I Love the Smell in the Morning

I love the smell in the morning
        after a rain!
Cool, crisp air, sharp with pungency of wet leaves,
    aromatic as of close juniper.
Mists swirling low to the ground,
    hovering over the newly plowed fields,
    tending each clod with maternal care.

 I love the smell in the morning
         after a rain!
Sunlight dampened by season's first fog—
    delightful interplay of air, fire and water
                                 over earth.
Muted ball of fire, risen bright,
         now orange with stripes,
    struggling to exude its warming rays.

I love the smell in the morning
         after a rain!
Breath that lingers long and hangs just in front,
    twisting upward, sideways,
         then leaving not a trace.
Vague moistness under foot and remnant puddles,
    softening the former crunch of leaves into sounds of cats' footfalls.

I love the smell in the morning
         after a rain!
Tantalizing reminders of life, of hope, of more!
    Promises given of an abundant rain.
Send it now once again, O Lord,
    The early and latter rain,
        The Reign of your Spirit in us!

- D. Benning

Written in the Heart

“Judah’s sin is engraved with an iron tool,
    inscribed with a flint point,
on the tablets of their hearts
    and on the horns of their altars.”
Jer. 17:1

“See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
    your walls are ever before me.”
Isa. 49:16


Here is a contrast.  The erring people write their sins upon their heart and in their heart.  They hold fast to sins and idolatry.

But the Lord holds His people near and dear to His own self.  This is symbolized in Exodus 28 by the priestly robes having stones inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel worn over the heart.

But God's true people will hold Him near and dear to their hearts.  Isa 44:5 says, “Some will say, 'I belong to the LORD'; others will call themselves by the name of Jacob; still others will write on their hand, 'The LORD's,' and will take the name Israel.”

Of these the Lord Jesus says they are in His hand and none can pluck them out.

But those who cling to idols and write their sins indelibly on their hearts, there will be another writing.  Their names will be written in dust.  (Jer. 17:13)  Dust to show the incredibly non-permanence of their position and the utter humiliation their pride will be cast down to.

Thus we must ask, what is it that we hold dear in our hearts?

Of First Importance

"For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures...."
I Cor. 15:3

First Importance.  Or the KJV says that Paul passed this along first.  The very first thing that Paul wanted to tell his listeners was Jesus, crucified and risen again for us.

Jesus told Martha “few things are needed—or indeed only one.”  (Luke 10:41)

It is of great importance that we prioritize correctly.  Paul starts chapter 15 by declaring the gospel “in which you stand.”  And he ends this chapter by saying “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you.”

We cannot stand firm unless we know upon what we stand.

Our faith is a reasonable and logical faith.  It is not a leap into the dark nor an abandonment of the mind.  Thus Paul tells the Corinthians, “Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning....” (v. 34).  Sinning is illogical and senseless.  Obeying God is most sensible.

We see this idea reflected in the parable of the Prodigal Son, who, after wasting his life and his time and his resource, “came to his senses” (Luke 15:17).  The demon possessed man who had a legion of demons in him was wild, unkempt, unclothed and unrestrained.  But once Jesus healed him, the people found “the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his right mind.”  (Mark 5:15)

The man, formerly possessed of demons, now seated at Jesus feet listening to the Master.  And just as Mary sat at Jesus feet having chosen what is better, so this man received what could not be taken from him.  (Luke 10:42).

Thus we must come back to our senses and take our seat at Jesus feet to learn of Him what is of first importance.

W(temporality)e

In college I was introduced to ee cummings' poetry.  Yes, I did not capitalize his name for that is how he always placed his name on his poems.  In his poetry, I learned that there was another side to poetry beyond mere rhyming.  There was the juxtaposition of words, the shaping of the lines and the play of word on words and even in words.  He used parentheses within his lines to flesh out deeper meaning and to pair things together.

I took some of his ideas and techniques in the writing of this poem, perhaps to an extreme.  Even the poem's title uses parentheses to marry the idea that "we" are "temporal"—creatures of time—so much so that it is integral and fundamental to our nature so as to be within us.  Thus the word "temporality" is embedded in parentheses in "We."



W(temporality)e

Futility—
Like fighting rust
                   or rot:
All of today's pleasures
                and play toys
Are tomorrow's haul for the trash
           —bounty for the rats.

The most
W(yes, my dear, I speak to you)e do is
     Prolong The
            Day
—Slipping down
                           ward on an icy mountain—
            When Entropy shall finally conquer all
—Sweet release of Enthalpy
                                              to useless nothingness—

Mortality
    binds our hands from doing,
    blinds our eyes from seeing be-
        yond
    into vastness—into God!
Encompassed about by a hundred and thirty thousand fronts,
   w(and all those, too, who see without seeing)e celebrate
                  (as if victory)
   the momentary lull in the advance of a single front
        (as if w(without non-human help)e did it!).

Futility—
Like empty meaning
             or definition;
Fe(deeply)eling that today's pleasures
                        and fantasies
Are shoveled under
                               with the coffin
      when ends every(is there NOTHING else?!)thing.

But temporality
Was not meant as an end unto
         —ITSELF—
It was rather to give definition to life,
                                   shape to spirits
                                         and
                                life to definitions.
But we ignore this side of us—
    treating the gnawing questions of be-
yond
    as indigestion:
        W(unwittingly)e bu("what is TRUTH?")rp
                      but then
        make an exc("nothing's really absolute, is it?")use for being so rude.
W(oh, philosophical unreasoners)e have lost control—
    hijacked by the spirit of
             —ME—
                                                   and no one else.

W(like blind followers of the blind)e are led about
                in a cor(ours!)pse
               by a dead man.
W(are so separate)e are strangers
    Created in the Image of
                  ONE
    So that w(who are now alienated)e
              may become
                  O(we)NE
                  with
                  O(Three)NE.
Na(space and time)ture being just a framework
      in which Love could Love us into Him.
Yet IDENTITY is not lost in becoming
                 O(not clones)NE
Because Love requires an Individual to love
             and Love that Loves only itself is
                  Gre(not Love)ed.

Futility—
Like holding onto self,
                          to ME:
All that then will remain is emptiness,
        a mere s(full of blackness)hell;
All of the tomorrows will be filled with
              present remorse,
              with disdain for yesterdays.

Becoming ONE with others involves
             DE(dying)ATH;
But it mean so much more
             liv(LIFE)ing.
Like the EXAMPLE who died
                               but lives,
We (now united and unstrangers) live with H(in and through)im
      Separate but ONE,
      ONE yet Individual—
Products of a Father's LOVE;
    Expressions of His Creativity and Diversity;
        Monuments to His Faith(committed forever unto us)fulness!

       Pra(G(Father, Son and Spirit)OD)ise!

 

-D. Benning

19-Jan-1984