Proverbial Twists and Turns

 

Of the proverbial twist and turn

There is so much we need to learn

A word to the wise; you know the rest

Think before you act is really the best

Where there’s life there’s hope

Yet he died at the end of a rope

Whom the gods love die young

So the weak out live the strong

Where there’s a will there’s a way

Now it’s a relative I hear them say

A coward lives to fight another day

Heroes fight and in the dust they lay

You can’t have your cake and eat it

Quitters seldom win winners never quit

Worrying never did anyone any good

Yet worrying lives in everyone’s blood

What can’t be cured must be endured

But some adore what they need to cure

Why keep a dog and bark yourself?

Why use the Bible to prop up a shelf?

When the cat’s away the mice will play

It is good sense to keep trouble at bay

What goes up must come down

A mouth that’s up produces a frown

Variety is the spice of life

A woman a day, recipe for strife

Waste not want not

A yearning for waste might be your lot

Two blacks don’t make a white

Two wrongs don’t make a right

Darkness can never create light

But light brings darkness to sight

Two is company, three’s a crowd

‘Tis better to speak the truth aloud

Too many cooks spoil the broth

Not enough cooks brings boss man’s wrath

To every thing there is a season

For every thing there is reason

What is the season for treason

And your reason for joining its legion?

Truth may be stranger than fiction

But lies eventually lead to friction

Truth often brings conviction

But lies accompany dereliction

Time is a great healer

Procrastination is a great stealer

Pretension is a great squealer

But the Bible is the great revealer

There’s none so deaf as those who will not hear

There’s none so dead as those who will not care

There’s none so blind as those who will not see

And for misleading people still they charge a fee

There’s no smoke without fire

There’s no employment without hire

There’s no such thing as a free lunch

Every man for himself in a crunch

You can’t teach an old dog new tricks

Without straw you can’t make bricks

You are never too old to learn

Grasp the chance when it’s your turn

When in Rome do as the Romans do

Jews returning home so should you

When in China creativity is a must

Wherever you are you’d better adjust

 

 

Two heads are better than one

Night is darkest just before dawn

Be satisfied with your single head

Two head you’re better off dead

Tomorrow never comes they say

Owe no man tomorrow pay today

Yesterday’s gone, forever in the past

Today is limited; it just won’t last

There’s many a slip ‘twixt cup and lip

And is often caused by a careless grip

More in the mortar than just the pestle

Many a suspicion with which we wrestle

It’s better to give than to receive

It’s worse to doubt than to believe

It’s better to care than have to retrieve

The worst of all is the intent to deceive

There’s no fool like an old fool

The young fool keeps his cool

Where ignorance is bliss ‘tis folly to be wise

The man who knows all is a fool in disguise

The husband is always last to know

The wife is the one who told him so

The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world

That’s now in the hands of many a young girl

The fruit does not fall far from the tree

But the birds and the bees do have a spree

The leopard does not change his spots

But things in the distant appear as dots

 

 

The price of liberty is eternal vigilance

The cost of keeping it is constant diligence

Some lose it through repeated negligence

Lost of liberty is worse than indigence

Spare the rod and spoil the child

There’s more to gentle Jesus meek and mild

One man’s meat is another man’s poison

Keep-sailing will never reach the horizon

Necessity is the mother of invention

Failure holds hands with good intention

Never give a sucker an even break

Never advantage of a sucker take

Marry in haste and repent at leisure

Honeymoon be a short lived pleasure

Always seeking an elusive treasure

But never took the correct measure

All that glitters is not gold

Look before you leap we are told

Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth

Sometimes the wind blows from the south

Let the dead bury the dead

So the living can live instead

For life is just what you make it

And the time there is is just a bit

Into every life a little rain must fall

Even new cars will sometimes stall

Hard work never did anyone any harm

Yet con-men live by dint of their charm

 

 

Good things come to those who wait

But those who wait are often late

Surely we need to get this one straight

One must work towards one’s fate

Everything comes to him who waits

Yet he who gets up is he who takes

Thin line between work and patience

Success comes via patient endurance

Many a true word is spoken in jest

And a bit of truth in every lie at best

A bit of lie contaminates all the rest

Nothing but the truth stands the test

Make hay while the sun shines

It’s then the lazy man reclines

Choosing to sleep the best of times

Never heeding the warning chimes

  

Man does not live by bread alone

Does not indulge in eating a stone

Can never for his own sin atone

Or reach the Lord on a telephone

It is easy to be wise after the event

Wised before should lead one to relent

For this outcome was never the intent

The best to be done after is to repent

In the kingdom of the blind the one eye man is king

In a nation full of seers it might be the same thing

Often much wisdom among them obscures the light

And the poor one eye man reveals simple insight

If a job is worth doing it is worth doing well

But to a poor worker this would never jell

For a bad workman always blames his tools

And what is sense to the wise is folly to fools

He who pays the piper calls the tune

He who sups with the devil should have a long spoon

He who lives by the sword shall die by the sword

But the best sword to live by is God’s Holy Word

Hindsight is twenty-twenty

History repeats itself a plenty

Honesty is the best policy

To ask, a good philosophy

Give credit where credit is due

A bad debt is no help to you

Flattery will get you nowhere

Won’t even know when you get there

Don’t wash you dirty linen in public

Especially if you are a public critic

Do as I say and not as I do

Suggests I am the fool, not you

A woman’s place is in the home

While the man continues to roam

A woman’s lot is being alone

She alone hears the children moan

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

Sometimes it develops another wonder

While away a new relationship deepens

While the previous progressively weakens

Charity begins at home

And love is like the ocean foam

It swells and grows and glows

When it reaches you everyone knows

Better safe than sorry

Sorry was driving the lorry

Sorrow didn’t change the fact

Since safety never entered the act

Ask no questions and hear no lies

Bees follow honey and so do flies

All is well that ends well

Though the end I cannot tell

A rolling stone gathers no moss

He who roams may incur great loss

A thing of beauty is a joy forever

So if you have it leave it never

All good things must come to an end

And this poem has reached the bend

A woman’s work is never done

And this man’s work is just begun

Brevity is the soul of wit

At this point I think I’ll quit

Criticize if you must, I know you will

But writing these lines was quite a thrill

Stewart Russell © 2013

The Flexible Rule

Somewhat like the number line

Is the rule or the measuring stick,

Once we used the Imperial rule

But these days it is mostly metric.

It is made of wood in some cases

But many are also made of plastic,

Not as popular is the metal rule

But any of them will do the trick.

Do not use as percussion sticks

Or to make music on your desks,

A damaged rule that cannot measure

Is nothing more than useless.

The rule is an important member

It should be in the mathematics pack,

A schoolbag without the essential rule

Is travelling down the wrong track.

Do not use it to introduce measurement

Bring it further down the line,

For measuring without a true concept

Is most difficult to refine.

Start with paces and hand spans

Measure the desks and the floor,

Then move outside to the corridor

And the playing field

If you need to measure more.

Then you will see the need for a rule

With the varying paces and hand spans,

For students come in different sizes

And also their paces and hands.

Use the rule to measure the paces

Use the rule to measure the spans,

Then create a problem in mathematics

And see if the pupils can make a plan.

It would be quite tedious

Measuring the corridor with a rule,

But to find the size of my pace

The rule would be an important tool.

For now knowing the size of my span

And knowing the measure of my pace

I can calculate using the rule

The measure of almost any place.

I can obtain a ball of string

And then wrap it around a tree,

To learn the measure of its diameter

The rule would come in quite handy.

Use the rule to measure the string

It is the same measure as the tree,

And knowing the measure of the string

Will be the diameter’s measure exactly.

A procedure to bear in mind

The rule comes after the number line,

Both show the zero coming first

In measuring remember that every time.

It’s different from counting items

Where the first item is number one,

On the rule there are spaces

Like the paces used to measure the lawn.

I trust the foregoing fourteen verses

Have shown the importance of the rule,

Notwithstanding its shape and rigidity

It can be a flexible measuring tool.

Stewart Russell © 2016

Crusade Converts

 

 

We’ve left our home base

To bring you God’s word,

We trust you’ve been listening

We believe you have heard.

Whatever you do with it

Is entirely up to you

But it will not return void

This is God’s own view.

You need only one word

To convict you in the judgment

So be careful to receive it

It’s your time to repent.

I want to introduce to you

Four of our newborn babes,

They will need our help

Long after this crusade

It is true you might say

There are more besides these

But these I have seen and noted

And tonight I am delightfully pleased.

The Apostle Paul you know

And the Apostle Peter too

So let us get acquainted

With this newborn crew.

You’d remember Saul’s conversion

When on the road to Damascus,

Well right here at this crusade

We have the newborn, Lamascus.

You would recall Peter’s denial

And how Jesus reinstated him,

Something special happened to Akil

When God forgave him of his sin.

Thirdly I want to introduce to you

This babe in Christ, Mario,

It’s our Christian responsibility

To ensure that he continues to grow.

Last but in no ways least

I give to you number four,

Right here at this crusade is

Newborn babe in Christ, Keemo.

You that experienced the new birth

Would understand when I say

That these four can also make it

If we help them come what may.

Is spite of our circumstances

Look how we have grown

So these four can grow too

If they are not left on their own.

No stillborn babies in God’s kingdom

Just His divine works in progress,

Right now they are born again

And here comes the growing pain.

Sometimes they might fall

And surely they will stumble

But with our generous support

They will not collapse and crumble.

I am reminded of the conversation

When Jesus gave Peter his charge,

Feed my sheep and feed my lambs

Don’t let any roam at large.

I am sure there are more

Than these I have here listed

So Pastor James I am glad

That on this crusade you insisted.

There have been challenges

And I am sure there still are

But we can lift our hearts to God

And thank Him for what He’s done so far.

Stewart Russell © 2016