Company Limited

A variety of companies

Some limited and unlimited,

What’s your point I hear you ask,

To the following I was spirited.

We hear about companies

And some tell of corporations,

Establishments and institutes

Small and huge organizations.

But however big they get

There will be a major regret:

Regarding time, grasp and strength

Their limits are set.

They are managed by humans

And by humans with limits

Those three factors in verse three

For a moment we will visit.

Time, grasp and strength

The limits of which I speak

And for every human being

There is a very rapid leak.

A company that’s unlimited

Should be seen as a farce,

Regarding unlimited possibilities:

Such are really quite sparse.

Take for example time:

A commodity we can never define,

We plan as though we have it all

But we do so with a fixed timeline.

Regarding time we never know

Just how little or how much,

In any given company it is limited

And should be treated as such.

If only we had the time

We could do anything,

Such is the oft-repeated song

Which lots of people sing.

  

But time is never ours

And though we use it as we like,

It is particularly limited

And that is the human plight.

Grasp is another commodity

Which we cannot define,

We tend to think otherwise

Given the heights to which we climb.

But grasp too is limited

Regarding how far we may go

That commodity too is set

Sooner or later we find this is so.

If only we had the time

That would take care of our grasp

But even with these two

Something else just wouldn’t last.

It is strength that I speak of

As fleeting as the other two,

A cap has been place on each of us

Meaning me, and also you.

Our strength generally wanes

That is an everyday fact,

Sooner or later it will go entirely

And that will be that.

It cannot be “company unlimited”

When such commodities are set

But a company that is limited

No wonder we quarrel and fret.

The greatest asset of any company

Is certainly the human mind

And over time it is clear to see

Both grasp and strength will decline.

Company Limited now you see

Refers to you and also me

And anything that we humans build

Carries a limited expectancy.

Stewart Russell © January 2019

Seriously Under Construction

You get annoyed with me

Because I am so unlike you

But I’m seriously under construction

I am having a change of view.

I have not always been like this

You should have seen me before,

Before this construction had begun

I was exceptionally poor.

So that what you are seeing now

Represents a great improvement

But still I am under serious construction

Though I have some lived-in tenants.

I know you are taken aback

And you feel that I am making sport

But as my construction work continues

I am just asking for your support.

If you cannot join in and help me

You can keep your criticisms to yourself,

I am seriously under construction

And it’s all for my spiritual health.

I am still experiencing relapses

Perhaps this is very unlike you,

Remember I’m seriously under construction

And sometimes I become unglued.

This may not be your experience

You might be of the rare and perfect type,

You are no longer under construction

So you don’t have to struggle and fight.

Thus it would be difficult to understand

All this rubble on my site

But I am seriously under construction

I have not yet attained to your type.

I am seriously under construction

Please take that as my status right now

And for every little success I achieve

My renewed heart will shout WOW!!!

  

My construction was started from within

Most constructions start from without,

My inner man is the Spirit’s target

It is he that is turning me about.

You see I am a work in progress

And that is why I carry this sign

Stating “Seriously Under Construction”

During the time I am being redesigned.

If you have already reached your limit

Hip, hip, hurrah to you

But somehow I feel that at your vantage point

You should be having a better view.

Yet you ignore my construction sign

As though you have never passed there,

Maybe you too are under construction

Serious construction too, I fear.

My builders are constantly at work

The Father, the Son and the Spirit,

Serious construction is going on here

Unless you are here to help, please exit.

Be careful when you come on site

Watch out for the loose dirt and rubble,

I am seriously under construction

And I could do without your trouble.

Thank you Father for sending your Son

Thank you Jesus for coming,

Thank you Holy Spirit for living in me

And for this building you are constructing.

Stewart Russell © March 2019

Remembering Patrick McGregor Jackman

Twelve years have passed

Since you have passed

But your memory is with us still.

And your legacy will last

As long as time lasts

For our void that great legacy fills.

Patrick McGregor Jackman

We salute you today

On the anniversary of your death.

Still large as life

In our hearts and our minds

While in Jesus you peacefully rest.

Lovingly remembered by: 

Harriet, Shawna and Natalie

Relatives and numerous friends

As well as your extended family.

As though you were alive

We write you this note

And we stand fast in our belief

Of the following quote. 

"Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints."

Psalm 116:17

Stewart Russell © March 27, 2019

In My Opinion

“In my opinion”…

A phrase that is very overworked,

“This is how I see it”

And the relevant information skirts.

Bill Bullard was a politician

He would have known a lot of this

And perhaps in the American Senate

Many such opinions dismissed.

He too might have used the phrase

I guess from time to time

No doubt with an aim to impress

His opinion on someone’s mind.

It sounds particularly scholarly

But it really carries no weight

Unless of course the erudite speaker

Is a colossus from some state.

But both high and low I note

Use it with great emphasis

And so too the educated and otherwise

To show something one has missed.

It matters not the topic

Be it politics, religion or philosophy,

“In my opinion” is a clincher

Usually void of modesty.

It should put an end to the argument

It’s information coming to hand,

It’s like the ace in a pack of cards

It’s the pearl in the oyster clam.

“This is really how I see it

This is just my humble opinion,

I am not asking you to agree with me

After all I am not officialdom.”

“I don’t know much about the topic

I haven’t done much research

But I too have an opinion.”

It could be in parliament or at church.

I have an opinion about your opinion

And this is just my opinion,

Your opinion in my opinion

Lacks both understanding and reason.

In the final analysis my friend

Opinion is rather superficial,

It’s the lowest form of human knowledge

Whether it comes from a novice or official.

Opinion requires no accountability

And no understanding, Bill Bullard states,

So building upon someone’s opinion

Is really playing around with fate.

You had better know for yourself

By investigating the matter thoroughly

Then take my uninformed advice

And submit your findings guardedly.

An opinion is just what it is

An assumption, a feeling or speculation,

It may be the result of composite opinions

Or simply a person’s own suspicion.

I too have had my opinions

They have changed time and time again

And I have no doubt if you’d be honest

Your experience has been the same.

So spare me your opinion

Give me some hard facts instead,

Your opinion is I might be sleeping

But I might just be lying in bed.

One opinion is worth a hundred

They are like spinning top in mud,

However, this is just my opinion

If you can do better, you should.

Stewart Russell © March 2019

“Opinion is really the lowest form of human knowledge.

It requires no accountability, no understanding.”

Bill Bullard