Let Us Move On

 

The people have spoken

Let us move on

Time for the work

There’s much to be done

There have been losers

There have been winners

But both together 

Can ensure the hope that glimmers

A light in the distance

Beckons to us

Let us move on

With renewed thrust

Divided for a while

For the party’s cause

Now as we go forward 

Put that on pause

Three weeks of canvassing

Doing the political stuff

Now let Barbados our country

Be our focus

Let us move on

Together as one

Let us grab this opportunity

Walking into the new dawn

For at the end of the day

We are really all “B’s”

That is “B” for Barbados

As we all ought to be

The voting may have varied

But the cause is the same

I expect your vote was given 

In our country’s name

So whether of “B” or “D”

Solutions Barbados or UPP

Let us join hands together

And support our great country

  

The fallout at this moment

Was only meant for a while

Let’s gather our wits about us 

And move on with a smile

Cognizant of the fact

That Barbadians all are we

And to achieve the common goal

Requires there be unity

We can rise from the ashes

In true bajan style

And with focused resilience

Cut down the miles

The objective before us 

May appear far and long

But like sticks in a bundle

We all can be strong

 With God in our hearts

And with guidance from above

We can march to the challenge

All in one love

There may be damaged pride

That’s nothing new

Let us put that behind us

And see Barbados through

No time for gloating

That is immature

Scorning a fellow Barbadian

Is courting failure for sure

Learning the lessons

We can take from the past

And like true Barbadians

Bend our backs to the task

The task of rebuilding

Anything that’s been razed

Means viewing the present reality

As a temporary phase

Not living in the past

But utilizing the present

In the best way possible

To signal positive intent

Not just empty rhetoric

But in behavior befitting our age

Let us move on my brothers and sisters

Showing we are on the same page

Stewart Russell © May 2018

The Parables of Jesus at a Glance Vol. 2

A servant doing his master’s will 

Sees himself as unworthy

Recognizing all he has really done

 Is what was only his duty

Don’t be the unmerciful servant 

For much he had been forgiven

But could not forgive his fellow servant

For the little he had taken.

Who really is my neighbour? 

The expert in the law did ask

Only to discover all to whom we can do good

Is the extent of our task

A friend in need is a friend in deed

 Even at the midnight hour

One who boldly asks should be given

What it is he truly wants to borrow

When invited to a wedding feast

 Don’t sit in the place of honour

That’s for the distinguished guest 

The host will demand you sit lower

Real estate, a new wife and oxen

Were reasons why they refused

Invitees to a great banquet 

Made excuse after excuse after excuse

Any man who sets out to build a house 

Should carefully count the cost

And salt is surely good for nothing 

If its saltiness it has lost

There is joy up in heaven 

Over one lost sheep the shepherd finds

Far more than the rejoicing

Over the other ninety and nine

Or consider that woman 

Who from her rare collection loses a coin,

Think of the great celebration 

When to the ten that coin is rejoined

 “Give me what is mine,” demanded the heir 

And to a far country went

Only to return to “Father’s house”

 After he saw the need to repent

Accused of mismanagement

 The unjust steward was called to give account

But was commended for his shrewdness 

After reducing the loan amounts

The rich man living sumptuously 

Ignored the beggar at his gate

But in hell requested Abraham 

To send Lazarus to relieve his state

Some workers agreed to their pay 

As they came on at different stages

But the first ones became angry 

When the last received the same wages

Some consider it as nagging 

But it got the attention of the judge

The widow received her just demands

When at first he wouldn’t budge

Two went up to the temple to pray 

A Publican and a Pharisee

The Pharisee did pray how good he was 

The Publican begged for mercy

A king who retuned from afar

Put the faithful stewards over his cities

But the servant who kept the investment 

Was punished most severely

Two sons were commissioned 

The first said no but later changed his mind

The second said yes but never did 

What it was that he was assigned

These tenants seized the owner’s servants 

Finally they killed his son

But they were brought to a wretched end

When all was said and done

A guest who attended the banquet 

But refused a wedding garment

Was bound both hand and foot 

And into outer darkness was sent

The fig tree is a valuable lesson 

Reminding that summer is near

So the signs that point to the Lord’s coming

Tell that he will soon appear

Far better to be a faithful servant 

Awake, alert and watching

Than to be a wicked servant 

Who when the Lord comes finds him napping

Or consider the ten virgins

 Five were wise and five were foolish

Five went in with the Bridegroom 

The other five were left with just a wish

It’s like a man leaving his servants 

And going to a country far away

Then returning when they least expect it 

On that unexpected day

Five talents gained five more 

two talents became four

But the slothful wicked servant’s talent 

Did not even gain one more

Goats on his left and sheep on his right 

When the Son of Man shall come

The goats to everlasting punishment 

The sheep will inherit God’s kingdom. 

So end these forty-six parables 

Instructive for you and me

Once we keep them in our mind 

And take them seriously

They all speak of God’s coming kingdom

That Jesus came to announce,

That day is fast approaching 

When all must give an account

Christ the great Judge will preside 

The books will be opened wide

All and sundry will be present 

Not one of us will be able to hide

We will answer for the things we’ve done 

Be they righteous or be they bad

And all who have rejected the Saviour 

For them that day will be very sad

  

Stewart Russell © 2016

The Parables of Jesus at a Glance Vol. 1

 

Jesus spoke in parables

 Oft to the multitude

His words are more important

 Than our daily food

Heaven and earth he said

 Will one day suffer decay

But not one jot of his word

 Will ever pass away

These forty-six parables

 In Matthew, Mark and Luke

Should be critical learning Matters

 In any institute

Scenes from daily life

 Such understanding brings

As Jesus fashions our minds

 To think on heavenly things

None spoke like this man

 The greatest master teacher he

Who taught in myriads of ways

 So that his students could see

Object lessons from the Word

 He shares with you and me,

Everyone an earthly story

 But teaching about eternity

A new cloth patch 

Placed on an old garment

Will invariably produce

 A much greater rent

Storing new wine in old wineskins  

Why that is worse

For the new wine will most certainly 

Cause the old skins to burst

And just as a city on a hill

 Cannot ever be hidden

Hiding one’s light from view

 Is also strictly forbidden

  

One man will build on a rock 

Another will build on the sand

But it’s better to trust in God

 Rather than trust in man.

The servant whose master forgives him

Of the greater debt

Would surely show greater love

 To his benefactor yet

Consider that no one lights a lamp

 And puts it under a bed

So that he ends up hiding the light 

By which another may be led

I’d rather have a little barn

 With just a single stool

Than by Almighty God

 To be called a fool

Far better to be a servant 

Who’s working and watching

Than on the master’s return

 To be caught while napping

He that is unfaithful 

Questions his master’s return

But the faithful servant

 Holds to what he has learned

That unfruitful fig tree

 That is likely to be hewn

Just give it another year

 Before axing it too soon

Four types of soil 

And only one brought a yield

But the sower was generous

 As he sowed the precious seed

Let the tares and the wheat

 Grow in the very same field

For at harvest time 

The Harvester will both of them reveal

By itself the soil produces

 Grain in the rain and the sun

And the ripened grain is reaped

 As soon as harvest time comes

The kingdom is like a mustard seed

 Planted in the ground

But becomes a towering tree

 Whose immensity abounds

Know that the kingdom of heaven

Is like yeast, Jesus said

That is mixed in the flour

 But works right through the bread

It is like a hidden treasure 

That a man found and bought

By selling all he possessed 

What great pleasure it brought!

The kingdom is like a merchant

 A precious pearl having found

Sells all that he has

 So that he might own that pearl of renown

Another time it’s represented

 As a great net cast into the lake

The bad fish are cast into the fire 

The good ones the fishermen take

Every teacher of the law 

Who is versed in kingdom knowledge

Relishes the treasures of old

 And treats the new as privileged

One lost sheep is valued 

Over that of the other ninety-nine

Thus will the shepherd search

 Until that one sheep he finds

Jesus is the Good Shepherd

Who gave his life for the flock

If today he is not your shepherd 

Now is your time to take stock

Stewart Russell 2016