I Dance Alone wtih Empty Arms

    I haven't told Reed I do this until recently because it sounds so pathetic, but perhaps no more so than talking to Trace at his grave. Though I do not dance and could not waltz at gunpoint, it is my sad, rare and comforting ritual of the Christmas season. The song is one I posted last year, "Christmas Lullaby/

I Will Lead You Home" by Amy Grant--which I'm having trouble linking this year.    https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DCAfDgntyWs8&ved=2ahUKEwikpYjJwI6RAxVJADQIHY-iOY4QtwJ6BAgqEAI&usg=AOvVaw26Q4L98s5RHzXo41EW_Cru

I Dance Alone with Empty Arms  

 

Sometimes, when in the house alone

with Christmas season coming on,

I play a certain song about 

a wanderer being led home.

 

The music is three quarter time,

a pulse that resonates with mine.

I raise my arms up and waltz on

as if I'm dancing with my son,

 

though in life, we neither did nor would.

I dance alone with empty arms

remember his hugs, his shoulders strong, 

a refuge to be counted on.

 

But then, perhaps I'll have a chance

for a mother and son wedding dance

at the marriage supper of the Lamb,

our union with the great I AM

 

and all the ones we love so much,

who wait in heaven, safe from harm.

With empty arms I dance alone

until the time he leads me home. 

 

11/24/25 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Parting of the Ways

    I knew it would take a lot to break Reed's grip on airplanes and the airport. Such concerns have been the subroutine playing in the back of his brain for nearly five decades. Yes, he had prostate cancer surgery and radiation, and that may have slowed him down, maybe loosened a couple fingers, but he would have gone back into airplane mode if it were not for another, more malignant factor--his coworker. Let's just call him "Cain." A couple years ago, Reed hired a mechanic he wanted to train to replace him so he could retire. Early on it became apparent they had different priorities. Cain was too busy setting up his own business in the owner's hangar to have time to learn about the jet he was getting paid to maintain. Reed gave up 3/4ths of his salary much earlier than the owner would have asked so Cain's family would have enough to live on to make this transition work. Meanwhile Cain rented one bay of hangar space and proceeded to take over three spaces and two offices. Not content with triple dipping, Cain also expected Reed and another contractor working at the airport to run their bills through his business so he could make more per hour from their time than they did. When neither of them saw the profit of paying for the privilege of working for Cain, he transformed faster than Dr. Jeykll on super serum. Not into a violent, self serving beast, but something worse--a teenager. 

    Most of the time he has worked at the hangar, Cain has behaved toward Reed like a petulant 15 year old with an unwelcome stepdad. Dismissing, arguing with, or doing the opposite of everything Reed told him. I thought the reason Cain greeted and launched all the flights himself was guilt for taking his employer's money to build his own business. That was foolishly optimistic. When a pilot asked Reed why he had not fixed a problem with the jet he had complained of weeks ago, realization dawned. Cain took those shifts to keep Reed from talking to the pilots or passengers. He wanted to control Reed's access to information. Since Cain either did not know enough or did not care enough to correct the problem with the jet, he left it undone. It was more important to him to hoard the information than to fix the jet. Evidently, Cain models his management style after communist dictators, cults, or abusive spouses--cut off communication with outsiders. Since he cannot, like the latter, confine Reed to some cabin in the canyon, his only recourse is to get vindictive. Violations of Cain's nondisclosure policy result in orders, supposedly from the owner, for Reed to get his stuff out of the hangar. So he did.

    Not in the sell me your tools cheap sense Cain hoped for, but since his tools were being used without asking and comsumable supplies were not replenished, he gradually rehomed tools and supplies to a giant container. Since losing access to the tools and parts Cain habitually used, actually punished him more than Reed, Cain decided Reed leaving plates, utensils, etc. in the kitchen was also an act of selfishness on Reed's part. Despite Cain's agreement with the owner that he would leave them alone or contact Reed before getting rid of them, Cain boxed up what he considered unnecessary to give to Salvation Army and didn't tell Reed until he asked about the boxes. When Mrs. Cain threatened to throw away everything else, Reed took the rest. It doesn't matter like it once did, only Cain's customers and few friends feel welcome in the hangar now. 

    The business owner has never met Mr. Hyde and thinks he has two employees with good ideas and poor communication skills. But one of the problems with behaving like a rebellious teenager and being a habitual liar is that there are witnesses. You can't hide Mr. Hyde forever. Now that the sheets are split so to speak, and Reed's final finger is pried from the hangar door, it is time for a parting of the ways. I just pray that the haughty Mr. Hyde is not the one who will be fixing the jet.

     

 

The Maker of Both

     

    We have been on vacation in Oregon, visiting friends, museums and the coast. That gives a lot of inspiration for poetry but little time to write it so here, at last, is a souvenir poem from our trip. 

 

The Maker of Both 

 

Not to be outdone by lesser performances,

the ocean raises its volume at night.

The sound of a womb, no longer remembered,

but still somehow familiar, comforting.

We are being held safe, this time not by our mothers,

but by God, the maker of both the mighty oceans

and the insignificant, but infinitely loved--us. 

 

 

Truth Thrown Down

    This week's BSF lesson, Daniel chapters 7 and 8, was difficult. In Daniel chapter 2, the nations are symbolized in Nebuchadnezzar's dream of a statue as: head of gold (Babylon), chest and arms of silver (Medo-Persia), belly and thighs of bronze (Greece), legs of iron and feet of iron and clay (Rome). In chapter 7, Daniel's dream, the nations are symbolized by animals: winged lion (Babylon), bear (Medo-Persia), winged leopard (Greece), iron toothed beast (Rome). Then, in case we were not confused enough already, chapter 8, Daniel's vision, only has two beasts: ram (Medo-Persia) and he goat (Greece). I have heard of these empires, of course, but in my time they are ancient history. However, I found something very contemporary in chapter 8 verse 12, that is the subject of this poem. 

 

Truth Thrown Down

Babylon's throne is millennia gone

The Medes and Persian's reign is done.

The empires that were Greece and Rome

now a capital and one country's home.

Yet their legacy continues on

from Daniel's scripture handed down,

"truth is thrown down to the ground".

Truth is thrown down to the ground. 

Come to the Fete

    I have already written one Daniel poem this week. Haven't I suffered enough? But as I was doing my Bible study this evening, minding my own business, I was struck by the lunacy of a king compelling his subjects to worship him--or die. Was the word genuine ever on Nebuchadnezzar's vocabulary list? That explains the tone of this poem--more like a carnival barker than a royal invitation.

 

Come to the Fete

 

Come all to the fete on the Babylon plains!

Come to see, bend the knee, in our great sovereign's name!

 

See the statue he built at its majestic height.

Note how our kingdom's gold reflects glittering light.

 

Meet the high, mighty men from our whole empire 'round.

When the songs start to rise, they'll fall flat on the ground.

 

Come worship our king, with his impressive name.

He can't answer your prayers, but he sure can proclaim.

 

By the way, if you don't feel the need to bow low,

then down into the fiery furnace you'll go!

 

If you think that true reverence cannot be compelled, 

you do not know King Nebuchadnezzar too well. 

 

So go call one and all from vast Babylon's shores

to come to the King's fete, either his fate--or yours!

 

10/11/25 

 

 

  

  

 

 

The Odds on the Ox

    When we studied Nebuchadnezzar's dream of a great statue, I wondered why God wasted such an important message on an arrogant monarch who seemed to have stopped listening after Daniel said, You are the head of gold. He hardly needed reinforcement for his sense of self-importance. God's special revelation to him, although it would greatly benefit future Bible readers, seemed only to inspire Nebuchadnezzar to build a monument to himself. But after praying about it, I realized that the reason was not complicated. God gave Nebuchadnezzar incremental knowledge of Himself through many years so that one day, his heart would be ready to receive Him. It is the same thing God does for most of us. He certainly did that for me. 

    The Lord's motive in this was not complicated either, it was because He loved him. After many times reading this familiar story, I was shocked to realize that the reason God went to so much trouble for Nebuchadnezzar was because He loved him. God loved Nebuchadnezzar! The Bible is full of stories of people God loved enough to break their pride so He could heal their soul, but there was only one He loved enough to humble as an ox.

 

The Odds on the Ox   

 

If they were giving odds in Babylon

about proud King Nebuchadnezzar 

coming to faith in Daniel's God,

they would have been a million to one.

 

Even with the clear evidence-- 

Daniel's interpretation of his

God given dream--Nebuchadnezzar

recognized God's wisdom, but not His will.

 

And when Daniel's three friends

were supernaturally protected from

 the furious king's fiery furnace, 

he respected God's power, but not his place. 

 

The great tree dream was a warning--

the builder of Babylon's tall towers and walls

would bend down to eat grass from the ground.

He heard the message, but spurned its meaning. 

 

Heaven's Sovereign reached out four times,

but the earthly ruler refused to repent,

reigned instead like an unreasoning beast, 

and in God's judgment, became one. 

 

Until he who had looked down upon so many

 looked up to the King of kings.

 Against all odds, repentant, with mind restored,

 Daniel's God became a proud king's Lord.

 

10/8/2025

 

 

 

(I used to wonder how the people of Babylon could remain unaware of their potentate's mental state when he was out grazing in their fields, but now I only need to remember our last presidency.)

  

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel

    I felt confident that I had escaped this week's Bible study of the very familiar first two chapters of Daniel without writing a poem, but then this happened. It is kind of like a Daniel sandwich, but that would be a worse title than just plain Daniel.

Daniel--

Raised among a people whose

faithlessness led to their fall.

 

Separated from all familiar

his home, family, even his name.

 

Destined for duty to the king

who conquered and killed his people.

 

Praised his seemingly defeated God

for revealing a despot's dream.

 

Served Babylon lifelong as Belteshazzar,

but served the Lord he loved as--

 

Daniel 

 

                    9/28/25