Friendship is a Verb (in a hurting world) by Stuart Wood - HTML preview

PLEASE NOTE: This is an HTML preview only and some elements such as links or page numbers may be incorrect.
Download the book in PDF, ePub, Kindle for a complete version.

To a church whilst they’re in prayer.

Perhaps He’ll send you one of His angels

Out of the blue, to love and care.

I hope that you can find a fellowship

Which meets your needs in every way.

Filled with loving, gentle people

To comfort your grief, dry your tears away.

I feel so helpless standing here

When I’ve support but you have none.

I pray that God will find an answer;

Because when He does, then you’ll be gone.

It’s easy making such bland statements,

When we’re the ones who aren’t in need.

Why not demonstrate through our actions?

Not use empty words to mask our greed.

We may try to hide our insecurities behind different masks or personas, but be assured; the truth will come out in the end. It is much better to deal with insecurity rather than try to hide it. Fermentation leads to explosions if not handled correctly.

Copyright © 2003 Stuart Wood Page 24 of 135

FRIENDSHIP IS A VERB

Camouflage

Into the background you blend so effortlessly!

Unseen. Unheard. Unnoticed.

Afraid to stand out from the crowd, yet

Desperate to be seen;

Desperate to be appreciated;

Desperate to be loved;

Desperate to be admired;

Desperate!

How quickly your colors change!

One minute black, the next white;

Then black again; but never grey,

Unless it’s how you want to be treated.

So many contrasts, so many changes

That you can’t keep up with yourself.

One moment agreeing with a point-of-view

You trashed,

Less than a minute ago!

Your coat of many colors fits well!

So does the veneer of composure that you wear;

Camouflage to hide that deep, inner driving.

How sad and how dangerous,

That a chameleon, perfectly hidden,

Becomes naked and exposed

When concealed anger burns so fiercely!

Changing color, from green to red.

Revealing its true position and identity.

Court Jester

Yo! Ho! Ho! Life is good;

I’m happy when I’m sad.

My painted smile hides the pain.

Copyright © 2003 Stuart Wood Page 25 of 135

FRIENDSHIP IS A VERB

Which is really not that bad.

How great to do things my way,

It helps me to be free.

No need to worry about others;

My life revolves around me.

I love to be so popular,

The center of what goes on.

As long as I get what I need,

I’ll milk it ‘til I’m done.

I’m so much of a natural;

No effort is involved.

I simply wear my jester’s smile

And that’s the problem solved.

My actions are pernicious;

My words convince and sway

My audience, who are unaware

Of the dangerous games I play.

Today I’ll play the jester;

Tomorrow I’ll play the fool.

Perhaps next week I’ll play the victim,

No problem when I’m so cool.

It’s easy when those around me

Are taken on board my ride.

And thankfully, so few know me,

Or see the ‘me’ inside.

So I’ll play my game of roulette,

Until I fall from grace.

Then I’ll pack my bags and move out,

To find some other place.

Copyright © 2003 Stuart Wood Page 26 of 135

FRIENDSHIP IS A VERB

Crashing Cymbal

More composed than a photograph,

You stand there.

A synthetic smile hiding the real, heart-torn you,

Who cowers like a frightened child in the corner.

Behind the closed doors of pride

And the bar-clad prison cell of your mind.

Denying the truth can only have

A finite span.

Then, the carefully papered cracks tear,

Exposing the frailty of flesh and blood.

Arrogance will give way to brokenness,

Confidence crumble to vulnerability.

You speak with man-made authority,

Raising your hands,

Stained with the foul stench of hypocrisy.

Playing to a gallery of fools.

Lying with empty words from an empty heart

Cloaked in the marble of denial.

So, play you crashing cymbal.

Reverberate resounding gong!

A unilateral display of deceit.

Empty of love or compassion; shout your empty praises,

Whilst you poison those closest to you,

Drawing them into your black hole.

You may speak with the tongues of men,

And of angels.

But without love, you are only a noise!

A sad reflection of the person you once were.

Copyright © 2003 Stuart Wood Page 27 of 135

FRIENDSHIP IS A VERB

The image of God, marred by bitterness,

And failure to acknowledge how you really feel.

Copyright © 2003 Stuart Wood Page 28 of 135

FRIENDSHIP IS A VERB

Friendship

‘An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory’ (Friedrich Engels)

‘I am only one, but I am still one; I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; I will not refuse to do the something I can do’ (Helen Keller)

Friendship Is A Verb In A Hurting World

If only life was as simple

As you’d like it to be.

Simple actions; simple answers.

The Bible, a recipe book;

An almanac to cure all ills.

Black and white; right and wrong.

Applying words out of context

So they say what you want them to say.

If only friendship and love

Were as simple and cheap

As you show them to be.

Disposable; use once then throw away

When they become tarnished

With the failings of others.

Nouns; objects, with no cost.

An outward show with an inner vacuum.

If only Jesus hadn’t said

What he really said!

Challenging simple solutions;

Turning our natural inclinations

Upside down.

Encouraging us to swim against the flow.

Dirty words; commitment; trust; pain;

Dirty hands with a healing balm; for others.

Copyright © 2003 Stuart Wood Page 29 of 135

FRIENDSHIP IS A VERB

If only you’d understand

How much you meant to me.

A rock; a hiding place.

If only you’d realize

The desolation you brought.

The raping of my trust.

If only you could see

That friendship is a verb, in a hurting world.

Above And Beyond

Is life all about

Taking the easy way out?

What about sweat and toil and cost,

Loving against the odds when all seems lost?

Is life all about

Taking the easy way out?

Should I trade wrong with wrong,

And make them pay, rather than get along?

Is life all about

Taking the easy way out?

Is it wrong to fight

For what others think wrong, when you know it’s right?

Is life all about

Taking the easy way out?

Where’s the cost and where’s the pain,

If I don’t forgive others, again and again?

Is life all about

Taking the easy way out?

Off-pat answers and easy solutions,

Rather than love, commitment and resolutions?

Copyright © 2003 Stuart Wood Page 30 of 135

FRIENDSHIP IS A VERB

Life is all about

Not taking the easy way out!

Not running and hiding and lying low,

But facing-up and learning to grow.

Life is all about

Not taking the easy way out!

But loving the hating and seeing their beauty.

Forgiving at all times, it’s our God given duty!

Friend@Alltimes.Com

Our times together haven’t always been easy.

Do you remember the day of the big misunderstanding?

We fought like infantrymen with fixed bayonets!

And in the end we didn’t kill each other,

We were friends

So many times we made a mess of things!

You defending your corner; me defending mine.

Both afraid to give ground in case the other won.

And in the end, we still didn’t hate each other, because

We were friends.

Then came the time for you to leave.

Out of the blue! No warning or time for me to prepare.

No hurt; only a sadness that our intimacy would be lost

As the miles separated us. But still we didn’t fail;

We remained friends.

Then I broke the news to you

Of how I’d fallen from grace.

I felt you’d never forgive me and be like so many others, melt away.

Copyright © 2003 Stuart Wood Page 31 of 135

FRIENDSHIP IS A VERB

But you didn’t! You stood firm, holding my hand.

And we remain friends.

How deep my love for you,

That in life’s hardest hours

You remained faithful to your promise, to stand...

To stand with me. How privileged I am

That you’re still my friend.

And as time rolls slowly on, bringing new fears,

Re-opening old wounds which have yet to heal.

What a comfort to have you by my side,

In body, or in spirit. What a blessing to know

That you’re my friend...

At all times!

Telephone Lifeline

We hardly knew each other.

A few words shared over coffee.

A meal shared with mutual friends,

And a short musical interlude.

So why, do you extend a hand of friendship

When those I expected to stay,

Have deserted me, leaving this island in stormy seas?

Why, are you one of a minority who care for me

When life crumbles, the tempests break,

And days turn to weeks, turn to months?

Why, do you continue to visit

When there are so many miles between us?

Copyright © 2003 Stuart Wood Page 32 of 135

FRIENDSHIP IS A VERB

Not offering your advice,

But a listening ear and an empathetic heart.

And when your life becomes too hectic

To make a visit in person,

You visit me on the telephone; leaving

Messages of hope;

Messages of comfort;

Messages of concern;

Messages of love.

When walls close in around me,

When snares trap me,

When poison arrows pierce my heart and soul,

The balm of your voice and your love

Is ever ready to greet me

On my mobile lifeline.

The difference is that you have lived!

Experienced deep joy and deep pain;

Rejection; uncertainty; fear; forgiveness.

Your love honed and kindled through knowing

What it is to be in the dust,

Then picked up and given a new start.

You offer no hollow words of superficial spirituality.

You don’t eat away at the fibre of my being with guilt trips.

You don’t take the moral high ground, justifying it with scriptures Taken out of context!

Yes, you’ve known true forgiveness first-hand,

Even in the confusion of a hurting world.

And because of that, I can thank you,

For being my telephone lifeline.

Copyright © 2003 Stuart Wood Page 33 of 135

FRIENDSHIP IS A VERB

When All Else Fails

As lifelines are slowly cut

And certainty disappears.

When Rock crumbles to dust;

You are there.

As those outside, stare in

With disapproving looks,

But offer no helping hand;

You are there.

When friends give their advice,

And judge and jury sit

To condemn me for my crime.

You are there.

As my spirit melts like butter

Cut by a red-hot knife.

When my heart cracks in the heat;

You are there.

When I’m left all alone

Outside the city wall.

No strength to carry on;

You are there.

I cannot understand;

The cost to you’s so great.

But life can carry on, because

You’re still there.

Copyright © 2003 Stuart Wood Page 34 of 135

FRIENDSHIP IS A VERB

God sends us the most unexpected help and yet we miss it simply because it does not fit into our preconceived ideas of how it will or should happen.

Heaven Sent

You have been where I am,

Deserted and alone.

Escape routes blocked by fear,

Support from friends long gone.

No reason on this earth

Should cause our paths to cross.

But I’m so glad they did,

As you help me in my loss.

When those I hoped would be there

Have fled to higher ground.

Untainted by my failings;

Vanishing without a sound;

You, my friend, are here,

Our faiths so far apart.

God bless you, for you have

A special place in my heart.

Your arms enfold around me,

Your heart is filled with love.

Your lips, they speak compassion,

As if from heaven above.

I hope my ‘friends’ can hear,

And I hope my ‘friends’ can see,

God’s love at work through you,

An angel sent to me.

Isla

Copyright © 2003 Stuart Wood Page 35 of 135

FRIENDSHIP IS A VERB

You are my constant companion,

Faithful to the last.

Close by my side at all times,

Guarding me until trouble’s passed.

You give me hope and courage,

If silence shouts too loud.

I feel you warm against me,

Protecting me from the crowd.

When absent, how I miss you.

When present, how I care.

When hurting, what a comfort

To know that you are there.

My Isla how I love you,

My words cannot express

The joy you bring me each new day,

The many ways you bless.

And now we’re re-united,

No longer kept apart.

My eyes, my love, my guide dog;

Let’s make a brand new start!

Friendships can be a delicate balance between commitment and abuse.

Snakes And Ladders

Climbing up the ladder,

Life is looking good.

I’d love to make things different,

Copyright © 2003 Stuart Wood Page 36 of 135

FRIENDSHIP IS A VERB

If only I could.

Arising from the ashes

Has been no easy way.

It’s been like snakes and ladders,

Up and down each day.

I’ve climbed so many ladders,

Then fallen down again.

So r