Strengthening Weaknesses

 

 

Ever so often we say something

That sounds really great,

The title above is one I picked up

Only here of late.

 

Actually, I had heard it before

But paid it no mind,

Today, however, after some thought,

I discovered it is one of a kind.

 

No doubt you have heard

About SWOT analysis:

A component in strategic planning

Re strengths and weaknesses.

 

The strengths are the good things

While the weaknesses are threats

But strengthening the weaknesses

Is like building on debt.

Some will call it an oxymoron

And I will say well said

Given that a moron is a person

Allegedly not well read.

 

You may call it a misnomer

And I have no problems with that,

Either way it amounts to nothing

And for me that is fact.

 

But it sounds really silky

And that I am forced to admit

However, before you strengthen weaknesses

It would be better you quit.

 

 

To strengthen weaknesses

Would be to weaken the strengths

And such a person would be going

To extraordinary lengths.

 

Improving debt ratio:

That is to be greatly desired

But improving debt:

That manager needs to be fired.

 

If your students are doing poorly

Don’t strengthen their weaknesses,

If this is one of your strategies

Remove it from your list.

 

Stewart Russell © September 2, 2020

 

The End of the World

 

 

People discuss the end times

As though they have a knowledge when

And emerging from each opinion

There is an obvious problem.

 

None of them knows when

Since they are ignorant of the time

But they speak with such authority

They could even blow your mind.

 

They say these are the last days

And point to events unfolding

And the horrid outlook they paint

Makes it rather foreboding.

 

You could tremble in your boots

And be overcome by fear

The way these prophetic gurus

Show that the end is near.

 

From the COVID-19 pandemic

To the war up in the Ukraine

To some other silly everyday things

That quite frankly seem quite lame.

 

Anything and everything

That helps to make up their case,

They posit as substantial evidence:

Even the out of place.

 

And it’s no use telling them

All this was happening before

For they become the more convinced

The end is at the door.

 

 

Never mind that Jesus said

No one can know the day,

There are some with an inside track

That are in the prophetic way.

 

“Time’s clock is striking the hour

Jesus will soon descend”,

That’s a song we sang very often

As we anticipated the end.

 

Many years have since passed

And Jesus is yet to come

And the world keeps on mocking us

And having loads of fun.

 

We need to change this message

To propagate the more critical one

That the end of the world comes for one

When from this life he is gone.

 

The more critical end is death

Death is the end of everyone’s world,

Only Jesus has ever survived death

As shown in his written word.

 

 

Disagree on the end of time

For that is predictably uncertain

But when the grim reaper calls a name

He also draws the curtain.

 

That’s the end that really matters

Not the end of the world or time

For the way that one lives this life

Determines the eternity he’ll find.

 

The end of the world for you and me

Comes exactly when we die

Hence, make your calling and election sure

Before the eventual “by and by”.

 

Stewart Russell © March 29, 2022    

 

 

Tongue and Heart as One

 

 

“Let your tongue speak

what’s in your heart

and you will speak a language

that’s true to who you are.”

 

The Reverend Orvil Taylor

 

 Void of hypocrisy

And empty of pretension,

If ever there was one

This statement is a truism.

 

Of course, it can be negative

Or positive in display

But who you are will show up

At the end of the day.

 

Often, we do not speak

What’s really on our heart,

Hence, contemplating this truism

Would be a good place to start.

 

Bogged down by fear

And other misapprehensions

We stick to Hollywood acting

Which are only pretentions.

 

Afraid to show ourselves

For who we truly are

Since in everybody’s eyes

We long to be a star.

 

Re our important others

And those on whom we depend,

Speaking what’s in our hearts

Is like jumping off the deep end.

 

Tongue and heart as one

Is a luxury we can Ill afford

Hence, more often than not,

Our talk is seldom above board.

 

Covert or repressed, the norm,

It’s the way to get along

In a world whose forgiveness is short

And where another is always wrong.

 

 

Life is a like a poker game

Where the highest cards are key,

Hence, I need to bluff at least a bit

To cover up the true me.

 

For should I ever let that out

Then the world would come to know

That the game of let’s pretend

Is all that I have to show.

 

It may eventually come out

And then they will know my mess

But until that dismal day

My cards are close to my chest.

 

 

“Let your tongue speak

what’s in your heart

and you will speak a language

that’s true to who you are.”

 

While such a sentiment rings true

It is easier said than done,

It’s not the way we mostly live-

Certainly not where I come from.

 

 

To bear your heart to another

Is like committing emotional suicide,

For if ever that trust is betrayed

You may wish that you had died.

 

We invariably project behavior

Re what we want others to see,

It’s our way to control the tongue

And safeguard both you and me.

 

Stewart Russell © July 2020

 

Gloria by Name and Nature

 

No doubt she can be matched

But not surpassed,

Concerning modesty and dignity

She is in a unique class.

 

I speak of no other

Than the late Gloria Taylor

The second deceased wife

Of the Reverend, Orvil Taylor.

 

  

How blessed can a man be

To have had two wives

With the second mothering his children

And enriching their lives…

 

Till they look like her

Like she had given them birth,

Notwithstanding their biological mother

Had long left this earth?

 

She mothered another’s children

As though they were her own

To the extent that they looked like her

After they were grown.

 

I’m not the only one who saw this;

There are others too

And the one now reading this,

I believe so have you.

 

A blessing to these three boys

To have been raised by this lady

Whom they all called Mom

And will miss especially dearly.

 

 

Pastor “T”, you have been blessed

Not once but twice

To have had two wonderful ladies

With whom you have made life.

 

Gloria took another’s children

As her very own

When she married their daddy

And together made a home.

 

And now for the second time

There is a gigantic void,

It is only natural, my brother, my sister,

If they feel annoyed.

 

As we commiserate with them

And give them room to grieve

We must be careful as fellow believers

Not to unintentionally deceive.

 

God sees and He understands

But often we do not

Hence, a silent squeeze of the hand

Can say a mighty lot.

 

A lot more than words can say

Far beyond counsel or advice,

A silent prayer or a meaningful card

Would more adequately suffice.

 

Their aching heart

Will now take time to heal,

Two such knocks in one lifetime

Is a fairly harsh deal.

 

We in no wise blame God

For we know this is life

But we acknowledge His presence

In the midst of life’s strife.

 

 

And we give Him thanks

For His Son and our Saviour

And surely for having known Gloria

By name and nature.

 

Stewart Russell © March 19, 2022    

 

Neither Is A Measure

 

 

Psalm 90:4

 

For a thousand years in thy sight

are but as yesterday when it is past,

and as a watch in the night.

 

2 Peter 3:8

 

But, beloved,

be not ignorant of this one thing,

that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years,

and a thousand years as one day.

 

Neither of these quotations

Was spoken by the Lord

Although it is a fact

They are both in His Word.

 

It is important, however,

That we treat to the context

And not for our own purposes

To read into the text.

 

Neither of the two verses

Relate to the return of the Lord

But some say we are in the last days

And to the same they refer.

 

Others use these verses

To redefine the days of creation,

Instead of six literal days

6000 years is their summation.

 

Regarding the truth of the matter

Both explanations are off

And as a consequence, I must add,

The real essence was lost.

 

 

In the first Scripture reference

Relating to Moses’s prayer

Moses notes man’s short lifespan

Cannot with God's compare.

  

Time will swiftly pass by

While eternity is forever

And while we reference the former

The latter we can never.

 

Man is soon cut off

And he flies away,

Obituaries are the regular news

Each and every day.

 

Yet God is from everlasting

And to everlasting is God,

Which of us can number His days?

That's not possible at all.

 

The Lord is not slack

Regarding any promise He makes

However, we badly falter

When we try to give dates.

 

 

The second Scripture reference

Is attributed to Peter

And is not meant to be a measure,

Not by this speaker.

 

Some, however, use it

To arrive at a specified time

And to which we are admonished

To keep on our mind.

 

They are date setters

And they like to speculate

Hence, they read the daily tabloids

And set erroneous dates.

 

They are not ashamed

That each time they get it wrong

But evaluate and adjust again,

The more headstrong.

 

Jerusalem was judged

In the first century A.D.,

And coming is another judgment

This time for everybody.

  

God doesn’t reckon as we do;

He need not reckon at all,

He transcends time and everything else

He alone is God.

 

Thus, neither is a measure

Of how God counts

And even if it were,

To what would it amount?

 

Stewart Russell © October 29, 2021

 

 

Time for Sale

 

 

I was out strolling

When I came upon a sign,

It was so unlike any other

It stuck in my mind.

 

Not much about the shop

That could easily be missed

But the sign in the window

Rather seemed to insist…

 

Time for Sale

In letters so bold

That in the morning sunlight

They glittered like gold.

 

I inwardly smiled,

I was more than amused,

This had to be either a joke

Or a very clever ruse.

 

I suspected it was a ploy

To get me enter therein

For it stated at the bottom

Inquire Within.

 

In what form or fashion

Could time be sold?

And who in his right mind

Would be so bold?

 

 

I saw time as a commodity

That no one could buy

But there at that little shop

There was time in supply.

 

I felt kind of stupid

As I stood and wondered,

Should I go in or not?

I stood and I pondered.

 

“What if I did

And it was only a trick?

I would be so embarrassed

I would hurriedly exit.”

 

I walked a little way

And then I walked right back,

My curiosity was piqued

And I fell in the trap.

 

But I devised a plan

As I entered the shop

Suddenly wanting something

That I really did not.

 

“Do you sell watches?”

 I inquired at the counter,

“You came to the right place,”

Came back the answer.

 

 

“Is that all you wanted?”

After I had selected a watch,

I had been so embarrassed

I chose one from the lot.

 

I had done so to save face

But he knew my mind,

I did not come for a watch

I had come to buy time.

 

“You’re not the first

But thank you for the sale,

The sign surely works

It has seldom failed.”

 

I bought me some time

In the form of a watch

But still did not increase

The time I've got.

 

Stewart Russell © November 25, 2021