All This and Yet

 

 

 

He had it all

She had it all,

All this and yet

It was like nothing at all.

 

Satisfaction in life!

Is it material?

Is it the same

For all people?

 

What percent is riches?

What portion is wealth?

And what about wellbeing?

What about health?

 

How much is fame?

What is popularity worth?

What about one’s achievements?

How important is being 1^st?

 

 

First in class?

First in every competition?

Having no equal

Defeating all opposition?

 

All this and yet

There’s a craving for more,

On top of the world

Yet life is a bore.

 

Another challenge!

This should surely be it

But having conquered again

I am still in a pit.

 

I am my challenge

That I cannot escape,

I have vanquished all opposition

Yet myself I hate.

 

I’ve achieved and achieved

But it’s all short lived,

The applause has died down

I’ve nothing more to give.

 

 

Trophies galore

And plaques on the walls,

All of this and yet

It means nothing at all.

 

Each achievement

Is for the moment achieved

And as quickly as it comes

As quickly it recedes.

 

One final hoorah

That the world will remember,

They’re not likely to forget,

No, not ever!

 

“I’ll fly without wings

A little different from before,

No applause this time

For I will be no more.”

 

 

All of this and yet,

What lack they yet?

To be void of life’s real purpose

Is one’s deepest depth.

 

Life’s real purpose

Is to live it for Christ,

He is the only way

In this and the next life.

 

All this and yet

Must be contextualized,

Christ must steer my ship

If I am to survive.

 

In memory of Miss USA 2019 Cheslie Kryst

 

Stewart Russell © January 31, 2022

 

Love: the Winner

 

Once there was a competition

And three were on parade,

Just three important contestants

Only three did make the grade.

There were several before the finals

But they were eliminated

And now only three remain

As verse one has already stated.

That fact having been established

Let us now open up our mind

And watch the contestants perform

Across the stage of time.

Faith was first upon the stage:

Without Faith there is no Hope

Without Faith we cannot cope

Without Faith we’ll always grope.

 

The just shall walk by Faith

Faith is the eyes by which they see

Faith inspires when the way is dark

Faith is the path to their destiny.

Faith in God, that’s what I mean:

Faith to see beyond earth’s scene

Faith in the Spirit however hard it seems

Faith in Jesus and on him to lean.

Faith is that which pleases God

Faith is high on His requirements list

And anyone who will come to God

Must first have Faith that God exists.

Hope was next to glide across

To be viewed by the saints of every age,

Hope springs eternal someone had said

And here it was upon life’s stage.

 

Some argue if Faith is the engine

Then Hope has to be the view

Of that city formed in a believer’s mind

The quest of which he steadily pursues.

  

When all has gone and there’s still Hope

Then purpose is still alive,

This is the engine that drives life’s boat

It’s Hope upon which it thrives.

Hope is the blinder that forces the eye

To maintain its proper focus,

The many distractions are fleeting lures

That Hope blows away like the dust.

Hope and Faith, these two you have seen

But another besides these abide,

Welcome on stage the third of the three

In this company Love can never be denied.

Love suffers long and is kind

Love even hung from a rugged cross

Love constrained God to send His Son

So that mankind would not be lost.

“For God had so much Love,” the Bible says,

That He gave His only begotten Son

That whosoever puts Faith in him

Is assured of a place in God’s kingdom.

Love is compassionate and merciful

Love is caring and kind

Love is action not passive thought

That is quickly dispelled from the mind.

Love conquers every single wrong

Love even loves its abusers,

Love forgives and never gives up

On even it’s greatest accusers.

God is Love and Love is of God

There is nothing betwixt these two,

Without the one there cannot be the other,

They both are eternally true.

 

And now abides Faith, Hope and Love

At the present time there are three,

Faith and Hope will someday pass away

But Love will last throughout eternity.

Stewart Russell © August 2017