Grow and Bloom where you are.

Photo by Peter Hardt ©2005

It's Time to Grow

What time is it?
Do you have an idea, do you know?
Do you feel some inner stirrings?
It is time to grow.

Pay attention to possibilities,
Shrug off the status quo;
Let discernment develop
As down life’s path you go.

Your choices of yesterday
May not be the best now, so
Reevaluate the situation;
Find the inner strength to grow.

Meditate upon God’s Word,
Welcome new expectations;
Greet accumulations of joy,
Improve communications.

Life is not just happenstance,
Call out to God in prayer;
Welcome Him, He loves you,
Then His love you’ll share.

Declare an end to winter,
Open your heart to spring;
No matter the outdoor’s season
Grow and bloom and sing!

By Elaine Hardt ©2008

Looking Back, Looking Ahead

You cannot roll the pages back
And undo what has been done;
Life goes on, we must give thought
Before each setting sun.

Hard times, hurdles come to test us,
We can let them grow us stronger;
We may sometimes make bad choices,
But soon our days will be no longer.

“Forgive me.” “Help me.” “I’m not perfect.”
“Lord, increase my faith today.”
“Is there something I can do for you?”
Why are these words so hard to say?

“I care.” “I appreciate you.”
Words best said before they die;
Tears cannot bring that person back,
As silently we ask, “Why?”

In life — vast, magnificent —
God has designed a wondrous plan
To redeem His sinful people;
We must find Him, now while we can.

We cannot bluff, we cannot hide
On that coming judgment day;
We cannot pay a ransom price,
No excuses can we say.

This is a good time to consider
God’s grace and love, and what He said;
Talk to Him today, as you are
Looking back, looking ahead.

By Elaine Hardt ©2007


Jesus said, “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.
In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you;
for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again
and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
And you know the way where I am going.’
Thomas said to Him, ‘Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?’
Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father
but through Me.’” (John 14:1-6, NASB).

I Looked for the Words

There surely are some words somewhere
I could and should borrow to convey
the possibly significant and thoughtful
New Year’s ideas I want to say.

Jokes, funny stories, caring, sharing from me to you,
Ponderings and wonderings, some old, some new,
Long-forgotten now-remembered memories,
Questions, suggestions, frustrations, or “help me, please.”

Important thoughts might be buried deep within,
Struggles, brainstorms hopefully surviving the din,
Encouragement, poetry and paraphrase,
Unrehearsed or rescued from some bewildered maze.

I looked all around, I looked in my head,
I walked all around, I peered beneath the bed,
opened a dictionary taken from the shelf;
Then I came to this conclusion all by myself:

It would take a miracle today to find
The necessary words hiding in my mind;
What you need is God’s loving blessing strong and true,
And He’d be the one to give it to you.

Then summoning up inspiration I finally wrote
This composition’s humble, rhyming bouquet,
And zipped if off to you on the Internet
On this January’s first day.

by Elaine Hardt ©2008