Tim Smith gave us an exercise on the Christian Poets list a few days ago: take an irreverent look at a deep subject. What I ended up with may not qualify, but what with springtime breaking out in Brazil and elections nearing in October, I probably got more irreverent than deep.

And I'll let my Cloudburst Poetry subscribers pipe up on that one.

by J. Randal Matheny
Copyright © 2004

So why work hard to get results?
Won't toil alone suffice?
God makes things happen; man exults
in fruits of sacrifice,
and much the more before the Cross
where Christ surrendered all.
What none could do, he did by loss,
to lift us from the Fall.
So man will not be satisfied
with empty efforts made,
while Jesus serves as power and guide,
with sin at Calvary paid.
No wasted pains leave me content
in my success-pursuit.
I'll trod the way that Jesus went,
to bear eternal fruit.

Happy holidays to you! Anybody eaten a mince-meat pie this Christmas? Is this one of the fading traditions?

Today's verse was inspired by a forum thread that asked what's the best word of wisdom one has received. I picked up one and made a quatrain out of it. If you're making a new year's resolution, it might come in handy.

Do It Right
by J. Randal Matheny

If you are going to do a thing,
be sure to do it right.
What joy a job well done will bring,
when you pillow your head at night!

Remember the couplet from yesterday sent to the editor who had a wrong title in the subject line? I've noticed I have this bad habit of skipping titles and subtitles when I read, and that carries over to emails oftentimes. So with that, I wrote the editor. (Though I didn't give my quatrain a title then; this one was added today.)

Ignore This Title
by J. Randal Matheny

I overlook consistently
The titles and subject lines;
I much prefer the town itself
To fuzzy highway signs.

While you're reading and, I hope, smiling, why not tell me why you're smiling. Or not smiling. Or whiling away the time. Or whatever. Let me hear from you. Hello? Hit that little red phrase below that says, "talk to me." You take it from there.

An ezine I subscribe to sent out an issue with a trial subject line. Shortly, came an apology. I wrote this couplet to the editor, along with a quatrain that, if I remember, I'll send you tomorrow. Here's the two-liner:

The Big Difference

To err and hide is human, human;
divine, to open and illumine.