Sunday, July 20, 2008

Ben was mistaken

In a land of thinkers, of revolutionaries
breaking free of an empire, needing their wits
their guile, to hide behind trees, rocks,
rather than being in the open

The concept might have made sense -
“God helps those who help themselves”;
but Ben was wrong; he missed the point

We are as Adam, as Lot, as David, as Paul
doing that which we hate, living of the world
dying in sin; rising by faith, by grace alone

By grace we are given hope,
our works pale in comparison
Clay only on the potter’s wheel
by His hands alone worthy vessels
By grace we give grace to others



July 20, 2008
Ben was mistaken
Romans 5:1-5
and Sermon by Rev. Huntley Halvorson,
“Murphy Was Wrong”,
Suncook United Methodist Church, Suncook, NH
Murphy’s Law - “Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong”
&
“God helps those who help themselves”,
by Ben Franklin (not the Bible)
Poor Richard's Almanac in 1757
&
other information on the source this quote:

All of my poems are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014. All rights reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss for usage. See all 30,820+ of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This piece is very intriguing. The first stanza insisted that I read it several times to ponder the intent.

My interpretation of your work is that the modern ego either rejects the lessons of the past, or twists them for its own purposes. The imagery in the first stanza of hiding behind trees and rocks made this interpretation interesting, since when I think of modern times, I think of people being in the man made world, and running from God's natural beauty.