The Cascade

The Cascade

you don’t have to tell water to flow
it just does
you don’t have to tell the waterfall to be beautiful
it just is
you don’t have to instruct the trees to praise
they simply do so with no striving at all

you don’t have to tell me to dwell with God
I just do

you don’t have to tell me to be His son
I just am

you don’t have to teach me what to do to please Him
I simply do so

I simply do so by being what He has made me to be
Just like the water
Just like the waterfall
Just like the tree
Just be

K. Duane Carter
12-27-08

Frozen

Frozen
I am always amazed how You speak through creation
Things going on in our natural world
Secrets of the depths now unfurled
That tell of the supernatural One
We have lived long in a dry and thirsty land
Created by our own fleshly hands
Where there is no water, yet
The rains have come, and come hard
The soil is drenched but is hardened by the long dry
The parched earth does now let forth its sigh
So now with water pouring in
You send the frozen
The frost that goes deeply
The frost that goes deeply
It begins to overturn the soil
It begins to divide asunder
Things that have been dormant for years
Now are disturbed and stirred and awakened
Because You have promised they are never forsaken
The soil is fit for growing something now
The ice has crushed our souls, our brow
The soil has been tilled, tilled from the depths
Tilled by the frozen, I hear His steps
The seeds that no one thought would grow
Now have been stirred by the dividing ice
Those buried seeds are now ready to receive
Moisture and nutrient, warmth and light
Get ready for the harvest
Get ready for the harvest
Things you never thought imaginable
Are coming into bloom, so very, very soon
For He is doing His work
His creation is speaking it
So now do we

K. Duane Carter
12-23-08

the mystery

the mystery

there is a cloud of mystery
surrounding everything on earth
it falls today like a misty shroud
yet I know it is much, much more
it is a sign of the coming
a sign of the coming Mystery
He will bathe us in His Water
It will come as we don’t expect
And though all it covers appears lifeless and gone
We will see life spring forth in beauty
He is coming
He is here
I see it in His cloud of mystery

K. Duane Carter
12-18-08

First Snow of Winter

First Snow of Winter
I see the snowflakes falling like the gifts of God
Innumerable but soft
Pure and white
Breathtaking all the while
Bringing to my face a smile
For I see it is a promise of things to come
Now they dance, now they fall
A picture of my worship of the All
The All-powerful, All-knowing, Ever-present One
He lifts the flakes on swirling winds
The Spirit moves just so within
Yes, it never ceases to amaze me
How God can speak in any way He pleases
The sound of the snowflakes falling
Is just like the sound of His voice
You can hear it if you’re listening
You can hear it if you’re listening
I pray we take the time to listen
For His whispers fall like the snowflakes
Innumerable and pure
Secrets and wonders just for you
They cover up the old
Getting ready for the new of spring
He whispers now, but then He sings
And only when we listen in
Will the new begin in us again
You can hear Him if you’re listening
You can hear Him if you’re listening
We see the snowflakes; we hear His voice
We hear them land; we see His love
It does not melt away to nothing, no
It places water where there will be life
Get ready for the new; get ready for the new
The snow does tell of the coming dew
Where the water of His Spirit will cover us every day
His goodness will bring us into His life, His Way
You will see it if you are listening
You will see it if you are listening

Let me see You, Lord, I am listening

K. Duane Carter
12-1-08

Still Life

Still Life
There is something in this image that captivates me
I have looked and looked and looked at it for weeks
Knowing that it says something yet not knowing what it says
There is a message that death brings life
And Light is there to reveal it
There is nourishment for the soil in this death
The leaves speak it with mouths shut
The black walnut bears it with promise of life and abundance
There is life within this covering of God’s feathers
This downy pillow He has made for His new ways to spring forth
This sealing in the earth and of the earth
I know there is a message here
I feel it in my spirit, yet, I cannot speak it in my hands
God is in the places where we just don’t understand
Yet we trust Him just the same
That is where the might of His name
Springs forth
Ah, I understand the message

K. Duane Carter
11-28-08