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

treatise

July 31, 2016 by Rick Stassi you

Peasants beneath Trees at Moret by Camille Pissarro

For God
so loved the world
that He gave
His only begotten
Son,
that whoever believes
in Him
should not perish
but have everlasting life.

John 3:16

pity the poor wind

March 11, 2015 by Rick Stassi you

dark wind above obscuring light
with frenetic pace laden with futile might
coursing seen as purposed and wise
means chasing ends in limitless tries
as death deceives on a blustery trail
those yearning for hope only to fail
catch my hand you in scurrying fright
let’s sit upon tufts of reason’s delight
hold my hand to deep water we go
still and mirrored, imperfections show –
dreaming, swimming in depths unseen
places our soul surely has been
and with you i sit on velvet lea
green as green – a grassy sea
i’ll tell you tales of weathered life
and we’ll talk of God and goodness rife
and you and i will gaze as one
to the heavenly eyes equaled by none
somber stillness deep into night’s end
and silently weeping I pity the poor wind
(c) 2015 rick stassi

conceding petals

January 27, 2014 by Rick Stassi you

“Bend in the Epte”
Claude Monet

in my continued progress,
time is relentless.
opting temporarily cessation,
to extend roots
and grow a bit.
i’ll be like a flower with
petals lithe, color-bright,
for another small season.
but O my soul soon writhing –
the struggle and bleating
of this one lost, wandering…
Would green grass illude?
How fast the slope entraps.
Spellbound in temptation
The darkness flows overhead
like a cool, fast river.
i have seen respite
yet still I will cool my feet
in those rushing waters
and end up
with a heart in quandary.
pleading for simplicity
and getting a string-pull
like a marionette
straightening up –
conceding petals will dry
and so my feet as well
and on i go.

rick

hope realized

January 2, 2014 by Rick Stassi you

‘Abstract’
Artist Sean Seal

Walking further unto winter’s night
When geese and swans have long taken flight.
The steel-cold winds cuts my heart in half –
I can bear no longer his icy laugh.

I have illusion – a semblance of warm and dry
Yet hope avoids a heart so awry.
I dig ever deeper seeking strength for flight
As coldness, darkness, swallows my might.

Where are you feeble hope?
Why abandon me? In blindness I grope!
Stinging hoarfrost singing calloused feet,
As I peer, rays from a window, my eyes do meet.

And ever so warm flame’s flickering dance.
Gentleness bids me entry with a single glance.
A warm arm o’er my broken, tired frame.
He knew where I was going, He knew from where I came.

O wonderful, shameless, humbly sat I.
In Him I release a decade-long sigh.
I know now of love’s gracious allay,
Through loving eyes, here I shall stay.

O guilt be gone: your promises and lies led,
You’d rather me join’d with guilt, remorse, instead.
But now I lay my head on His lap.
Time’s toll taken, submitted to love’s long nap.
rick

for we who cry

October 29, 2013 by Rick Stassi you

Artandarts.com

In the day when I cried out, You answered me,
And made me bold with strength in my soul.
Psalm 138:3 (NKJV)

Who do we fool? What fears we mask as we seek. Primitive reason lurking about our minds…

We have a refusal to think outside the plane that is endless in all directions – infinite really. Is it because we are finite and dare not venture out of comfortable places?

Why do we seek for the endless and settle for the end. Our means thwarted by a consciousness stopped short. It make no sense to look at the stars and clasp shut our thinking lest it is unbearably challenged with things beyond the stars – before the stars. We want peace and we want love and yet we deny the very One who will freely give these things. Our means always justify our end, because we make it that way.

What is desire? I wonder. I mean our desire for depth not the superficial. It is hard for us to let go of these things that we believe in. These things that we clasp in our hands day-to-day. All soon are gone. The crushed petals of a flower held tightly in our clenched fists. Soon gone…Yet we shall not budge from the stubborn hold on our way. Man would rather deny God to clasp unrealistically where he finds comfort. Adventure is lost but so much more: full life is traded for petals soon faded.

These things are what we are accustomed to. Yet isn’t it odd we are drawn passed the stars on clear cool nights? Then thoughts of eternity turn to our purpose and our purpose turns to our reason and then we stop. There is no ladder than can reach the stars for the man who will not let go of himself. We must ask beyond our reason.

Jacob asked, he wrestled with God. Are we any different? Who are You God? Show Your face and make me a ladder that spans God and Man – eternal and temporal….

So He answered for we who cry out.

rick

green and white

September 7, 2013 by Rick Stassi you

But He knows the way that I take;
When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.

Job 23:10

O that I should look upon the past
Still salvaging pieces of things You will outlast
Gripping struggles gone long ago
Greener pastures, whiter snow.

But what is this pain inside my core?
A reminder! Espy the Light on distant shore.
For upon Your path I surely go,
Greener pastures, whiter snow.

For You Lord know the way for me
As you bend and mold my image toward Thee.
And sometimes it hurts, this refining show.
Greener pastures, whiter snow.

Shadows hide the eyes of Peace.
Through them I fumble fears increase.
But, forward, faithful, effortless flow.
Greener pastures, whiter snow.

Greener pastures, whiter snow.
A promise that to Thou I surely go.
And sit upon a rock, or tuft of grass,
I did doubt a little though, I sigh alas.

To the depths of Your heart I seek,
Traverse graven valleys, mountain peak.
The promise when I am feeling low,
Greener pastures, whiter snow.

O that Your thoughts would be e’er for me.
I dash all fears upon the sea.
Now looking forward seeds to sow,
Greener pastures, whiter snow.

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