October 7: Random Acts of Poetry Day

 

October 7:  Random Acts of Poetry Day

We have all had the experience.  Usually a song, but sometimes poetry alone, moves us.  “You have to hear this!” we say to our friends.  Our moods are impacted or confirmed, and poetry wends its way into our hearts with a subtle power that often surprises us.  Why is that, and what place poetry for the believer?

Words have meaning.  Despite the current trend to cheapen or even deface the meaning of words, they still say something.  We know it when a bit of prose or a pithy comment or a lyric smacks us upside the head.  God has placed eternity in our hearts, and we long to fill that void with meaning and purpose.  Often, words will do, but only for a season.  The ache returns.  The longing resurfaces, and the search continues for words, even A word that can provide relief. 

Poetry does something that declarative statements and lectures cannot do.  I have 5 sons.  I recall the first time I heard Mark Schultz’s "He’s My Son." I still listen to it periodically today, even though all my sons are married and out of the house.  It is the cry of a father’s heart to heal his son.  I pray it every day, but there are times when only that poetry will do. 

The point is this.  Avail yourself of poetry.  If possible, take a crack at writing some.  At the very least, look for and lean into words that capture something or express something that resonates.  When this day passes, remember that there is A Word that is more than poetry.  It is life.  That Word, spoken to and received by the heart will fill every void and satisfy every longing, for good.