Categories:
afflictive, hope, imagination,
Form: Free verse
Alone
© Ben Burton 11-24-2014
I wish I weren't alone
I wish I could atone
If only I had known
How time is so soon gone
Watching my four-legged friend get run down by a car
Drinking at a never-ending string of nameless bars
Drifting aimlessly while seeing others make their marks
Letting go the only one who ever held my heart
I always felt alone
And played the game all wrong
My self-fulfilling tome
The final page unfolds
I observe without incentive, without motive, will, or drive
Gazing as the real world in slow motion passes by
But for this deep depression there's no part of me alive
Survival seems afflictive when compared with suicide
Can't face life all alone
It's time to move along
Will hymns or prayers or songs
Help sanctify these bones
If I am grieved it will not be by anyone I know
I once had several human friends, but years have severed those
I harbor no self pity though my words may not seem so
If I could have one final wish, I'd wish I weren't alone
Categories:
afflictive, bereavement, loneliness, sad,
Form: Rhyme
Generally, no kiss does attract opposite
But, necessary of course
For a definite purpose
Like in intercourse
Kiss is important incidence.
Kissing stimulates
With the same gender it complicates
But, more importantly with opposites.
Nevertheless, for opposites the more
Kissing is very afflictive!
Don’t joke….
Kissing is an ingredient between mates.
Kissing the lips is passionate love
Kissing the head is respect, irrespective
Kissing hand is submissive
Kissing the sensitive is to seduce
Could turn into malice unless you love
Kissing at times is to bid goodbye.
Kissing game
Sometimes for a price
You need to have practice
The spirit is drowningly, torridly enjoyable
Fullness in the act is a consummate
For opposites it could be explosive.
For honeymooners they need a license
Yet for live- ins never mind
But to be alive…
Kissing superhuman is superbly exhaustive!
In the biblical tragedy
Judas betrayed Jesus when kissed.
Dalila Agtani
8/21/12
Entered in PD's Kissing Game Contest
Categories:
afflictive, life,
Form: Free verse