Life and Living

 

 

From dawn till dusk

From dusk till dawn,

From morning till night

From night till morn.

 

From dust to dust

The destiny of the body,

What is the meaning of life?

Tell me, can anybody?

 

A few short decades

Sometimes more, sometimes less,

Sometimes full of trouble

Sometimes blessed.

 

 

 

Like the throw of a die

To determine one’s destiny

Or like picking Lotto numbers

To avert poverty.

 

Does life make a living?

Does living make a life?

Which stance should one adopt

To reduce life’s strife?

 

 

 

Some eat to live

Others live to eat,

Feeding a chicken properly

Gives better meat.

 

Some are living to die

While some are dying to live,

Some horde up everything

Never willing to give.

 

Some live for today

Since tomorrow never comes,

Some lead the way

While others march to their drum.

 

Ages and stages

Of writing on life’s pages

And as life’s tempest rages,

One to one engages.

 

Life is made for living

But what does this mean?

For some it is mostly fun and frolic

For others, a battle scene.

 

 

Wastage is a privilege

That a few can afford

While most daily scratch around

Seeking opportunity’s door.

 

Bits and pieces for some,

A bounty for others,

Some seeing life as a blessing

And for some it’s a bother.

 

For some the days are short,

For others they are quite long

And definitely life’s not the same

For the weak and the strong.

 

Life and living

Can be vastly different,

One may complement the other

Given one’s intent.

 

Primary and secondary

Don’t mix up the two!

These two are critically important

Regarding what we do.

 

 

Necessity comes first

And after comes pleasure,

Health before wealth, my friend

Is a primary measure.

 

We all start with life-

It is a living we must make

And we do so as the genuine

And not as the fake.

 

Yes, life is for living

But living the best we can

Not only for self but for others

As our daily life plan.

 

Stewart Russell © June 12, 2024

Come Apart or Fall Apart

 

 

This world is a rat-race

Driven by fierce competition,

Its constituents are obsessed

With personal ambition.

 

Sinner and saint alike

Working twenty-four-seven,

Both trying to make of this world

Their respective heaven.

 

Both putting in the effort

To accumulate great wealth

While both are seemingly unaware

Of their decreasing health.

 

Refusing to come apart

And therefore, falling apart,

Overworking their mortal brain

And stressing out their heart.

 

 

The result, as is expected,

Are numerous strokes

And heart attacks more frequently

In even young folks.

 

Rest is very essential

As well as periodic reflection

And neither is remotely possible

Without intervention.

 

Warning lights are blinking

Alarms are going off

But no letting up coming soon

Until our river is crossed.

 

Evident are the wrecks

Of those that fell apart

Disregarding all the warning signs

That urged to come apart.

 

Even Jesus in his ministry

Took time to come apart

And did the same with his disciples

So they won’t fall apart.

 

 

But we are workaholics

And often we’re proud to be

And while our health goes into decline,

It is never suddenly.

 

Come apart I urge you

Or you will eventually fall apart,

Reflection is a brain activity

Supported by the heart.

 

Mark 6:31

 

And he said unto them,

Come ye yourselves apart

Into a desert place,

And rest a while.

 

Stewart Russell © June 15, 2024

 

If not Jesus, Who?

 

 

If Jesus cannot save his sheep

Tell me, who can?

Doesn’t it sound a little ludicrous

Considering salvation’s plan?

 

The preacher certainly can’t

Nor the dedicated pastor,

The evangelist can preach forever

But he is not the Saviour.

 

The prophet can prophesy

And the counsellor can assure,

The apostle may stir the people

But can’t open heaven’s door.

 

It is true Jesus waits to enter

And the sinner must open the door,

But it is the Father that draws:

No less and no more.

 

It is the Saviour, Christ Jesus,

That effects our salvation

And in concert with God and the Spirit

Completes our redemption.

 

None can come to the Father

Except through the Son

And them that come to the Son,

The Father draws every one.

 

 

 

So, if Jesus cannot save,

Tell me in all seriousness, who can

When it is Jesus that died

To effect redemption’s plan?

 

Nothing is impossible with God;

That is, nothing that He wills,

And anything that He has done

He is able to do still.

 

None that comes to Christ

He will ever cast out

And His word is eternally reliable

And this is without a doubt.

 

None that Jesus saves

Can in no wise be lost,

He paid sin’s price on Mount Calvary

On that middle cross.

 

There were other crosses too

One to the left and to the right

And one of the thieves hanging there

Received his spiritual sight.

 

 

Imagine him calling on Jesus

Minutes before Jesus died

And there receiving eternal life

From Jesus, the crucified.

 

If not Jesus, who can?

There is none other who can,

Only Jesus can unlock the gate

To let in a penitent man.

 

Such a one shall not perish

But has everlasting life

And the Father gives this assurance

On account of Jesus Christ.

 

  

Stewart Russell © February 12, 2022

 

Required: One Fool

 

 

Tell me what I need to hear

But do it in jest

Not what I want to hear;

That is not the best.

 

“A spoonful of sugar”

You know how the maxim ends,

“Makes the medicine go down

And does not offend.”

 

You would recall the jester:

A professional clown,

His job was to entertain the King

Who wore the crown.

 

Of course, he did it in a way

Hoping not to offend

For if he exposed the king

It could be his end.

 

He could call the king a fool

Once he acted the fool,

None would take him seriously

And all would be cool.

 

The king would understand

And act appropriately

And hopefully if all went right

Then all would be happy.

 

On the other hand,

If it did not go down right,

For some, including the jester,

Day could turn to night.

 

Listen to modern day comics

As they ply their craft,

They tell the truth in a way

To make one laugh.

 

But dig in a little deeper

And you would come to realize

A lot of truth can emerge

From a pseudo lie.

 

A truth that appears as a lie

Is truth nevertheless,

And if per chance, you are alert

You can pass the test.

 

 

In the “Emperor’s new clothes”

None dared to speak out,

But regarding the king’s nakedness

That child had no doubt.

 

The fool that I am speaking of

Is very witty and wise,

He knows how to deliver truth

Albeit, in disguised.

 

“A word to the wise”

If one’s faculty is not deficient

Will certainly hit the mark

And will also be sufficient.

 

“Every company needs a fool”

As seen in "The Barbados Today"

Not getting through in your quest,

This fool is the way.

 

Harbour people around you

Who will tell you the truth,

It is a great leadership ploy

And bears much proof.

 

Stewart Russell © June 10, 2023

 

My Name Is in the Bible

 

 

My name is in the Bible

I guess you didn’t know,

And just in case you want the proof,

The proof to you I’ll show.

 

I guess you’d probably think

It’s Michael or Gabriel

Or since I could never be an angel,

It must be Peter or Lemuel.

 

It couldn’t be Esau or Jacob

No such names these days,

No James and John and David

We’re into the African ways.

 

No more European trappings

And colonial underpinnings,

That may have been useful in its time

Now all of that we'er trimming.

 

“Where in the Bible?” You ask

And I will show you soon

But when I really think of it

I can jump over the moon.

 

If to you I seem excited,

It is because I genuinely am

To think that my name was included

In God’s redemptive plan.

 

My name is not only unique

But it is a common name as well,

“How can that be?” I hear you ask,

I am only to delighted to tell.

 

Go to John chapter 3 verse 16

And you’ll find it written there,

Right there in the Holy Bible

On its pages bright and fair.

 

For God so loved the world

That he gave his only begotten Son

That whosoever, yea, that’s it!

That’s where I got it from.

 

 

My name is whosoever

And you will find it in God’s Word,

In the golden text of the Bible

You can be absolutely assured.

 

Assured of divine salvation

Like all the whosoever

That call on the name of Jesus Christ

Knowing they shall be his forever.

 

For none that come to him

Will he ever cast away,

This assurance is to the whosoever

That come to him today.

 

Stewart Russell © September 3, 2020

 

 

An Invaluable Gift

 

 

Anything that is invaluable

Is impossible to buy,

Just think of any God-given gift

And you will see why.

 

The air that we breathe

Is an invaluable gift,

It is free to both rich and poor

If you catch my drift.

 

We plough and we plant

But for crops to grow

The rains must come in season

And the sun must glow.

 

No water like rainwater

To quench a plant’s thirst

And if the precious sun never shone

It would even be worse.

 

In fact, there’d be no life

I mean, no life at all,

But such is unlikely to happen

Because of Almighty God.

 

Air and water, sun and rain

Are all invaluable

And through these invaluable gifts

Life is sustainable.

 

Life, another invaluable,

That the richest cannot buy

And this point is sufficiently made

When their time come to die.

 

Anything that can be bought

Could never be invaluable,

As long as any value is attached

That thing is buyable.

 

Air, water, sun and rain

And life are invaluable gifts

But if you notice the poem’s title,

‘Gift’ you should not miss.

 

Every good and perfect gift

Comes from our God above

But there is one above all others

Compliments: God’s love.

 

It is the gift of life

And I don’t mean natural life

Instead, I mean the kind of life

That outlives all strife.

 

 

I speak of eternal life

The promise of the Father,

That is promised to the born-again

Here and in the hereafter.

 

Whosoever will may come

And claim this precious gift,

It is not a fairy tale I assure you,

Neither legend nor myth.

 

It’s not cheap by any means

Though it is free to us,

But it cost the blood of someone;

That someone is Jesus.

 

Salvation is not cheap

Though it is readily available,

There is no earthly cost attached

Since to us it’s invaluable.

 

 

It is infinitely invaluable

Purchased with Jesus’ blood

And what he did for all mankind

Nobody else could.

 

No other was good enough

To pay the price of sin

But Jesus, having achieved this task,

Now draws us all to him.

 

An invaluable gift

Of full and free salvation,

Why deny yourself of such a gift-

Such wonderful redemption?

 

John 3:16

 

For God so loved the world,

That he gave his only begotten Son,

That whosoever believeth in him should not perish,

But have everlasting life.

 

Stewart Russell © June 19, 2024

Trust God’s Word

 

 

There are some who believe

The Bible doesn’t say what it means

And so, they reserve the God-given right

To interpret it how they deem.

 

Interpretation before reading

And the implicit before the explicit,

The denomination before the Holy Word

And tradition before God’s edict.

 

Horribly mistaken is anyone

That speaks for the Holy Scriptures,

God is not dependent on man’s traditions

To paint His divine picture.

 

This He did from the origin:

His Word says in the beginning God,

To my mind this is self-explanatory;

All others I must appall.

 

In six days, says the Word,

God created the entire universe,

And when Adam and Eve first sinned

All creation was cursed.

 

It was a curse because of sin

That fell on man and the earth,

But God provided a way to end it all

Through His Son’s earthly birth.

 

 

 

In a Bethlehem stable he was born

With a manger for his crib,

Artists showed straw for his bed linen

For in paintings this is vivid.

 

“Wrapped in swaddling bands”

Was the message to the shepherds

Who back in those Old Covenant days

Were little better than lepers

 

Frowned upon by most

They were not the best of guests

But being invited to see the new born King,

Oh, this was surely the best.

 

 

So, two beginnings I see,

The first was definitely physical,

The second, and this one is clear to me,

Was to deal with the spiritual.

 

 

 

For as in Adam all die,

In Christ shall all be made alive,

The more abundant life is given to a believer

That in all things he may thrive.

 

Read first then interpret

If interpretation is necessary

And use the strict confines of the Word

To interpret properly.

 

Hermeneutics is the method

That is used to exegete the Word,

Precept upon precept, line upon line

As Prophet Isaiah inferred.

 

Scripture validates scripture;

That’s how God set it up,

He will never conflict with Himself;

No such atheistic luck.

 

Any conflict is perceived

And definitively not real,

Every instance any choose to advance

Will undoubtedly fail.

 

In the Word there is life

And that life is in the Holy Spirit

Who brings to our recall all Jesus said

Just as Jesus did predict.

 

Stewart Russell © December 22, 2024