Escape

I’d like to drive away

Down a winding road

Across state lines

And let them wonder where I am.

Or hit every store

And spend all I have

Buying things I’ll never use.

Maybe stand on a corner

Somewhere

And scream

Until I have nothing left.

Or simply

Speak my mind

Plainly

To those who need to hear it

For once.

Hyperbole

While seated in my pew

Early Sunday morning,

I watch the crowd come drifting in.

I turn the pages of my hymnal.

Lyrics flash before me

                O for a thousand tongues to sing

                My great Redeemer’s praise

Snippets of worship

                Were the whole realm of nature mine

                That were a present far too small

More than lyrics –

Poetry.

My mind goes back to high school English

And all those clever literary devices

Such as alliteration and metaphor.

Hyperbole, she taught us,

Is exaggeration to make a point.

Strategically used

The outrageous can paint a picture

And bring understanding.

Just another tool

Used by these hymn writers

Or so it seems.

But this is God

The Father of all

The Creator of the universe

Beginning and end

(and everything in between)

Holding eternity in His hand.

So I wonder

When it comes to God

Is there really such a thing as hyperbole?

Is it even possible to exaggerate

Anything about the One

Who surpasses all?

As the music begins

I rise from my seat

More than ready to join my voice

With a thousand other tongues

And sing

Of love so amazing, so divine

And offer my soul, my life, my all.

Starting Over

Looking out the window
At my lawn,
I decide that it’s not quite right.
Too many dandelions,
Crabgrass and clover,
And patches of brown scattered everywhere.
I don’t even walk barefoot
Through this grass,
But protect myself with sandals.

The soil is weak from past neglect.
And then there is that
Chemical treatment
That didn’t quite work.
I even tried tilling it over.
That helped
For a while –
Until the first frost.

So I think
Maybe I should move.
New house.  New lawn.
Plant my own grass,
Just the way I like it.
I’d do my best to tend it well,
And I would watch it grow
Thick and green.
And I would run barefoot
Once again.