May

 

 

You and I may or may not

But May will come

All because in a matter of hours

April will be done.

 

The year began yesterday

At least, that’s how it feels

But four months have passed

At a terrific speed.

 

Soon we will hear bells

Christmas bells, I mean,

And Old Year’s will be upon us:

Another changing scene.

 

January and February

March and April!

One-third of the year has gone;

It’s unretractable.

 

New Year’s resolutions

“Gone through de eddoes”,

We are not likely to change now;

You and I both know.

 

New Year’s resolutions

Are exactly that!

A New Year’s change for then

And that’s a fact.

 

It is nothing definitive,

Just a temporary urge

And even if it is in the least started,

Old self will re-emerge.

 

That is why in my case

I do not make any

For, I will never be of the few

But more so, of the many.

 

May is almost upon us

April is almost done,

Little success at our resolutions,

Failure has again won.

 

 

I reiterate, we may change,

Or most likely we may not

But that change can’t happen anytime,

I consider to be rot.

 

For every day begins a year:

The first day every 365,

Make new resolutions on any day

And then after them, strive!

 

You and I may see May

Or, you and I may not,

But, if in fact, you and I remain,

May will be our lot.

 

Enjoy the last eleven hours

Of April 2025

And after those New Year resolutions,

Continue to strive.

 

Stewart Russell © April 30, 2025

 

Could be Your Mouth

 

 

Trying to get ahead?

Struggling for some success?

Are your efforts futile?

Are you suffering from stress?

 

Are you blaming others?

Do you think everyone's a louse?

Perhaps, you need to consider

The fault may be your mouth.

 

It keeps getting in the way

Though you don’t even realize it,

And your nagging, persistent flapping

Keeps you in the ditch.

 

 

The one who guards his mouth

Protects his life

But he that opens wide his lips

Invites his own strife.

 

From the mouth of the wisest man;

Solomon was his name,

His request for wisdom and understanding

Was granted when he began to reign.

 

The ruling of God’s chosen people

Was a very steep ladder to climb,

Before Solomon could put his mouth in gear

God had to prepare his mind.

Watch your mouth, my brother

And guard your mouth, my sister,

Foot-in-the-mouth disease

Can leave you with lifelong blisters.

 

 

Proverbs 21:23

 

“Whoso keeps his mouth and tongue

Keeps his soul from trouble.”

Another critical piece of advice

To help throughout life’s struggle.

 

Life is a ladder we are climbing

Whose rungs are regularly spaced,

Our mouth can get between the rungs

And give us a very bad taste.

 

The taste of defeat and failure

The taste of futility and despair,

The taste of putting in seeming effort

But getting absolutely nowhere.

 

Upon honest introspection

You may come upon the cause,

If your mouth gets tangled in the rungs

It’s time to put it on pause.

 

 

It’s time that I close mine too

Before it starts getting in the way,

With that I conclude this poem

And wish you all a blessed day.

 

Stewart Russell © July 2020

 

The Life Principle

 

 

What is this thing called life

Which no man can ever create?

Though that doesn’t stop him from trying-

He is more desperate here of late.

 

His robotic feats are amazing,

We hear of artificial intelligence

But his efforts at creating human life

Are meeting Divine resistance.

 

God is the creator of all nature

In the beginning that’s what He did,

What man innovates is artificial

And to create life is from him hid.

 

God is the Creator of life

But this is without man’s zone

Even though he is at the stage

Where he is creating animal clones.

 

There is a moral responsibility

That God has taken on Himself,

Intrinsic to all human beings

There is the matter of moral health.

 

The life principle in man

Is really the breath of the Living God

And at the point of a man’s demise,

That life principle is recalled.

 

From God to man, from man to God

Never from man to man,

This life principle I must repeat

Is a part of the Father’s divine plan.

 

 

While a man can terminate a life

He is unable to give it back,

That is the prerogative of Almighty God

And that is a scientific fact.

 

There is a tendency to believe

That God and science are at odds

And in blinding the eyes of men

The devil has done a good job.

 

God is omni-science

There is no science outside of God,

The devil knows this too

But after all, it’s not his call.

 

God is the source of all life

Both natural and spiritual

And because our life is hidden in Christ,

That life is also eternal.

 

 

So, man cannot give life

It does not matter how hard he tries,

God is the limiter that determines

The altitude to which man flies.

 

For after all, God is the only God

And man will never be,

The creature can never be the Creator

And this, the creature needs to see.

 

The life principle we need to know

Is the principle for our life,

There is no life outside of Creator God

Without Him there is only strife.

Robots cannot attain to salvation

However apparently intelligent!

No amount of artificial intelligence

Can make a robot repentant.

 

God is the one that gives life

Life physical is a loan from God

But His spiritual life is eternal

And this is the possession of the called.

 

The one who grasps this opportunity

Shall never, never die,

This assurance was given by Jesus

And on it we can rely.

 

You would recall the occasion

He’d given back life to Lazarus,

The only resurrection and the life

Is the Creator, the Lord Jesus!

 

Stewart Russell © May 2020

My Barber

 

I have a special barber

That always cuts my hair,

He’s is extremely good I tell you;

To me, this is clear.

 

I am his only client

Although he is so good

And no doubt you wonder why

And I guess you should.

 

Only one client

And he does it for free,

He stops whatever he is doing

Just for me.

 

I suppose you’d say

That makes me special

Since my barber is mine alone

And no other people.

 

Sometimes very early

Or very late at night,

Once I request my barber

It is always all right.

 

 

He has time for me

Whenever I call

And what really amazes me,

There’s no charge at all.

 

And he takes his time

As you would expect,

Thus, a shout out to him today-

Much respect!

 

Two mirrors he uses:

A front one and a back,

In his left hand he holds one

And this is a fact.

 

This one he looks in

To see the back and sides

And expertly around my head

His scissors glide.

 

He would also shave

My mustache and my beard

And at no point in this mission

Am I ever scared.

 

Scissors in his right hand

A mirror in his left,

And I would not tell you a lie,

He is expertly deft.

 

 

So, next time you see me,

Check it for yourself,

My barber is never injurious

To my health.

 

A little slip may occur

But this is very rare,

It's never anything serious;

Au contraire!

 

I am my own barber

By now you know,

My head is the only evidence

You'll see on show.

 

Stewart Russell © November 21, 2024

 

Lengthening of Days

 

Perhaps it’s just me

And maybe it is not you

But this lengthening of days

Has become my view.

 

You may be wondering

What I am talking about

But I will tell you in a minute,

No need to shout.

 

Now, I am a pensioner

But you probably know,

For given how I am looking

It must really show.

 

The shortening of days

You will find in the Word,

It’s really Matthew and Mark

To which I refer.

 

In Matthew 24 verse 22

And Mark 13 verse 20,

The shortening of days is implied

In a prophecy.

 

Whether this be the day

Or the period of time,

This is not what is currently

Occupying my mind.

 

Instead, I reiterate,

It’s the lengthening of days

Since the days seem much longer

When nearing paydays.

 

I live pretty much

From paycheck to paycheck,

Sorry, it’s pension check I mean,

Please check.

 

From the 20th each month

There is a daily grind

In which anticipating pension day

Is on my mind.

Take this April:

That’s been the longest yet,

And I will have to wait till Monday,

You could bet.

 

So, you see what I mean

By the lengthening of days?

It’s very unlike Jesus’ prophecy

In a number of ways.

 

The days do drag along

Just before pension day

And for the last fourteen years

This has been the way.

 

Not with rich people,

Of course not!

But if you are poor like I am,

This is your lot.

 

Please note below

Re information coming to hand,

I received a huge surprise

Which is quite grand?

 

I had written on the 24th

But I got lucky this time,

I woke and checked on the 25th;

My pension is on line.

 

Stewart Russell © April 24, 2025

 

Hearing from God

 

 

Do people hear from God

The way that they say?

Does the Holy Spirit speak

Whenever they pray?

 

“I was deep in prayer

And the Spirit said to me

This is the word for Sunday,

So let it be.”

 

From time to time

Pastors make this claim

Perhaps to reinforce the fact

It’s in Jesus’ name.

 

 

To get the buy-in

From their audience,

Perhaps they use the Holy Spirit

As an advertisement.

 

For sure we will listen

And we will also heed

Once the Holy Spirit ratifies it,

Oh yes, indeed!

 

So, they hear from God

And we hear from them,

That kind of going between

Spells out a problem.

 

There is one Spirit

The Bible makes it clear

Who witnesses to the believer

For the believer to hear.

 

The word one brings

Should be a confirmation

For of two or more witnesses

We have a conviction.

 

 

We hear from God

Through His revelation,

And God speaks to the believer

Via illumination.

 

The word of the Spirit

Is God’s Holy Word

And that is the instrument

To which we must refer.

 

Any urges we feel

Let us put in context,

They must not be dogmas

To suit our pretext.

 

God speaks in His Word

And through His Word

And to live by His Holy Word

Is to honour His Word.

 

Only today I learnt

Of a prophecy

Which seems to me ludicrous

And full of lunacy.

 

God told this preacher

When he will die

And the exact day and year

He also supplied.

 

 

The grand old age

Of a hundred and twenty

Before being whisked away

From his body.

 

It’d be mind-blowing

If it were true

But I have some serious doubts

And I suspect you too.

 

He was prophesying

Regarding 2025,

The year according to him

When we come alive.

 

 

Twenty twenty-six

Will be the big fix

And thirty years afterwards

He’ll be gone in 2056.

 

This, according to him

He heard from God,

Thus, another thirty-two years

Before death calls.

 

Use your brain,

Do not jettison it,

And I urge you my friend,

Make it a habit.

 

Listen to God

As He speaks by His Word

And ignore big-up prophets

Who are clearly absurd.

 

And if you feel led

To perform a task,

As long as it is God’s will,

You don’t need to ask.

 

 

 

Try not to get buy-in

By claiming the Spirit

But speak the Word of God;

Just do it!

 

Stewart Russell © December 20, 2024

 

The Child Is Not the Man

 

 

 

“He won’t be any better,

He will be just like his dad.”

And the way in which it was said

You know his dad was bad.

 

But alas, the prediction failed,

He was nothing like his dad

And even the ones that predicted ill,

They were also glad.

 

The reverse was also true

But still a difference in the trend:

A child who had a good father

Still found the druggies’ den.

 

The child is not the man:

This needs to be emphasized

And what is always expected

Is not always realized.

 

I have a very good friend

Who, as a child, was quite disgusting

But throughout his adult life

His achievements are amazing.

 

I would not take the time now

To spell out those achievements

But suffice it to be said,

Absent is that disgusting intent.

 

He is often misunderstood

And I think in some cases envied,

Some appear somewhat mystified

At their unfulfilled prophecies. 

 

The man these “seers” expected

That child has never become

Instead, contrary to their predictions,

He became a profitable son.

 

Many have known the child

But the man they do not know,

He does not fit in to their category

Re: the phrase “I told you so”.

 

For had he continued on the path

He trod in his childhood days

These “seers” would feel vindicated

In predicting another stray.

 

I once stood in his defense

On an occasion he was castigated,

The information that was relayed

Was clearly fabricated.

 

 

“You don’t know the man!”

Was my unreserved reprimand

For many may have known the child

But they do not know the man.

 

The man projected in the child

Is not the man the “seers” see

And they are extremely mystified

In the man he turned out to be.

 

As an educator for four decades

I have seen it go both ways:

Starting out bad becoming good

Or the good becoming strays.

 

For me the consolation is:

The former out numbers the latter

For when the good becomes the stray

For society, this is a grave matter.

 

 

The child is not the man

However good or bad a child he be,

And when all is said and done

We can only wait and see.

 

Stewart Russell © May 26, 2021