photo: Cindy AquinoBurnt offerings
Second verses
Looking back on things
The way I used to be
Like match sticks in a breeze
Living so free
I never knew the causes
Haunting me
Would end up this way
In a portrait I see
More than a reflection
A second chance to be
An image of the Father.
As I look out the window of my den this morning, I see brilliant sunlight reflected off the surface of what has become a foot or two of snow. The hazy blue sky stretches to the east and crystal clear to the west for miles. It is only the end of January here in the Northwest corner of Ohio, but it feels like we have had a whole winter’s worth of snow already. Finally, a quiet moment of reflection as our dog Buddy lays curled up on the love seat sound asleep. I sometimes wonder what he dreams of as he frequently opens his eyes just a bit as if to check on me; making sure I am still near by I suppose.
If you are wondering where the poem above came from; well, I’ll tell you. I have wanted for a long time to put together a collection of devotional poems and pictures to illustrate their meaning. Like the little booklets I get in the mail every now and then from Silesian Missions, I have come to appreciate the inspiration of words and how they can encourage, comfort and relate to our every day lives. Whether the theme is about coping with grief, celebrating a season, or about the ordinary occurrences in life that cause us to think; like the site of a newborn child, or the first green emergence of tulips in a flower garden.
It is my dream to touch the soul of people and to let them know that life is about more than the struggles or fast paced race to compete for a place in the food chain. Burnt Offerings came to me through a photograph that started out as a project my sister Cindy had done for her photo shop class. From the moment I first saw the grouping of images in the photo, I knew there was something I could write about it. And what could that be, you ask? Well, the image of a match stick crucifix first caused a stir in me about how we can all make amends for all the times in our lives when we were younger and so care free that it didn’t matter what we did to harm ourselves or others.
I thought of all the times when I abused alcohol or experimented with substances that could have led to my going to jail or ending up in a hospital or even dead. Afterwards, it seemed like all it took was to sleep off the hang over and bury the guilt somewhere deep inside myself. As I got older, the guilt became too much of a burden because I had never forgiven myself or allowed God to forgive me for having jeopardized my body and soul. I had never fully appreciated the fact that there was good in me and that I was placed here on earth to serve rather than waste the precious little time I had. A human lifetime is but a mere flicker on the horizon of planet earth and I had to take responsibility for my own actions if there was to be any real meaning in my life.
And so I construct my own cross of burnt offerings. Like the match sticks that represent the frailty and care free attitude I once carried around in my younger days, I offer them as a testimony of the second chances we so often get in life to do the right thing. Like the mother who rejects her unborn child and later regrets it out of personal guilt, let these burnt offerings begin the process of healing once again. For all those times we have done wrong to ourselves or others, let the cross we bear become a symbol of salvation Amen.
Second verses
Looking back on things
The way I used to be
Like match sticks in a breeze
Living so free
I never knew the causes
Haunting me
Would end up this way
In a portrait I see
More than a reflection
A second chance to be
An image of the Father.
As I look out the window of my den this morning, I see brilliant sunlight reflected off the surface of what has become a foot or two of snow. The hazy blue sky stretches to the east and crystal clear to the west for miles. It is only the end of January here in the Northwest corner of Ohio, but it feels like we have had a whole winter’s worth of snow already. Finally, a quiet moment of reflection as our dog Buddy lays curled up on the love seat sound asleep. I sometimes wonder what he dreams of as he frequently opens his eyes just a bit as if to check on me; making sure I am still near by I suppose.
If you are wondering where the poem above came from; well, I’ll tell you. I have wanted for a long time to put together a collection of devotional poems and pictures to illustrate their meaning. Like the little booklets I get in the mail every now and then from Silesian Missions, I have come to appreciate the inspiration of words and how they can encourage, comfort and relate to our every day lives. Whether the theme is about coping with grief, celebrating a season, or about the ordinary occurrences in life that cause us to think; like the site of a newborn child, or the first green emergence of tulips in a flower garden.
It is my dream to touch the soul of people and to let them know that life is about more than the struggles or fast paced race to compete for a place in the food chain. Burnt Offerings came to me through a photograph that started out as a project my sister Cindy had done for her photo shop class. From the moment I first saw the grouping of images in the photo, I knew there was something I could write about it. And what could that be, you ask? Well, the image of a match stick crucifix first caused a stir in me about how we can all make amends for all the times in our lives when we were younger and so care free that it didn’t matter what we did to harm ourselves or others.
I thought of all the times when I abused alcohol or experimented with substances that could have led to my going to jail or ending up in a hospital or even dead. Afterwards, it seemed like all it took was to sleep off the hang over and bury the guilt somewhere deep inside myself. As I got older, the guilt became too much of a burden because I had never forgiven myself or allowed God to forgive me for having jeopardized my body and soul. I had never fully appreciated the fact that there was good in me and that I was placed here on earth to serve rather than waste the precious little time I had. A human lifetime is but a mere flicker on the horizon of planet earth and I had to take responsibility for my own actions if there was to be any real meaning in my life.
And so I construct my own cross of burnt offerings. Like the match sticks that represent the frailty and care free attitude I once carried around in my younger days, I offer them as a testimony of the second chances we so often get in life to do the right thing. Like the mother who rejects her unborn child and later regrets it out of personal guilt, let these burnt offerings begin the process of healing once again. For all those times we have done wrong to ourselves or others, let the cross we bear become a symbol of salvation Amen.
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