www.servingjesuspoetry.com
  • Author's Testimony & Introduction--FAQS
    • Table of Contents
  • 1 His Kingdom to Prepare
  • 2 My Choice Companions
  • 3 Companions
  • 4 Companions II
  • 5 A Mother's MTC Farewell
  • 6 Who Will Dare for Christ
  • 7 To a Chosen Generation
  • 8. I Feel Such a Strangeness
  • 9. Not Me
  • 10. My Brother's Father
  • 11. Not Far Away
  • 12. Questions for Our Leaders
  • 13. Questions From Our Leaders
  • 14. The Visit
  • 15. Show and Tell
  • 16. Within Our Slumber We Will Dream
  • 17. Servants in the Shadows
  • 18. Joya Escojida/Chosen Jewel
  • 19. Las Aguas Del Senor/The Waters of the Lord
  • 20. Come Fasting to the Meeting House
  • 21. As Voices Join in Sacred Sabbath Worship
  • 22. A Child's Baptismal Day
  • 23. In Temple White
  • 24. Temple Hill
  • 25. This Precious Day
  • 26. The Translators
  • 27. I Your Husband Who Have Fallen [First Poem of The Repentance Trilogy.]
  • 28. The Wife's Song
  • 29. Remember Not Past Years
  • 30. A Priesthood Lullaby
  • 31. The Season of Our Need
  • 32. Cherished Daughter, Valiant Servant
  • 33. Daughter, Hear and Heed Your Savior's Voice
  • 34. Bird Mom
  • 35. Eric's Song
  • 36. A Wedding Song of Praise
  • 37. Testimonies to My Daughters
  • 38. Prayer for a Caring Granddaughter
  • 39. Firstborn Son and Firstborn Daughter
  • 40. Father's Day
  • 41 The Hospital
  • 42. The Children of the World
  • 43. For the Healers of the World
  • 44. Simple Heroes of Our Day
  • 45. To This World So Prone to Peril
  • 46. Somewhere
  • 47. Servant of Servants
  • 48. We Wish That You Were Here
  • 49. The Teacher
  • 50. To Protect Marriage and Family
  • 51. Earth's Unborn Children Weeping
  • 52. Prayers for the Peacekeepers
  • 53. That Patriot Dreams Will Come to Pass
  • 54. We Would Do It All Again
  • 55. So Much More
  • 56. Passage and Pilot
  • 57. Because of the Son
  • 58. Growing Up
  • 59. The Olive Leaf
  • 60. Until All Are One With Him
  • 61. Death Has Not Won, But Lost
  • 62. Call to Arms
  • 63. When All Is Done
  • 64. How Rarely Have I Come This Way
  • 65. At a Place So Very Different
  • 66. My Best Years Lie Ahead
  • 67. Sons of Zion, Jesus Calls You
  • 68. Come, Sing Your Song to Me
  • 69. May It Be Always So
  • 70. Until Safe in Heaven's Embrace
  • 71. Seek the Spirit
  • 72. Undertow
  • 73. If I Am Given Time
  • 74. Sons and Daughters, Heirs of Promise
  • 75. Wrestling for a Call
  • 76. When Everything is Ready
  • 77. One Thousand Times
  • 78. Tearful and Fearful I Prayed Through the Evening
  • 79. Tell Us, How Do Servants and Teachers Like You Come Along?
  • 80. Blessings for Beloved Servants
  • 81. Our Gayla's Free at Last
  • 82. I Am a Witness of Your Worth
  • 83. I'll Live With You Again
  • 84. Brother, Friend, and Fellow Servant
  • 85. Grieve Not for Him
  • 86. Press On From Payson's Hill
  • 87. The Righteous Live in Me
  • 88. Homecoming
  • 89. In Honor of My Friends Unseen
  • 90. [An Invitation] We Call to You
  • 91. Fellow Americans, Let Us Talk
  • 92. Brothers and Sisters, Fulfilled Together
  • 93. What We Have Lost in Our Digital Paradise
  • 94. Running Out of Time
  • 95. Ere You Hear the Sound of Battle
  • 96. 21st Century Gadiantons
  • 97 The Setting Apart
  • 98. What Do You Say?
  • 99. To a Woman of Tempered Steel
  • 100. A Correction Soon Begins
  • 101. The Quiet of the Morning
  • 102. Slippery Slope
  • 103. Stormy--We've Got to Stop Meeting Like This
  • 104. Warriors of the Mind and Soul [Poetic Process Discussion]
  • 105. He Wrote Just as He Lived
  • 106. Life Singer
  • 107. Zion's Daughter Leanore
  • 108. Does Your House of Worship Now Seem Lonely
  • 109. Crucify the "Old Man of Sin"
  • 110. We Loved Them Once
  • 111. Winter's Mothers God Holds Most Dear
  • 112. Lord, Please Forgive Us Anew
  • 113. Patriot's Faith Will Triumph Yet
  • 114. Indexing
  • 115. I Am Liberty
  • 116. The Beauty
  • 117. To Aid the Innocents Abused
  • 118. A Noble Bugler Has Returned
  • 119. The Music of the Lord
  • 120. Frog Cat
  • 121. God's Storms
  • 122. The Daughters of the Lord
  • 123. Come Back, Before Our Souls for Error Yearn
  • 124. Don't Tell Me That My Time Has Come
  • 125. From the Dust [Comes The Book of Mormon]
  • 126 To See the Sun Again
  • 127. Mourning America
  • 128. For Baby Adam
  • 129. Despedida Ansiosa/Anxious Farewell
  • 130. Between the Lines
  • 131. Will You Ever Ask the Questions
  • 132. The Days I Spent With You
  • 133. For Nelda
  • 134. The Covenant Path
  • 135. Heartland Dream
  • 136 We Sent Our Very Best
  • 137. Sisters of the Covenant, Daughters of God
  • 138 Sisters Share Their Cheerful Hearts
  • 139 God Looketh On the Heart
  • 140 What of Me?
  • 141 The Return
  • 142 Latter-day Defenders
  • 143. "Come and See, Come and Help, Come and Share"
  • 144. The Best of Father's Seed I've Known
  • 145. [Complete, but pending.]
  • 146. When the Days of Wait Are Over
  • 147. Red Kettles and Silver Bells
  • 148. Victory
  • 149. He Lacks Not Faith
  • 150. "Am I a Friend of Jesus?" [Spring 2020 Semi-Final Examination]
  • 151. Christ is Our Refuge Once Again
  • 152. Until We Kneel at Our Savior's Feet
  • 153. Where You Stand, You Should Still Lift
  • 154. No Day Shall Pass nor Night Shall Fall
  • 155. We Pray for You
  • 156. Bountiful Harvest
  • 157. A Message of Peace and Love
  • 158. Israel, Israel God Shall Save Thee
  • 159. For Those Who Wait
  • 160. Friends Who Intercede
  • 161. Young Women's "Frog Camp"
99.  To a Woman of Tempered Steel
[Service in other faiths]

PREFACE AND BACKGROUND


We met "Paul and Rebecca", former Priest and Nun, in No. 42. Paul's tribute arose from the request of an office colleague who, knowing I dabbled in poetry, asked for "a few verses for an outstanding public child therapist who is retiring".  In her mind, I surmise, it was similar to asking for a "cheeseburger to go".  From phone calls to co-workers and friends, I was given a great deal of background material about both Paul and Rebecca.  Yet I had no appreciation of what was involved.   

Believing I had a duty to a "fellow counselor", and recalling my choice soul mates from BYU, I was blessed to write "The Children of the World". Paul's poem was true verse and I took care to print and mount it in a modest yet attractive frame.  I was told it was welcome at his retirement party, and his agency asked for, and was given, other mounted and framed copies for its own offices.  (I also sent it to former teachers and fellow-students/fellow-servants from my BYU Master's program, and we shared, again, some very tender moments.) Giving thanks to God, I rested from Paul's project thinking that was the end of it.

But I was led to know my task was not finished. Rebecca's story had to be told.  I had already been given a time line and critical facts about her life.  Although some events were too painful to describe in any detail, I attempted to convey the same through inference.   

Rebecca was born and raised in Chicago, close to my home, and spent time training for her ministry in Wisconsin. She heard of a need for clergy in Hong Kong, and asked to be assigned there. Doubting her capacity for such work, she was required to first spend time serving in a St. Louis ghetto. Her success there led to her subsequent transfer to Hong Kong. Both Paul and Rebecca enjoyed their ministry in the Far East, but disease and poverty incurred a high personal price for their service.

They left their posts separately, met again in the United States, married, and tried to raise a family in Southern Illinois. After three miscarriages, they adopted children rejected by others. This new family eventually came to California to counsel and serve abused children. 

99. 
TO A WOMAN OF TEMPERED STEEL 
(We shall call her “Rebecca, ” We shall call him “Paul”) 

Preface. Praver . . . and Warning

A word of caution, before you brave this free verse.
(The errors begin so soon-this was not “free” to either them or me.)

These fumbling words, from trembling hands
And a fool’s mouth, may wound and sting. But if you dare proceed, 

Take heart that it is still the prayer of he who recorded this,
And hopefully the prayer of those who may read the same,
That faith in the Almighty, and the armor of virtue,
Will yet protect, in these “modern times,” all who seek God. 


A Couple

You may know them both.
It was not always so,
But now, to see one Is to see the other,
And to know one Is to know the other.
Did not His servant say: “Neither is the man without the woman, 

Neither the woman without the man?”
But few there are today who heed such words.
It is not. . . "the modern thing.”


Now United

Now, in sport or learning or service, they are inseparable.
But, again, it was not always so.
For they found each other (and blessed was that day),
From so far apart, so far away,
And after so many years!
But, if you read this (and few there may be),
You either know, or you may learn, at least in part, 

How it came to be; how it was meant to be; and how He made it happen.

We Begin ... in a Great City

We begin ... in a city--but no ordinary city!
Chicago is its name.
A place of crowds.
Cold in winter time, and hot in summer time,

And often wet throughout!
It lives, massive and brooding,
By a lake defiled by man’s avarice and neglect.
This is no haven for the idle rich.
This is a place of hard work,
And strong smells, and of movement never ceasing.


A City of Infinite Variety

It is a giant, sprawling beast, both repulsive and beautiful. 
Beware--it’s diverse, multicolored progeny, 
Raised in adversity, can be fearless.
You may visit it (and more than once) and never know the creature. 

For it is many cities, inhabited by many peoples.
Each preserving their own special tongue, and taste, and touch,
Of China, or Poland, or Germany, or . . .
It is a steely Janus--gateway to a latter-day world.
Most just “pass through,” and never know this brute, but to say,
“I came through Chicago, but, of course, I did not stay.”


We Begin . . . with a Daughter of Virtue

We begin . . . with a girl.
She cultivates within herself,
(And despite a wicked world’s assaults)...virtue.
(But that is not "a modern thing".)
In time, as we shall see, it was given as a crown to Paul.
But we must wait (oh, so long!) for that to be.
She brings to this world . . . gifts:
An ear, a hand, a love for music;
A strength of will; a caring heart; 

An empathic soul; a faith in Deity. 
(Oh, no, not modern things at all!)

Who Learns and Grows

She studies and learns. A young and thirsty plant, this!
How quick her ear! How bright her mind! How strong her faith! 

She travels to the North.  A different scene, indeed!
A place of deep greens and rolling hills.
She studies and grows, with her sisters-- 

(No, not of blood, but of Spirit.)
Her lessons are more than man’s works.
They are of charity, and compassion, and service.
(And, yes, you are right, “not modern things at all!”)


Who Makes Solemn Promises

She has been raised, this hardy bloom, in . . . diversity.
She is not afraid of different eyes, or skin, or speech.
Wise, she has learned that,
Truly, there are no different hearts.
She takes sacred vows.
She desires to give her greatest gift, herself, to God.
She begins to travel . . . further and further away.
First, New Orleans. (We know it not, she must our teacher be.) 

Then, through “happenstance”, but is there really such to Him? 
She hears of a need ... to the East. A chord is struck.

She Is Sent to St. Louis to be Tested

They are not sure! (Oh, well intended fools to doubt this heart!)
A test is demanded! Proofs are required! (An ancient folly, this!)
“It will be seen,” they say, “if she is equal to the challenge.”
To St. Louis she must go ... to the ghetto.
(No, you cannot see it now, it is no more, it could not be redeemed.) 

She gives her all ... and triumphs. New friends ... talents ... success. 
It is but the pattern of her life’s fabric.
Look closely at that modest garment, 

And see the weave repeat throughout.
(It has a warp of struggle and a woof of service.)
Do not despise the plainness of this worthy material! 

Jesus wore a plain garment.

In the East, She Again Proves Herself

She is sent, willingly, joyfully, to the East.
Did not a soul-mate speak to her of this far away place?
Did not her heart leap when the chord was struck?
She serves--Man and God.
First, she must learn a new and intricate tongue--
It is no small feat.
But more-she must learn the ways, and hopes, and fears of others. 

She is a ready student. She has a special teacher.
She triumphs--the pattern repeating!
Her heart has made another home. She is with . . . family.


Rebecca Meets Paul in Hong Kong

It is there, far to the East, in Hong Kong,
That fate continues to spin its subtle web.
For Paul is there.
They are but fellow servants--no more.
Each sharing a love of God, and man, and good works.
For now, it is enough.
They share the teacher’s song of giving.
They esteem each other.
Brother and Sister. United in their Lord.
Time passes-filled with devotions and challenges, 

With happiness and struggle.

After Many Years. She Returns to America

But the years far away in a very different land also change them,  
Each in their own way, but to a common end.
She leaves first.
She has been so long away, her heart has come to wonder:
What does it now mean? “My Country, Tis of Thee”,
She has already learned, so far away, that our “patriot’s dream”
Is shared by many who do not see a flag of bright stars and stripes.

She returns to a place she had almost forgotten.
The lady with the lamp is still there.
Can we see the tear filled eyes? 

A beloved daughter returns ... home again.

The Experience of Estrangement 

And have you been so far away?
Oh, no, we do not speak of a few days or weeks on a foreign shore,
Where you may briefly travel for leisure or even work). 

We speak of years beyond red, white, and blue,
In places true freedom is but a dream.
Where “English” is a foreign tongue, 
And America is a distant, fantasy-like place,
Known mostly by false visions on a screen, 

Or pictures of wonder in a magazine. 
You have not? 
Then, perhaps this faltering story is not for you.
To understand, to feel, and to know, as God knows--

You must have endured abroad.

Paul Returns to America, and Visits Rebecca

Paul follows--first, there is a Sabbatical.
A curious coincidence,
He calls her as he speeds from West to East, through the gateway.
(Beware coincidence, for in it we see the Divine!)

They meet and talk. Questions are exchanged. New experience shared.
She has been in his thoughts. 

A chord struck in the past now chimes again!
So much in common.
Good friends can become, in time, something more.
He continues on his way.

But the seed, planted long ago, grows swiftly now.

Paul and Rebecca Wed

Friendship, esteem, and admiration flower swiftly, gloriously, into love!
Brother and sister no more, they would be ONE!
The chord swells to become a symphony, 

In which all of life must be shared!
It is done--a blessed day so long delayed it is bittersweet for the wait.

They live in Illinois--but to the South.
No hulking metropolis this, but towns and farmland.
Now, finally husband and wife,
Joined by man and God, they aspire to raise a family.
It is not to be in the ordinary fashion.

What fools and sinners so easily, disdainfully conceive, is denied them.

The Childless Couple Suffers

Have you known pain. . . . grief. . . .suffering?
Oh no, we neither speak of a brief bruise, nor a passing disappointment.
Of no simple broken bone nor unfulfilled wish

Springs this soul-deep sorrow.
We speak of countless prayers,
Heartfelt and sincere, for children denied.
(Have untold ills; strong medicines; 

Deprivations from her roots weakened her?)
Once, twice, thrice-she is visited by death himself!
That hated specter, cheated first and long ago by One, 

Takes gleeful revenge.
And should a tear appear as you read these faltering words,
Know this--a thousand such can but begin to point the way. 

Their hearts break.

The Temper of Sorrow

So many blows strike the steel-to-be!
So harsh the water’s icy quench!
A lifetime of pounding, and proving, and changing has been demanded.
If this metal had voice, it would not merely cry out, it would shriek! 
Lesser alloys would be shattered by the tempering Hand.
Lesser souls would lose all faith, abandon every hope, 
Retreat into despair. But she, and he, do not break; cannot break!
They bear their Father’s likeness. 
They are tools fashioned by the Master. They endure. . .they weep
(In private and on aching knees).
They bend . . .they rebound; made supple by their faith in God 
And in each other.


A Family Is Created Despite Adversity 

It is enough! A loving God doth ask no more!
(But still the pain remains, subdued--
You see it woven into the noble fabric.) 
Unanswered yet? Each prayer was sent, heartfelt, above!
But some petitions must await eternity.
Though older now, she must return to the strength of her youth.
They persevere, and a family is raised of those 
Who are “the least of these”. 
Each child, no less precious, nor blessed, 
Than if “their own” (a foolish conceit). 
And, remembrance sweet--there were so many for so long before! 
A lifetime, a world, of children--

Rainbow colors and Babel tongues; but of one needy heart.

Paul and Rebecca Hear and Heed a Cry from California

The plains of Illinois can blow cold.
The memories of loss still bring a passing chill.
Another “chance” has come to call.
(But do we not know better now?)

There, to the West, they hear another... need. Again a chord is struck.
They come, wearied but unbroken, tearful but unbowed, 

To a hot, dusty valley.
The children of a lustful and angry generation cry out for deliverance!
Paul spends his days (and nights) in service to the lambs of God. 

Ever, he is supported and comforted by his Rebecca.
And she, again, teaches by example and by the spoken word.

Benediction: Rest but Not Sleep

We leave them now. United, in love, in search for further peace.
But not to sleep--for both vigor and purpose yet flow abundantly within!
They have traveled the world around (and more than once!).
New friends were made everywhere they have gone!
They have shared the dreams and faith and sadness of so many, 
Learned, and taught, and suffered, at least in part, even as He. 
Quietly, respectfully, we slip away, with a prayer in our hearts.
But we have been changed forever, ourselves,

Because (Praise God!) we have known them- If only from a distance.

AFTERWARD


We did exchange letters after the poems were sent, by which they graciously thanked me...and asked:  "How did you know? How could you describe the trials which threatened to overwhelm us or the peace which we ultimately found?"  I fear my written response was meager and ineffectual.  However, I neither asked to meet with "Paul and Rebecca G" nor spoke with them by phone. I cannot explain why, except to confess that I felt unworthy.  I had been an uninvited and unseen spectator to their travails and triumphs. 

The insight baffled me!  Despite having lived no small life of my own, I felt humbled and inadequate by what I was led to know and feel about this couple.  I shared their emotions; knew their anguish; and (in some inexplicable manner) grieved with them for their losses.  I came to understand that when Jesus pronounced his Beatitudes, he was speaking of people just like Paul and Rebecca--His children; His faithful; and...His friends.  And I cringed, knowing that I fell short of the mark!

It may be that no one else will be concerned in the slightest with this poor attempt to describe uncommonly saintly * souls.  Yet, in part through this poor effort, God has at least compelled me to see and acknowledge that the sacrifices and sufferings of many others of different faiths, nationalities, and backgrounds have been and are so much greater than my own that I dare not be proud of what little I might have achieved. This critical truth is reflected, poorly, in No. 89 and 90.  

*  For funerals and to support friends and colleagues on special occasions, for more than fifty years I have attended more masses than many who were born and baptized into the Catholic faith.  By meeting exceptional believers there, I have come to appreciate the concept of Sainthood--one creed's effort to acknowledge how some souls rise above mortality while still living.  Fear not, I have never been tempted to act upon that form of "envy".  After all, decades ago I lived beneath the roof and ate the bread of a future prophet, seer, and revelator--whom my companions and I knew even then was not truly of this world.  I have been privileged to learn from and work with many "saintly" people.  I have known giants.