lovely and true

August 13, 2016 by Rick Stassi you

grove of trees Renoir

peace comes in drops of rain
light piercing in prismatic plane
with hopeful glances far above
He is near and cradles in love

when do we fill the gap of vanity
and overflow like tourmaline sea?
i ponder inward and see my flaw
knowing God’s restoration in awe

renewal waxes in unfurling leaf
soft green waves silent absence brief
my Creator will not leave my aching heart
He is watchful and shall never part

I hope someday I will see
into myself amber lens free
to see the possibilty of finding anew
what God has always seen lovely and true.

treatise 2

August 1, 2016 by Rick Stassi you

Pablo Picasso

For now
we see through a glass, darkly;
but then face to face:
now I know in part;
but then shall I know
even as also I am known.

1 Corinthians 13:12 KJV

How I long to
See deeper into
My soul
To understand
How God sees me
And you.

Would I then
Learn to love
Even more
As I see
the depth of
His love?

rickjstassi

a prayer for a thistle

September 17, 2013 by Rick Stassi you

And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. Revelations 21:5 (KJV)

Your guardian eyes so warm, removing harm and protecting my way each day. Watched over, I feel safe, secure and steeped in Love. It is Your eyes, Lord, that see me through each abrasion and each incident, turning mismatched moments into seeds of goodness planted deep into my soul. O blissful thought. Watchful eyes turning a bitter and acrid outlook into welcoming warmth. Yes, this is how I hope to be: drawing those into my warmth You provided rather than exuding the bitter glare of the past things in me still half hidden. It is Your guardian eyes that envelope me.

In Your goodness, I forge through paths of nettles and thistle. A thorny weed with a pretty flower is still a thorny weed. Discern appearances, lest be deceived. You tell me this in my heart – answering my prayer, knowing I am mismatched with the surroundings I am in. Separated into goodness. So many scratches on my legs. I was drawn in by the thistle and her pretty purples and blues. Captivated, my eyes deceptively were drawn in. However, I listen to You and know even weeds deserve love. I see their way, misled perspective – short and shallow. They are the remnants of seeds planted on soil not quite prepared enough. Nutrients escape and the hardened clay offers a bed where adaptation is required to survive. Even then, the purples lure. The best you can do poor thistle. Compassion burns within me. God’s goodness brings hope.

Your unmistakable voice, O Lord, thunder and lightning, across valleys scorching mountain tops. Righteousness and truth ought be remembered: “I am God and I am with you”. For the ages. I hear You Father. You will shout and you will whisper. A shout is necessary for me wading ever deeper into the river ready to carry all things to nowhere. I turn back to the water’s edge. Then at night with gentle moon and quiet stars you whisper sweet psalms of joy and wisdom into my heart. It is Your love, both ways. You saved me from the sweeping river to nowhere to bless me with whispers of love. So warm, so loved.

Your guardian eyes, Lord. Steel gaze on all things around. No less me with my eyes looking back. A single tear, a prayer for a thistle. You see her Father. I do too, praying I do through Your eyes. For what You have done for me is ever engraved in my soul and I must break ground and harrow clay to loam. Nutrients are in Your Word and water from Your Spirit. Plant seeds anew and where the thistle once only adapted and survived. Now a blanket of jonquils, daisies, and tulips color the land with yellows and reds. Figs and pears come from trunks stout and firm – roots well watered. Wheat grows for bread. Daily bread.

Oh how I love You. Can I love You more? These days pass and ahead is the horizon – sun waning and moon waxing. All the splendor of Your harmonious way. Help me Lord forge through. To see good. To forgive those adapted to bad. To see guardian eyes looking down upon my upward gaze, Warm, I am, and Loved too. It is wonderful in this way Father. Your path under Your gaze and guided by Your voice. All is bliss, heaven and earth.

abandon

August 3, 2013 by Rick Stassi you

Artist: Phoebe Stassi

“Submit to God and be at peace with him;
in this way prosperity will come to you.” Job 22:21 (NIV)

What is submit? Compare submit as the giving of something to the abandoning of our very soul. A deep contrast. What we give or what we abandon. The first is easy. The transfer of something for one hand to another’s.
But abandon…

So, in submitting to God we are really abandoning ownership of our souls to be transferred from our hand to the Lord’s.
Actually He has purchased our souls and it is up to us to loose the firm grip of straw we incessantly have.
We are those who are frantic over comfort and security. Naively thinking the fading things around us will provide. Naive.

A man can no sooner grab his own collar and lift himself from a pit. So, another must assist. But tragically he awaits at the pit’s bottom as tens of thousands pass by. The world is impersonal. Our despair is not the world’s concern. I submit.

However, if we believe in One greater than ourselves and are at peace with Him – meaning we rest knowing He is there, then the amount of impersonality is meaningless. We are lifted from the pit – from despair – by hands of Love. Maybe, just maybe, those who previously were oblivious to our entrapment in despair, will catch a glimpse. Maybe….

I submit that at our abandoning of our soul to God, His light emanates from now what is His. This will make heads turn. His work is captivating, omnipresent. Some come back to see. Love them even as they once ignored you. Our calm peace in God is infectious.

Finally, then, prosperity. The world talks of prosperity in a different and pompous tone. But we who abandon, possess prosperity in His peace, in His Love, in our eternity. Life is bigger that the sum of all it’s parts. To cross the abyss for the world to eternity requires abandoning our soul. Give up what is not even rightfully ours anymore. As we look from our worldly eyes at this abysmal precipice, we see only the long fall into despair. But abandon transfers. One side to the other and we soon are looking back at impossibility which is now possible. We have comfort and know love and needn’t argue who is right for He is righteous and He rains prosperity on us.

Abandon. Submit. Peace will come. Prosperity is love. God knows and waits.

rick

Veiled and Clouded

July 19, 2013 by Rick Stassi you

Artist: Heidi Brummer
South Africa

“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”
Romans 5:1 (NKJV)

Empty me Lord,
my mind betrays
filled with thoughts
for intended delays

Empty me Lord,
of the veil of night
that blocks out light
and defers my sight

Empty me Lord,
of this mind so clouded
in skies of gray
seeking is shrouded

Empty me Lord
of barricaded stream
blocking wisdom
cancel this erratic dream

For faith alone shall
bear enough reason
to fill this heart-
mind held with treason

And justly I walk
to see Your eyes
by this faith alone
discard disguise

and peace shall come
evident in certain hour
for by my faith
I rest in Your power.

Feathers and Iron

June 14, 2013 by Rick Stassi you

Untitled Abstract 61-12
Artist: Sean Seal

“Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;”
Colossians 1:11

O the strength and all the might
Epic proportion never contrite
Power beyond iron will as
Iron will melt at His sight.

O to level mountains and drain the seas
Glorious God teach patience please
Enrich my soul with endurance long
Restless ardor, angst shall cease.

And the hand that wields
Shall joyfully adorn the fields
With peace and grains for the wild
All for down feathers and iron shields

the end

Concentric

June 9, 2013 by Rick Stassi you

Pressing into every joint,
Into His omniscience we immerse.
His Spirit strong at a single point,
Outward, direct, sure, never adverse

With the spherical radii we reach into
The Cloud of wisdom, love around.
Infinite presence stable and true
We know, we just know, without a sound.

For God is there, in all direction
And to be sure the Spirit has His place.
Concentrically immersed in His affection
Influence from single point to His shining face.

Each of us children of dispersion
Walk upon His graceful path
All because of our immersion,
Avoiding, ever, Satan’s wrath.

A circle within a larger one
Center point thus shared.
Concentric is our Spiritual soul
With God’s omniscience, Eternity bared.

So unique we are in abundant grace
Spherically, to see all ways, designed
That we would run a greater race
Our sphere-ness is thus refined

For we can reach only so far,
For now…He deems this best.
Our vision of God is our radius
Our faith with us til our rest.

flailing at darkness, uncertainty lost

June 2, 2013 by Rick Stassi you

Artist Credit: Sean Seal

“And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.
Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air.”
1 Corinthians 9:25,26 (NKJV)

so where is it that one should strive?
to win a race that we contrive?
to rush about is foolish still
to win a crown, not of God’s will

yet we try alone
under the strength of sinew and bone
to pull ahead of the slower one
and be satisfied for a fruitless race well run

all for naught in this season’s light
for alone is Sorrow’s, fruitless plight
perishable is the crown for which we compete
bypassing the Lord Who will complete

so awaken thus with determined heart
the race has begun, His good work’s start
my mood is level with steady gait
imperishable crown at end awaits

so i take on this godly feat
uncertain once, at emptiness my flailing fists beat
dark uncertainty shant admit defeat
against dark shadows I shall no longer compete

light falls upon victorious dawn
a hand of strength helps us along
and each day a new certainty
that God will increase, His eyes we see.

…and this One

May 25, 2013 by Rick Stassi you

And this One shall be peace. Micah 5:5 (NKJV)

and this one shall be peace
a bit of love
from friend to friend
finds a warmth receive and send

and this one shall be peace
a kind word for they on the lane
we know not their suffering
we know not their pain

and this one shall be peace
my eyes to God
in earnest seeking
His guiding nod

and this one shall be peace
to count all blessing
each a pleasure
surely know we are God’s treasure

and this one shall be peace
to be know with trust so sure
that we shall walk
in love so pure

and this One shall be peace
Jesus Christ, Saviour, Lord
blood on tree, spikes and jeers
This One is peace for all of the years

Our Truth, the Way

April 9, 2013 by Rick Stassi you

Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.
Psalm 144:4 (KJV)

For as we behold angst in our days,
These are the times when our focus on God strays
Be wary of moments of depart
As the enemy shall aim his fiery dart.

But, for what will we gain in attention?
Doesn’t grief and angst strike at mere mention?
Indeed, but awareness is our choice to seek
God’s help from our valley to our peak.

And lack of awareness is surely vain
Empty reason, Man’s painful bane.
For wind and fire shall cull our secret places
We change anew – man with God eternity faces

The sun shall set upon mankind
Never waking again morning to find.
Without sunlight shadows pass
Like the days of man existential harass

There is a way vanity is cast
Our emptiness now in times past
Redemption’s pierce Jesus’ pain
God fills vanity to see life’s gain.

Praise Him on most high
Be aware O grief-stricken sigh.
Soon awakened, resurrection day
Jesus our Saviour, our truth, the Way.