Diminished in A Moment

  

 

Get your act together

Or we’ll treat you like the rat,

If such were said to you,

Would you take that?

 

And what about your pride?

Would any at all be left

Or would you only hear the welcome

And to the rest be deaf?

 

The bosom is very close

So, every eye will be on you,

Would you still be feeling accepted

Regarded with such a view?

  

You could be an opportunist

Or perhaps seen as a plant

To offset their enduring institution

But understand you can’t.

 

Barely four years passed

And that you disliked now like,

Is it really the case, Mr. Defector

You have seen the light?

 

 

 

Did your constituents know:

Those who voted for you,

That you were parting ways with them

And are finally through?

 

R.A.T. crossed the floor

Just like the bishop before

But you, sir, had everyone guessing

Before closing the door.

 

Maybe you were smarter

And displayed a better timing

In winning the nomination in the city

Before the bell was ringing.

 

 

 

Just in time Mr. Defector,

Or already in the bosom

Having been accepted by the PM

And past sins forgotten?

 

You may be riding high

Or so you may be feeling

But to be welcomed in such a way

To me is quite revealing.

 

Maybe you’ll win the seat

But what about your pride?

The fact that you are being used

Cannot be denied.

 

 

Diminished in a moment:

Insult followed success,

Mr. Defector, it definitely seems to me

You are a pawn at best.

 

Maybe there was a reason

You had lost your voice,

Perhaps your vocal-chords doubted

The reason for your choice.

 

From a dying institution

To one that seems invincible,

The fact you’re at the bottom of the pack

To me is inescapable.

 

It is an interesting lane

To which you have switched

But in the best interest of the city folk

I hope you can make it fit.

 

 

 

Representation in the courts

Is different from Parliament,

In the former you are paid for services

In the latter you are a servant.

 

 

 

In one you decide your pay

In the other, the Government,

But note it’s the money of taxpayers

Whom you represent.

 

Diminished in a moment

By the Deputy PM

So, tell me in all sincerity Mr. Defector,

Are you through with the Dems?

 

Stewart Russell © January 19, 2026

 

Valuable, Valued and Vital

So much of life is and so much is not

Valuable, valued and vital

And often these three are confused

By not a few but by many people.

Let’s start with the valuable

Those things by which we set store,

There is much confusion here

And we will see this more and more.

Of course most will agree

That the considered valuable is truly valued

The second is determined by the first

And for most that’s the essential view.

How much something means to one

Then becomes the overarching issue,

If one considers that thing truly valuable

Then that thing will be greatly valued.

If we do not consider it to be valuable

Then to us it has little value

And therefore that particular item

Will have little value for me or for you.

Now here is where it gets dicey

Regarding the valuable and valued,

Remember to different people this varies

Depending on a person’s view.

What one person considers to be a valuable

Another person might disagree,

They both might possess the same thing

But the considered value would vary.

This occurs with material possessions

Like the computer, house and motorcar,

These for some are but utilities

But with others they can go very far.

I don’t want to belabour the point

But I trust you see where I am going,

Depending on how much one values a thing

That’s where his focus will be showing.

For him that is what is vital

To him that is what demands his time

To that he will give the utmost care

It matters not what another opines.

So far the valuable determines the valued

And the valued becomes what is vital

But sometimes this manner of association

Can become a vicious cycle.

This has to do with one’s outlook

Or perhaps what we want in life

And often puts our wants above our needs

And this brings about the world of strife.

A feast is made for laughter

And wine maketh merry,

According to Ecclesiastes 10 verse 19

The answer to all things is money.

As such the valuable is reckoned in money

And money resonates with the valued,

These two are seen as synonymous

And presto! There is your worldview.

The fallout becomes the disaster

For life means getting money at all costs,

Money is therefore the vital prerequisite

And without its abundance life is lost.

But the writer of Ecclesiastes 10 verse 19

Had much reason to lament

And in Ecclesiastes chapter 1 and verse 2

A contrasting admonition was sent.

The interesting part of all this

Is in this book the latter precedes the former,

Even in the mind of a mathematics dunce

Chapter one would be first in the natural order.

But this verse also conveys another point

Here the wise man is in his right mind

And perhaps with all that he had experienced

This is what he had to opined.

This bring us right back to the title

Valuable, valued and vital

For though Solomon was the wisest of men

To him this became a vicious cycle.

Although starting out on the right path

His life went right down to the pits,

Wrong focused relating to this title

He found himself in an inevitable fix.

His abundance of wealth occasioned for him

Whatever his heart had desired,

What he valued and practised as vital in life

Took him to the immoral muck and mire.

This is, however, instructive for us

Regarding our valuable, valued and vital,

If we value the temporal above the eternal

We become a people most miserable.

For our souls can never be satisfied

By the material things of this world,

Money is to be valued as a servant not the master

We should take note of God’s Holy Word.

We should consider as valuable, valued and vital

Things that are true and honest and pure,

Things that are of good report and lovely

Are those things we should value more.

These qualities are vital for living

They determine our valuables and values,

Only Christ can satisfy a man’s soul

He should be our life’s most vital issue.

Stewart Russell © November 2017

More than a Collection of Books Volume 4

Nahum prophesied against the great city of Nineveh

That the God of the nations the Assyrians disclaimed

Was the sovereign controller of all human destiny

And even the greatest world power must submit in shame.

Habakkuk, known for ”the just shall live by faith”

Is perplexed that Judah is not punished for her iniquity

The Lord uses the Babylonians to punish Judah

Whereupon Habakkuk questions God’s use of the enemy.

Zephaniah tells of God’s determination to execute judgment

On Judah and Jerusalem because of idolatry,

His message to Judah is a call to repentance

But woe is pronounced on Jerusalem for its treachery.

Haggai’s call was for the people to rebuild the temple

Instead they were taken up with their own affairs

Again he encouraged them giving assurance of God’s presence

The glory of the future temple will be greater he declared.

Zechariah using highly symbolic language in his visions

Predicted the overthrow of the Gentile world powers,

He speaks of Messiah’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem

And his return when he makes Mount Olive his tower.

Malachi like Nehemiah highlighted similar problems

Like withholding the Lord’s tithe and intermarrying,

He records Jehovah’s last pleading with His people

Then the prophetic is silent until the Baptist’s coming.

Matthew is a portrait of Jesus depicting him as King

Hence we find a link to King David in his genealogy,

Greater than Moses or Solomon, Lord of the Sabbath

He who was called King of the Jews is King eternally.

Mark is a portrait of Jesus portraying him as Servant

Unlike Matthew’s genealogy his references did attest

John the Baptist, God himself and God the Holy Spirit

To serve and not to be served was what he did the best.

Luke paints a portrait of Jesus much alike that of a Man

Hence another genealogy going right back to Adam,

He wept as he stood before the tomb of a very dear friend

And showed his humanness in Gethsemane as the Father planned.

John, most difficult for some, portrays him as fully God

Consider Thomas’ acknowledgement: my Lord and my God

Base on the miracles he did and the very words he spoke

One of two verdicts remains; Jesus is either God or a fraud.

The Acts of the Apostles as it is more appropriately called

Takes it from the life of our Lord in the Gospels

Through Pentecost and the miraculous birth of the church

And provides the link between the Gospels and the Epistles. 

Stewart Russell © 2017