January 11th, 2009

Back for more, eh? You English Kiniggits! (I apologize for that, but so far I have not found a soul who can relate to Monty Python with me.)

On a more serious note, I would like to share the topic verse of my devotional today and my thoughts, a quotation, and a poem on the same idea.

“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.” Isaiah 40:1

You will be wounded so that in the binding up of your wounds by the Great Physician, you many learn how to render first aid to the wounded everywhere. You will know why you are afflicted.

“God comforts us not to make us comfortable but to make us comforters.”
- John Henry Jowett

They tell me I must bruise the rose’s leaf,
Ere I can keep and use its fragrance brief.
They tell me I must break the skylark’s heart,
Ere her cage song will make the silence start.
They tell me love must bleed and friendship weep,
Ere in my deepest need I touch that deep.
Must it always be so with precious things?
Must they be bruised and go with beaten wings?
Ah, yes! by crushing days, by caging nights, by scar
of thorn and stony ways, these blessing are!

For here I sit, thinking of her once again,
Though I swore never to do so again,
To leave the scars to heal, but no.
No, I again peek into dear Pandora’s Box,
I uncover the wounds from their wrappings,
Experiencing that which is raw and untamed,
All. Over. Again.
For how many years will this go on?
For how many years will the memories,
Memories of what once was and should forever be,
For how many years will they torment me?
I suspect it is all in vain, as it has been ever since.
Cursed Hope! Leave me Alone!

- Author Unknown