POETRY BY DIANNE SMALLING

THE FRAGANCE

What’s that perfumed smell

That lingers round your hair?

I’d say it was supposed to be,

But dust is mingled there...

“Oh, I’ve been to see the Lord

And with me, fragrance took...

I bathed His feet with oil and tear,

As others stopped to look.

“They tried to make me feel ashamed

When I unpinned my hair.

But nothing could my tears refrain

As kneeling, I worshiped there.

“I could not keep from kissing

The dust upon His feet.

The dust that proved my God had come

To earth for me to meet.

“He said a thing so strange

Before I left that place...

He told me that this incident

Would never be erased.

“That generations long to come

Will hear this humble deed,

And see the grateful worship

Of a sinner He has freed.”

(Closing now the Bible

And leaning back my head,

I smell the lovely fragrance

Of the story I’ve just read.)

HE CALLED

He called me as a woman,

Though I knew not where I’d go.

Just He and I, a pilgrimage

With promise I would grow.

I wavered, then yielded my hand.

“If I can’t trust You, then who?”

We took a step toward the unknown.

It felt so cold...so new.

I crossed a brink, leaving all

That makes a woman secure.

I peered to see what was ahead

But the view was fearfully obscure.

One comforting thing I noticed

As we took our second step...

His presence there beside me

Erased the world I’d left.

He took me to the fields beyond

and showed me other’s need,

And challenged me to lay my life

On foreign soil, as seed.

I turned to go back home again...

Safe in comforts known before.

But then I knew my choice was made...

I only returned to close the door.

MY TESTIMONY

Oh Grace, that hid behind the door,

Until that moment You designed...

Removed the veil from heart of stone;

Shown in my eyes, that once were blind.

Found to me who sought You not

As in a web of love, I’m caught.

Empty hands...What can I give?

A grateful heart...

By grace I live.

THE SIGN

“Throne of Grace”...how rich that sign

That hangs outside Your door.

It beckons, “boldly enter in...

Behind the veil there’s more.”

So push the door wide open

He’s waiting there for you

Accompaned by ‘mercy’

And ‘grace’ attending too!

Push not gently at the door,

Give it the boldest shove.

For on the sign inside you’ll see,

The “Home Sweet Home of Love”.

FAREWELL

Cardboard boxes filled with things

That make a house a home.

Lovingly we store you there

To await us all alone.

The apartment has an echo now.

It whispers our farewell.

This haven’s somehow lost its touch

To keep us from the trail.

No keys to open lodgings

Do we now hold in our hand.

A promise from God’s Word alone

Will open foreign lands.

So boxes filled with homey things

Keep silent for awhile!

And do not beckon our return

As you see our farewell smile.

THE TOUCH

He stopped despite the rush of life

to see who touched His hem.

“You see the crowd around You, Lord”

(It seemed so strange to them...

That as the throng pushed side to side

He’s notice the touch so slight)

But it penetrated passed His hem

And reached the heart inside.

He felt her desperation

He sensed the one last hope

He saw her trembling in the crowd

He asked her to approach

Your prayer, O child, is like that touch

It makes it’s way within

The heart of a caring Father

Where miracles begin.

Though millions throng His throne each day

With needs both great and small.

He sees your need and hears your prayer

As though beyond them all.

So reach right through the noisy crowd

Until He looks your way,

And says “My child, go, be healed!

I’ve felt your touch this day.”

MY TREASURE CHEST

A treasure safely up above

No moth or rust can touch.

And put my heart along with it,

for that, too, can corrupt.

A single eye for you my God,

An eye so full of light,

That when I glance at earthly things

They vanish out of sight.

And make the motive of my alms

Be for Your eyes alone.

My right hand with a giving palm,

the left need never know.

And when I pass from this short life

And join my treasure chest,

You and I’ll unpack the store

You’ve helped me to possess.

But I can’t imagine keeping

One item from the box...

I can’t see even thinking

To open up it’s lock.

Your grace prepared the works for me,

And caused me to obey...

“It came from you, It goes to You”

That is what I’ll say.

THE PURPOSE

According to His purpose

Romans 8:28 says,

That’s why I’m chosen

That’s why I’m led.

But what is this Purpose?

Is it defined?

So I turn the page over

...To Romans 9.

There it is clear

In verse 23,

He’s showing the world

His riches through me.

I’m a vessel of mercy

Prepared before time...

Come through the Potter’s House,

No work of mine.

Then I glance back

To 9, verse 11.

And see that I never

Could merit heaven.

For it’s not of works,

But Him that calls;

So that’s the Purpose

Behind it all!

THE PLAN

Then stood up a pharisee

Respected by all men,

A doctor of law, Gamaliel said,

“Here’s what to do with them.”

“These men that won’t be silenced

But bolder yet they grow;

It seems a hard assignment

But there’s a way, I know.

“It worked before with Theudas;

A following he sought.

In all there were four hundred,

But God brought them to naught.

“Now here we have another group,

Fearless in their speech.

I think the plan will work the same

As they proceed to preach.

“Now listen, here’s my counsel...

We’ll come not on these men,

But let the mighty hand of God

Decide the fate of them.”

Gamaliel never knew that day,

two thousand years ago,

He’d give me hope by what he said...

A promise as I go.

If what I do be of the Lord,

No one can stop the plan.

For they would find a flight with God,

And not a fight with man!

PILGRIM’S HEART

I want a pilgrim’s heart, O Lord

Not mindful of this world

Embracing a stranger’s status

Indifferent to the lure...

Of things, opinions, fads & drifts...

Diluted in mediocrity

I wish to count my earthly worth

In view of eternity.

I look above this immediate haze

And see a city beyond

The foundations are unequaled

My heart cries, “I belong!”

How can I be at home here now

When deep within, a voice

woos with each and every step

To a place of better choice?