CHANGES

 

CHANGES

There's a house looking worn,

which once was someone's home,

now in disrepair

as if no one cares.

Time has not been kind.

Sagging roof lines.

Gaping window panes.

Weeds growing in the lane.

No light shines.

No laughs bind.

No ones there.

Others stare.

Once a happy place.

Now a ghostly space.

Not cared for.

Life no more.

Forlorn

for long.

Forgotten.

Wood rotting.

There's a barn leaning,

its roof leaking,

its sides missing,

slowly crumbling.

No cattle roaming,

no calves bawling,

no roosters crowing,

no hens clucking.

Acres now left untended.

Rusty implements upended.

A gloom descends

like depression.

Yet – down the road a bit

new construction sits,

rafters stretching toward the sky,

dreams fulfilled by and by.

New replacing old

when land was sold.

Old forsaken.

New for the taking.

What used to take months to build

in two months will be filled

with new dreams and memories

for a young family.

Lights through the window panes.

Laughter heard time and again.

Flowers in a vase.

A happy place.

The old unwanted.

Mortar crumbled.

New now belongs

standing strong.

That once young dreamer is now old

in a nursing home down the road.

Still dreaming in their mind,

though time has not been kind...

for wrinkles and deep lines

increase over time

leaving furrows

and sorrows.

When once they made furrows

in the stony soil,

now they sit

while the clock ticks.

The young have yet to learn

what the old have learned.

Time is a gift

that quickly shifts.

Both had dreams that were the same,

but time has day-by-day exchanged.

Quickly young become old,

though old is like gold.

For knowledge and wisdom

is the gift that comes with aging,

traded for strength and endurance

when physical strength up and went.

If only the young could appreciate

for the old have much to relate

as they sit -

and the clock ticks.

Time slowly changes with each tick-tock of the clock,

but time has many lessons waiting to be taught.

The young are too busy to appreciate what time has brought.

The old are waiting to tell before they become naught.

Take time today to seek out the old

for they have lessons worth more than gold

as they have learned the hard way

that time quickly slips away.

* * * * *

One's life is filled with many ideas, plans, ambitions, hopes, and dreams.

Even if one lives to be 100, life is too short, it seems.

Yet, as Christians when physical life is over and gone

we have assurance that spiritually we will live on

as we believe in Christ's redeeming sacrifice,

His atonement for our sins upon the cross.

Our testimony or witness on earth will also live on

as we share our faith with those who live in our county or town.

Faith can be as simple as words of encouragement

to those with which our life happens to circumvent.

To change one's attitude of looking at life negatively,

to seeing God's many blessings – a life of positivity.

Yes, life is filled with troubles and sorrows,

but also interspersed with joys with each tomorrow.

At times we need to look for the positive, a confirmation.

We should not focus or compare with someone else’s blessings.

Comparison causes a downfall and definitely a face fall.

Our countenance, our expression, displays our inner thoughts quite well.

Learn to be an encourager,

to build up one another.

Words that will inspire time and again

for we all need reminding often.

May your legacy be known to all

and passed on through the decades by all.

You have made my days a mere hand breadth;

the span of my years is as nothing before you.

Each man's life is but a breath.

Psalm 39:5

Man is like a breath;

his days are like a fleeting shadow.

Psalm 144:4

A good name is more desirable than great riches;

to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.

Proverbs 22:1

There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

a time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Now listen, you who say,

"Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city,

spend a year there, carry on business and make money."

Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.

What is your life?

You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

You ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will,

we will live and do this or that."

James 4:13-15

...traveled through that area,

speaking many words of encouragement to the people.

Acts 20:2

We dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children,

encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God.

I Thessalonians 2:12

Encourage one another and build each other up.

I Thessalonians 5:11

May our Lord Jesus Christ himself

and God our Father,

who loved us and by his grace gave us

eternal encouragement and good hope,

encourage your hearts and strengthen you

in every good deed and word.

II Thessalonians 2:16-17

Your love has given me great joy and encouragement,

because you have refreshed the hearts of the saints.

Philemon 1:7

Life Is a Garden Party

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