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When I was at Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry, I had the opportunity to work with some amazingly anointed women on a book project. The class was called Kingdom Creativity, and the book was called Beauty. It is a collection of photography and poetry that celebrates the beauty God has placed all around and inside us. A couple of days ago, I was flipping through the pages and wanted to share a few of the poems and what inspired them.
I had little experience writing poetry then. Many of these pieces, however, seemed to come to me through ‘supernatural download.’ The five ladies I had been partnered with for this creative project were all photographers, and I was the only writer, which seemed a little daunting at first. However, I felt the Lord gently whispering words of hope and celebration. All too often, we miss the small moments, the tiny bread-crumb trails of beauty laid out for us to see. You only have to open your eyes and appreciate what Father God has put right in front of you.
Ring the Bells!
Throw open the windows and ring the bells!
Bondage has relinquished its powerful spell.
No more will you keep us from flying, dancing!
The chains have been broken, completely freeing.
Swing open the gates and let us run!
Sadness has melted in the light of the Son.
No more will you keep us from laughing, singing!
Eyes have been opened to the joy of His coming.
Ring the Bells came to me at the kitchen island of the house I shared with ten other girls while attending Bethel. (You may be slack-jawed right now at the thought of eleven women sharing a five-bedroom house, but it was one of the best experiences of my life sharing the day-to-day with these amazing women of God.) This poem came from the section entitled “Joy and Freedom.” The pages were filled with smiling children, people dancing in the rain, and sunlit meadows. As I wrote this poem, I thought of what my life was like before I knew Jesus, like the dark void before God spoke life into existence. I had a vision of what it must have looked like at the tomb on the third day, with darkness covering the garden, and then to see the light bursting out from behind the stone as it was rolled away and our Savior was revealed. True freedom looks like surrender–surrender to a loving God who wants nothing but the best for us. It is only in His Light we can experience true freedom and joy. Sadness and despair melt in the Light of the Son. The verse that kept playing over and over in my mind as I wrote this poem was Revelation 7:17
For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their Shepherd; ‘He will lead them to springs of living water.’ ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’
This is a promise for each of us who call Jesus Lord and Friend. A lot of injustice goes on in this world, but thankfully, we have His Light inside us. We are called to not only live in the freedom that He paid for on the cross but to spread the Good News of that freedom to others.
The next section of the book was entitled Hidden Beauty. In it were close-up photos featuring a rusty old car, a wagon wheel, and a chipped teapot atop a stack of dusty books, to name just a few. There is hidden beauty in things that are old or abandoned, yet often it is a matter of perspective. Sometimes it can be difficult to see the good in different situations of our lives, but I was reminded that God can turn even the worst of these circumstances for His good.
Hidden
Slow down.
Look around.
The treasure is within your grasp–
Disguised.
Pass through the door into a world
Waiting just below the surface.
Full of color and culture and delight–
Unseen.
A flash of light around the corner.
A distant laugh carried in the wind,
Embedded in mystery and suspense–
Concealed.
The beauty is in the journey,
The splendor in perspective.
Who will find the extraordinary–
Hidden.
I pray that if you feel like you are walking through an impossible situation, God will give you His eyes to see and give you a perspective shift. It doesn’t mean that things will magically get better or turn out the way you want. Rest assured, He is with you through it all. “Lord, give us eyes to see and ears to hear Your voice, even when we cannot see or understand the why.”
This last poem I want to share came from the section we called Architecture. I have always been fascinated by architecture and ruins from ancient cultures. The pages of this section were filled with photos of beautiful buildings–some old, some new. As I was writing this poem, I was thinking of all the people who have gone before; the heritage the children of Israel left us; and how we, as grafted-in children of God, get to be a part of that. I thought of the Heroes of the Faith like Amy Semple-McPherson, Billy Graham, and so many other evangelists, teachers, apostles, missionaries, and just ‘regular Joes’ like myself that have left a beautiful legacy.
I thought of my Grandma Jean, who was a first-generation Christian in her family. She changed the course of our entire family because of her choice to follow Christ. I think of my Grandpa Tim and Grandma Eula, who loved Jesus and prayed for my siblings and me. She taught me that worship is not just about a song but about your heart. I think of my parents and all the countless hours they spent praying and interceding for me. I am so incredibly thankful for their examples. I wanted to pay tribute to the legacy I get to enjoy because of other people’s sacrifices, both those I have had the pleasure of knowing throughout my life and those who have impacted my life whom I have yet to meet. Their ceiling became my floor, and someday, I will meet them on the other side of eternity.
These Walls Could Tell You Stories
These walls could tell you stories
You would not believe
Of Kings and Queens of long ago–
The wisdom that they leave.
These towers could show you views
You have never seen,
Of cobbles streets and rooftops–
In golden light they gleam.
These ruins could tell you histories
You would never know,
Of people who have gone before–
So we may learn and grow.
People come and people go
But these monuments remain,
Showing us where we have been
And the future we could claim.
To me, this section of the book was really about honoring those who have gone before and remembering that we are not put on this earth for our own selfish pleasures. If we are wise, we will build our lives on the Rock (Jesus), as it talks about in Matthew 7. We build our lives on Jesus, not only for ourselves but for the generations that will follow. I want to build a legacy that my children and my children’s children can look back on and think, “Wow! She walked with Jesus.”
Exodus 20:1-6
And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love Me and keep My commandments.
That is the kind of legacy I want to build, one that will send an impact trickling down throughout the generations.
Blessings,
Nicole Boyd
Poetry Copyright – Nicole (Davenport) Boyd, 2011.
Samctioned Love
