You know what? Not all of what I write in my poetry is completely reflective of my life. It is reflective of me, my friends, the books I read, people I meet and so much more. Inspiration happens everywhere. Sometimes, while one is working hard in a garden, listening to a book that is BEYOND boring, one has time to consider a five minute Friday word. And as I worked, strive to reach more or less popped into being. And it spilled out for you to read! 🙂
Strive to Reach
To strive is word of action
whereby one works hard to achieve
a goal, or an object, or just something desired.
One can strive hard to make a marriage
work even when one’s partner does things
make it very hard to be in the same room
as he is in.
One can have all kinds of plans
in place lining out how one will
work through a mental list of duties
and then have those plans not come to fruition
despite all the work in getting things organized.
One can work hard to be a success
at one’s job despite having a boss
that doesn’t seem to appreciate the
work you put in.
Even though you look in the mirror daily
striving to be the person God has
called you to be, sometimes, like a friend
on facebook says, you need to show yourself
compassion for being less than you aught to be.
Her statement made me wonder,
should we show ourselves compassion when,
we know marriage is sometimes a struggle?
Should we show our bosses compassion when
they just don’t get it what they have in
the people they employ?
Does being easier on ourselves as we strive
for our goals, or what we desire
should we show grace to those in our
path who make us push harder to be the
people we are supposed to be?
how can we strive to reach
our ultimate goal while
showing grace to those who sharpen
us on our journey?
How do we, in essence say,
thank you God for the sharpening
he does in your life through
the people and events he allows to
interfere in all the striving you do
so that in the end, the striving you do
makes the goal all the more attainable.
This is lovely. I appreciate your poem and picture! I am a creature of striving. I am praying that I learn to slow and not work so hard all the time!
that’s a hard one. that learning how to slow down. Whenever I ask God for help with that one… he makes me nap more often! Not always a good thing that! 🙂
Annette, you said it well >>>
“How do we, in essence say,
thank you God for the sharpening
he does in your life through
the people and events he allows to
interfere in all the striving you do
so that in the end, the striving you do
makes the goal all the more attainable.”
I’m grateful it is never for naught but moves us closer to the goal: to be more like Him.
Yes… it’s the remembering the future goal and to be thankful in the journey that sometimes I struggle with….
I guess we need to balance compassion and consideration for others with our desire to strive for goals too. Good thoughts.
yes. Thank you.
Liked “should we show grace to those in our
path who make us push harder to be the
people we are supposed to be?” A good thought to ponder.
it’s hard sometimes, to be grace oriented toward those who make the journey more difficult. so something that I do ponder at times.
Thank you, Annette. Left me pondering those ‘grace growers’ in my life! Recently I’ve been more aware of those times when in my eyes it has ‘all gone wrong’, but my lesson is to respond in grace, not in frustration, irritation and grumbling.