This is How I Pause: I Read & Write God-inspired Poetry
Ruth is a friend, designer and writer who does freelancing at a vivid life. From a young age she has enjoyed anything creative, from fashion to photography, self-directed plays to song-writing, designing to painting, and the list goes on! This week she shares with us another way to pause.
THIS IS HOW I PAUSE: I READ & WRITE GOD-INSPIRED POETRY
C.S. Lewis once wrote: “Every poem can be considered in two ways – as what the poet has to say, and as a thing which he makes. From the one point of view it is an expression of opinion and emotions; from the other, it is an organization of words which exist to produce a particular kind of patterned experience in the readers.” [1]
One thing that personally attracts me to poetry is being able to empathize with someone as they creatively, or very simply, express their thoughts and experiences. To me, it became a very beautiful yet mystified notion that a commonality of feelings and words, translated into rhythmic writing, can have the power to affect my thoughts. Even now as I am studying the book of Psalms – a book of 150 Hebrew poems from different periods in Israel’s history – I can’t help but empathise with the anxiousness, mourning, joy, and praise that David and the other Psalmists felt while writing. If my heart can be moved by such an expressive language form, surely poetry can be used as a witnessing tool towards our friends, family, and ministries. How much more would an unbelieving friend be willing to read a heart-felt poem than to listen to a sermon – and yet the Gospel can be carried in both.
Poetry has the power to unfold in the unforced rhythms of grace. When words cannot explain a single moment and your heart frantically tries to piece sentences together to try and communicate the boundless joy you receive from our King. We serve a God of all grace and restoration, who has called us to His eternal glory to Christ (1 Peter 5:10 NIV). [2]
Below is a poem written by my talented friend and poet Marguerite Francoise Naude. May you find that through the lines of this poem, God speaks to you, and you hear His call on your life into eternal glory through His son, Jesus Christ…
The unforced rhythms of grace
He who commands the beginning of a harvest
Appoints the workers to tend to His land
He places the sun in position to light the day
And paints the skies with a gentle stroke of His hand.
For You stir the waves to come crashing at Your feet
And still a surging sea to obey Your instruction
The roaring ocean will resound in songs of Your praise
As you bring beauty from ashes and deliverance from destruction
The mountains move to make straight the paths of the Lord
As all creation seeks to gaze upon Your face
Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess
As the earth moves to the unforced rhythms of Your grace. [3]
Poetry is a matter of life, not just a matter of language.[4] It is a beautiful way to pause and breakaway from the busyness of the world. I find that whether you are reading it or writing it yourself, poetry requires authenticity. It is a practice that requires removing one’s sense of control over sentence structure and language and embracing a feeling of raw relatability to what is being expressed.
Ponder on this: Why do we as Christians so often revert to the Psalms as a stimulus for prayerful reflection?“The Psalms give us the means to come to prayer in a fresh state of mind. They enable us to see that we’re not the first to feel God is silent when we pray, nor are we the first to feel immense anguish and bewilderment while praying. The Psalms offer us ways to rejoice in prayer, to bow in worship, to exalt God for all he does and for all his blessings to us.” [5]
May you learn to embrace the “unforced rhythms of grace” through poetry, as a way in which to pause and breath.
To read more of Marguerite’s poetry, click the following link: https://theunforcedrhythmsofgracepoetry.wordpress.com/
[1] ‘A Preface to Paradise Lost’ written by C.S. Lewis
[2] https://theunforcedrhythmsofgracepoetry.wordpress.com/2019/09/12/what-are-the-unforced-rhythms-of-grace-2/
[3] https://theunforcedrhythmsofgracepoetry.wordpress.com/2019/09/10/the-unforced-rhythms-of-grace/
[4] Lucille Clifton
[5] https://www.odt.co.nz/opinion/importance-psalms-and-reasons-use-them
