by Jenne Brown | Feb 22, 2018 | Jen's Jesus Journey, Poetry
Words.
They fill my head.
Every day.
And I’ve given up
On trying to record
The lines
That fill my mind.
I see all the colors,
And the faces of the people.
And the places,
The peeks into their souls
That flit across
The conversations.
And I tire
Of the guile,
And the hidden hearts,
The meaninglessness
That crowds
The lives
Of the people at my side.
Let me see your soul.
Is it anything
Like mine?
Let me know your dreams.
Do you ever find
What you’re looking for?
Let’s soar beyond
These small places
We occupy.
Let’s strip our eyes
Of dullness acquired.
Let’s not hide
One more honest cry
For life.
– by Jenne Brown
by Jenne Brown | Feb 7, 2018 | Jen's Jesus Journey, Poetry
Scripture describes a time after this life when we will receive rewards for our faithfulness in this life. I find this comforting and exciting to consider. In addition to eternal life, there are eternal rewards and this poem is about using that future reward as a current motivator. Much Love, Jenne
We reside in a world of sin,
With a soul that Christ cleansed.
We have an enemy who daily strives
To steal our confidence and ruin our lives.
We’ve been justified
By the faith of Jesus Christ.
Washed by his righteous stripes,
We rejoice in hope, embracing life.
When the anger is unfurled
From the god of this world,
We stay our minds against senses convictions,
To boast of God in contradiction.
We sense strain and struggle,
Tugs that tempt us to tumble.
We draw close to the Word,
Reminding ourselves God’s Truth is sure.
At times our heart yearns to turn and run,
We hold our soul in opposition,
To face the ugly terrors of the night.
We stand. We move. We fight!
For our basis of boasting far exceeds
The tribulations we receive.
More real than flesh we wear on our bones
Is the Word God gave us as our own.
We receive the endurance we need,
When we take the Word’s statutes to heed.
So, we prove God to be just and true,
Steadfast to His standard, steadfastly unmoved.
The Father gave us an evidence to assure,
A token of truth to help us endure.
There is a truth seeped in our souls,
That his Son will return to rule.
In the stark face of frailty and frustration,
We draw our eyes to our future elation.
The glass we peer through can seem mighty dim,
Still we know, God has enabled us to win!
When the destroyer leaves us feeling rocked and shaken,
We love the hope by standing in retaliation!
For this competition we steel our souls
With the Hope of being perfectly whole.
This fight we did not choose,
But choose to fight – That we do!
God has fully equipped us for this fight
Evil cannot withstand true light.
To Satan’s devices we stand in defiance
For we know we have the final triumph.
This conflict is worth our time –
We will to hold our minds!
Faster than the light can leave the eye
We shall be gathered together in the sky.
We revel in taking on this – our appointed day,
Looking toward His coming, to our carrying away!
by Jenne Brown
by Jenne Brown | Nov 8, 2017 | Poetry
The greatest view
I ever knew
Was a thousand different places
A thousand different times.
Snapshots of awe frozen in my mind.
When the beauty of land and sky
Would touch the heart of my carnal eye.
The emotions stirred within my soul
Are harbored now for my heart to extol.
There was a dawn I once knew
As I stood wrapped in a blanket,
Barefoot in the dew.
A dawn I met and made my friend,
For I stayed from start to end.
And once when it was late,
I ran outside
When the storms had brewed at eventide,
There I encountered the sky,
When it was ten million miles high.
Layered in shades of light and dark,
Cruel and gentle, soft and stark;
Sheets of black and billows of rose.
So that I stumbled to a halt as my heart froze.
Humbled by the portrayal I beheld,
And the emotions I felt.
Wind tugged and pulled, but I refused to go,
Until dark and cold signaled the end of the show.
So many moments caught in my mind,
So many places, so many times.
Portraits of time
Held captive in my mind.
On canvas or picture I have no reminder of my favorite view,
For the pictures in my heart hold far more true.
by Jenne Brown
by Jenne Brown | Oct 4, 2017 | Poetry
Peace will never be mine,
Until I truly leave the past behind.
For God made the day to end the night.
He caused the darkness to bow to the light,
The fight really is OURS to win,
But first it requires our decision to begin.
Loss is not meant to prevail.
Success through God helps us forget where we failed.
The devil would keep us locked in chains of despair,
But we spit in his face and leave his “care!”
Every right ends a wrong,
As every silence can be broken by song,
We clean our lives to end the mess,
We DEMAND we are MORE, because we REFUSE to be LESS!!!
by Jenne Brown
by Jenne Brown | Sep 27, 2017 | Poetry
A vow to God is a commitment we will not break,
A standard of tenacity we refuse to forsake,
A promise of love we decide to make,
Because we long to live for His Name’s sake.
Each man, each woman, each one in our souls,
Must set a standard and choose our goals,
Decide how far we will believe to rise
To the standard God set for our lives.
From the dull anticipation of what doubt says we can be,
Let us raise our vision to what God said is ours to receive.
Let us be the ones to give our whole soul,
Because we deem it necessary to reach the desired goal.
A commitment to never lessen, to continue to strive
Will become branded upon the pattern of our lives.
We’ll set our face like flint, refuse to diminish,
Till we run our course all the way to the finish.
We declare a fast and refuse to quit,
In pursuit of our Lord, in joy we’re strengthened to persist.
We are seeking always to serve the saints,
To support and strengthen any weak or faint.
A call to service is for those ready to move past boundaries of fear,
For those aching to stand before God, sons and daughters endeared.
When we’d rather lay aside our bland, lackadaisical lives
For the enlightenment that looking upon ourselves only makes us tired.
We find our pleasure now in imitating our Lord,
Discover that in service we are never bored!
We come to find that we yearn to burn bright,
To give our whole endeavor for a serving life!
A call to service means sensing urgency in our times,
It involves stepping up to learn how to hold the line.
In moments of your life do you hear that call?
Do you hear that leaping, beckoning inside crying to give your all?
To serve a greater good than man can conceive,
To hold fast the truth and encourage others to believe?
It’s an elevation inside our very souls,
Beyond gain and senses’ goals.
We labor not in lust of fame or gold,
But for riches beyond what this world holds.
We know a confidence of a fuller joy and mightier reward.
We run towards the prize we know God holds in store.
The Word of Truth makes our vision clear,
Transforms our hearts and what we hold dear.
The aspiration burns strong in our hearts,
To give it all, to hold back not one part.
We make the decision to respond,
To lift our sights and go beyond.
As the desires of the flesh are set aside,
We rise to the call to be ministers, strong and wise!
by Jenne Brown
by Jenne Brown | Jun 29, 2017 | Poetry
Grandpa & Grandma Memories
by Jenne Brown
(On the occasion of & In Celebration of 58 Years of Marriage)
Grandpa and Grandma are sunshine memories
Of Kentucky trails deep in woods and leaves,
Of weekend trips and summer vacations,
Of watermelon by an old railroad station,
Of a candy bar and soda pop kitchen stocked.
Grandpa’s medals and Grandma’s rocks.
As a child that house to me
Was always an adventure waiting to be.
There was always another corner, another place to look,
And who can forget hours and hours of rook!
Where the cousins rode the barrels up the grassy way,
And knew we’d join the circus one day!
Where we built forts and climbed trees
And dreamed of all we’d one day be.
Where school and chores were put away
And all the world was meant for play!
Lessons and learning were there for us too,
But disguised in trips and fun so never we knew!
A little bit of this and a little bit of that,
But lots of good times and lots of laughs!
Thanks, Grandpa for teaching me
To know the difference between the trees.
And thanks for all the marshmallow roasting fires
Set deep in the midst of cricket choirs.
The memories run into pages and years,
Good times and bad times, smiles and tears.
Most of all I’ll remember Grandma bringing more eats –
To consume it all would have been a feat!
Grandpa’s garage where play was set aside
Will intrigue me until the day I die!
Grandma laughing until she cried,
And Grandpa smiling as he sat by.
Thanks for all the things a child forgets to say
And as adults we get too busy, too far away.
I love you and the memories you gave.
Memories that time and distance can’t take away!
My grandparents house was an old railroad station that they had added onto and expanded over the years. Rook was a card game that my mother’s family played. My grandfather was a mechanic with a garage full of nuts and bolts and hundred of items all with a place, all meticulously in order. My grandmother loved to collect rocks that she saw “pictures” in. She had one that looked so much like a face that she glued googly eyes on it. 🙂 They owned land in the neighboring state of Kentucky where the aunts, uncles and cousins went for many a vacation.
