A Sad Poem from an 8-year-old's Heart

Yesterday in Florida, my Grandmother's ashes were finally buried and put to rest along with the last memorial service. In honor of this and my first Mother's Day without the oldest mother I've known, my own Mother's mom, here is a poem my second cousin (an 8-year-old girl) wrote for her that they read at the burial.

A Sad Poem
By Skylar Alonzo

It is scary in times of need.
Pray and pray till your knees can't breathe.
I hoped you would live so I can give.
I wish you weren't in heaven.
I prayed and cried so you would not die.
I tried and cared so you could say your prayers.
I cried and cried when you died.
It is hard to stay strong when you hear a sad sad song.
You were so nice even though I was wrong.
You gave me money even though you were so sick.
I loved you so much it was like a love touch.
I wish you were back and so does Zack.
I had to say goodbye even though I wanted to cry.
When you left I was so sad I wanted to cry.
I miss and love you so like cookie dough.
I have a couple of your treasures I treat them like the most valuable
things in the world.
Goodbye I must go cry.
I love you so I must say goodbye.

What was it like Daddy?

*Originally written on November 19th, 2010*

This morning on my way to work a gentleman requested the radio station to play Mercy Me "I can only imagine" and mentioned that it was played at his nephew's funeral. As the song began to play, my mind began to reflect back upon my own father and what his meeting with the Lord that first time was like. I've not really gotten too emotional about my father's passing much, I guess growing up my whole life aware that he could pass on at any moment, taking care of him for a year while watching his tumor begin to take over more and more prepares  someone for something like that.  But I can recall how much he struggled down here and eagerly anticipated the moment God would call him home again.  I can honestly say this did actually make me get a tink emotional, something I've only done regarding his passing one other time after his death & funeral in 2004 (of course I was emotional then).

I never considered this song for a funeral, but it makes sense.  Funeral's can become so dreary and sad...so melancholy, but for someone saved, its just a welcome home celebration, till I see you again, and a way for everyone still left visiting this earth to let that person know the impact they had upon their lives and how much they will me missed.  For we all await the day that we will meet Christ face to face, our Savior and Redeemer, our Husband.

^"14 “I will deliver this people from the power of the grave;
I will redeem them from death.
Where, O death, are your plagues?
Where, O grave, is your destruction?
“I will have no compassion," Hosea 13:14 NIV

⁵ “Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?” 1 Corinthians 15:55 NIV

^"17 For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)" Romans 5:17 NKJV

^"18 I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death." Revelation 1:18 NKJV

^"10 Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life." Revelation 2:10 NKJV

I can only Imagine

I can only imagine what it will be like
When I walk by your side
I can only imagine what my eyes will see
When your face is before me
I can only imagine
I can only imagine

Surrounded by your glory
What will my heart feel?
Will I dance for you Jesus,
Or in awe of you be still?
Will I stand in your presence,
Or to my knees will I fall?
Will I sing Hallelujah,
Will I be able to speak at all?
I can only imagine
I can only imagine

I can only imagine when that day comes
And I find myself standing in the Son
I can only imagine when all I will do
Is forever, forever worship you
I can only imagine
I can only imagine

Surrounded by your glory,
What will my heart feel?
Will I dance for you Jesus,
Or in awe of you be still?
Will I stand in your presence,
Or to my knees will I fall?
Will I sing Hallelujah,
Will I be able to speak at all?
I can only imagine, yeah
I can only imagine
I can only imagine, yeah, yeah, yeah

Surrounded by your glory,
What will my heart feel?
Will I dance for you Jesus,
Or in awe of you be still?
Will I stand in your presence,
Or to my knees will I fall?
Will I sing Hallelujah,
Will I be able to speak at all?
I can only imagine, yeah

I can only imagine, yeah, yeah
I can only imagine, Yeah
I can only imagine
I can only imagine, Ohh yeah
I can only imagine

I can only imagine when all I will do
is forever, forever worship you
I can only imagine

Golden leaves attached to the one TRUE vine

*Originally written on October 11th, 2010*

In an earlier post I discussed a poem by Robert Frost, Nothing Gold Can Stay:

Nothing Gold Can Stay
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leafs a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

I pondered the meaning God had for me in this and a revelation finally came, at least my interpretation for it.  I didn't get to run this past Saturday, so when I had to take off work early a tink and didn't have to meet up with Maxwell (my workout buddy), with the weather being so beautiful, I decided to go out for a run on the trail.  Many things crossed my mind, many thoughts I had to run from, and then I started thinking on a subject that has been on my mind since the autumn season came upon us...the beauty of death.  Think about it, its really what this season is truly about, the glory of death.  All the magnificent changes in colors-the gold, crimson, and browns of the trees, as their leaves slowly die and fall. And during this season of death, seeds of new life fall to the ground.  Then its followed by a dormant season or mourning, through winter, where everything, all the many colors are all  covered in a blanket of white snow.  This season of rest prepares the seeds that fell, the new life, for their glorious debut in Spring!  Without the fall or winter seasons, there would be no life in the spring or summer!

Now your probably wondering how this matches up with the poem I started with.

Well Nature's first green is gold. Think of the beginning of fall, what is the first color the leaves turn?  Gold. It's the hardest hue to hold because it soon turns to red and then brown before its death is final and falls to the ground. Her early leaf's a flower, but only so an hour has to do with the flowers that come in the spring from the fall season...but this season is soon turned into summer and then returns to fall, the season of death yet again.

But to me, there is a much deeper meaning behind this poem.
the life of Jesus Christ our Lord

Christ symbolizes nature's first true perfect  gold when He was born through the virgin Mary into this world. This hue was hard to hold through His short life &  ministry of only 3 years, from the age of 30-33. Then His leaf color changed into the awesome deep reds through the stripes on His back that He took for us & the shedding of His innocent blood, He turns to the last color of the fall season as He hangs on the cross, & finally the finale of autumn as He symbolically falls from the tree, the cross, and His physical body is placed in a tomb.  He enters winter...

...through His winter He covers ALL THE WORLD with THE brilliancy of white, covering over our  sins as he conquers death and hell and is resurrected as the first flower of the spring, the early leaf became a flower.  He returns to the world as the one true vine, & we can now all become grafted in.  For Christ is the vine, the Heavenly Father is the gardener, who prunes us, the branches and new leaves of spring and summer.  This season of spring, Eden in the poem, is only temporary for sin enters our lives and hearts, and the dawn of our lives is turned into day where we each reflect His glorious light, continually being pruned by the Father, as we await the time when we to shall enter our own autumn and begin the journey into the new birth of spring through the death of Christ. As we are perfect in Him, we cannot stay in this world, for we will become gold also...and nothing gold can stay.