Church Hoppers

 

 

Are you a church hopper

In search of a church

But just hopping all around

In a futile search?

 

Are you looking to get

Rather than to give

And then are horribly dissatisfied

With the life you live?

 

Some join a church

To see what they can get

Then they leave for another

With much regret.

 

“No food in there,

Just a whole lot of gossip,”

And church hopping for them

Becomes their habit.

 

 

“That church is real dead,

There is no life in there,”

And away they will run again

Looking for somewhere.

 

Then they come upon one

That appears high in spirit

And there they will remain

But just for a bit.

 

Before you know it

They will trudge off again;

A harsh word from a member

Caused them pain.

 

Criticism after criticism

A church hopper will find

To run off to the next church

With the last on their mind.

 

If only they could find

That perfect church

They would stop their hopping

And their futile search.

 

But wherever they go

There’s one disgruntled member

And invariably how they respond

Results from anger.

 

 

 

 

If they take a mirror along

That member they would see

And hopping around would cease

Immediately!

 

Each church I’ve hopped to

I have met me there

And the fact this will continue

Is my constant fear.

 

We tend to blame others

For the way we respond

While forgetting that self-control

Is in self only to be found.

 

Church hoppers, you see,

Take one member along

And that one member is to blame

For what they do wrong.

 

Stewart Russell © May 25, 2024

 

Nuts about Nuts

I am nuts about nuts

Especially the peanut

From the top of my head

Right down to my foot.

For over a year

I had decided no nuts,

My cholesterol was rising

I was caught in a rut.

So for a year or so

I hadn’t eaten a peanut

My cholesterol came down

And peanuts I forsook.

I distinctly remember

Another peanut matter:

My peanut butter sandwich

Was less bread more butter.

But that terrible addiction

I had put far behind me

Though occasionally I ate

The nuts from a tree.

Almond nuts and walnuts

Cashew nuts and hazelnuts

But peanuts were my past

I was out of that rut.

After a long time

I decided to take a chance,

I would eat mixed nuts

With a few peanuts to enhance.

And before long

Yea you guessed it right

It’s now an everyday thing

How I wish I might!

I mean control myself

And eating so many peanuts,

For exactly like before

I am back in the rut.

  

No peanut butter though

And it has been years

I have not allowed that delicacy

To even come near.

For the last few months

I’ve been on raisins and nuts

I even keep them in the car

That’s how serious the rut.

O that I could eat

Just one pack every week

Instead of a pack a day,

Oh the outlook is bleak!

Seriously though, I must fight

This terrible peanut urge

So that I don’t encounter again

That cholesterol scourge.

I certainly do not want

To deal with that again

But to avoid peanuts

Oh that’s a colossal strain!

Help me! Please help me

To control myself

And cut back on the peanuts

And thus maintain my health.

Meanwhile I’ll finish this bag

And then it’s a pack a week,

If only I could

That would be a treat!

Persistence is the key

And also the will to resist,

Though I haven’t started yet

Already my peanuts I miss.

For I am nuts about nuts

Especially the peanut,

From the top of my head

Right down to my foot.

Stewart Russell © August 2018