The Bread of Life Is Never Stale
Lord, give us today, our daily bread
Nutrients of love, grace, and faith in what you have said…
It sustains the body, soul and spirit…
When we read it and when we hear it…
Fresh from your bakery, like a sweet, fragrant pastry…
Filled with apples and cheese and jellies of goodness…
Words from God’s own mouth…
His truth is what it’s all about…
Giving hearts, peace and contentment, that refreshes the soul
Words of life, to fill my bowl…
Hot, buttered bread, to help us grow…
Whole grains, may your words flow…
Building us up in spirit and truth,
Giving us strength, on this road as we go…
Give us this day our daily bread…
Let us eat your word; devouring all that you’ve said…
From your humble table let us be fed…
Wheat fields and grains of this fertile land…
Harvested by Jesus’ own nail scared hands…
Fill us completely with your word each day…
Daily bread; living by what you say…
Teach us to live, laugh, love and pray
It’s your word that sustains us throughout the day!
When life gets difficult and we may lose our way…
Let us eat of your bread, believe and obey…
For your bread is the manna found on the wilderness trail…
And it will keep us abiding in you so we will never fail…
Daily bread is what I seek…
Resting in Jesus, as he wipes away, the tears on each cheek
We’ll eat together this bread that is sweet…
The bread of life, He makes us complete.
~Marla Shaw O’Neill January 9, 2018
The Soul Takes Flight Poetry, ~ M. S. O’Neill
Give us this day our daily bread. Matthew 6:11 New King James Version (NKJV)
But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Matthew 4:4 English Standard Version (ESV)
Grace Land
When we come to the end of this life
And we are standing in the presence of God
His face, the face of a friend, because we’ve walked with Him…
Nothing to be afraid of, no need to feel ashamed
He has loved us from the beginning; He knows each of us by name…
When you close your eyes and go to sleep…loved ones, yes, they will weep
But the joy we will receive, as we walk the golden street…
I’ve heard that its fullness, will be, Oh, so very sweet…
The land of Grace is waiting, precious Lord take my hand…
Lead me all the way home Lord, to that place called, Grace, Land!
~Marla Shaw O’Neill January 8, 2018
John 15:15New International Version (NIV)
15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
Writers for the Anointed One
This poem was inspired by a wonderful writer and friend, Mary Harwell Sayler founder of, Christian Poets and Writers.
They came from ancient times
Scribes who gave their lives…
Writing by candlelight…the sacred holy words
Inscribed…
On scrolls they wrote the story
Each jot and tittle declaring God’s glory
Writing day and night, taking care that all is right…
Passed down through earth’s history
Words of mystery
Proclaiming life in the Light…
Inspired by the Holy Ghost, they wrote what they heard,
These writers of the Word!
You are the chosen…
Hand-picked by the Living Holy God…
To live and breathe and write your songs, and psalms, of Spirit’s life
Death and despair, struggles and strife…
Will all fade away as you sit and write…God’s words they cut like a knife…
Cutting away, sins decay, in the heart of those who will dare to obey
The words you write today…
We are writers of the Anointed One
Never stop, or give up, or think it’s a waste of time…
The ancient’s are cheering you on…
Be Writers of the Light!
~Marla Shaw O’Neill January 6, 2018
The Soul Takes Flight Poetry, by: MS O’Neill
Luke 4:18-19 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim freedom to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
Prayers That Touch God’s Heart
What does God desire?
What is on His heart?
When looking from His, perspective, how would my prayers start?
Surely not, God I want, or, God can you please give me…
God’s desire is so much more, He looks for humility.
Long ago before we were born God set all in motion
His heart’s desire was that His children would give Him all their devotion…
His desire for you and me is to be a Holy Nation…
A people set apart, to live and laugh and love in total adoration
His love for us is limitless,
To love Him back is all He asks
He’ll carry us on eagles’ wings, and treasure us as His own living beings
Because, He, is God…
He is the creator of the universe, and Oh how His heart sings…
When He hears the voice of the redeemed…praying
For when we acknowledge who He is and how His blood has made us clean
Why there isn’t anything…He wouldn’t give…if you know Him, you know what I mean…
God, wash me and I will be whiter than snow
Cleanse me so that I may know
The beauty of your Holiness,
Let your desires be mine,
To be Christ-like, let me have your mind…
To forgive, and love, and offer you, all that I am or ever will be
Let your love shine abundantly through me…to offer love, so others may see
You living; don’t let them see me…
This is my prayer, I pray to thee!
My dar’lyn child you’ve touched the heart of God…
~Marla Shaw O’Neill
January 5, 2018
The Soul Takes Flight Poetry
Deuteronomy 7:6 New International Version (NIV) For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.
Exodus 19:1-6 New International Version (NIV) ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’
1 Peter 2:9-10 New International Version (NIV) But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Ephesians 2:10 New International Version (NIV) For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 1:5-10 The Message (MSG) The God of Glory How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.
Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we’re a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.
What If A Flower had No Flower
What would a flower be without the flower, just a stem?
Why, there’d be no sweet fragrance, no need to even look at them
They wouldn’t produce seeds; they wouldn’t even be a plant we call a weed.
And what about a tree, if it had no leaves
Naked in the elements
A tree without leaves wouldn’t be a tree…
And what about a fish that had no water to swim in
Or a lion without a den, or his roar that never begins?
What if chickens couldn’t cluck?
And what about a duck, without webbed feet
He couldn’t travel very far at all, and what if he had no beak
What would he eat…?
What would the giraffe look like if he wasn’t very tall?
He wouldn’t be a giraffe he’d be too small…
What about the bee, if he didn’t have a hive
How in the world would he ever survive…?
If birds couldn’t fly
And wolves couldn’t howl
If eagles couldn’t see
And spiders couldn’t weave…
Finally,
What about you and me?
If man had been created without a brain, and woman without a rib
What would that look like?
The world certainly would be strange
We wouldn’t have to explain…
It sure is a good thing that God arranged,
All the animals, and all the flowers, trees and bugs, seas and earth, sky and universe…
So, why is it that man tries to change everything?
God in His infinite wisdom follows His own plan
So you and I can grow and thrive and hopefully comprehend
That there is someone greater who designed this world before man
Flowers, to give seeds
So birds and bees can carry them on, as life repeats its cycle…
Trees to hold the earth by its roots, shaded by leaves that do not pollute
Animals all have their purpose;
Giraffe, lion, eagle, wolves, fish and birds and all the rest…
The cycle of life set in motion
But this was God’s best…
Made in His own image, for all time,
Perfect design,
His love, is mankind!
~M.S. O’Neill January 4, 2018
The Soul Takes Flight Poetry by MS O’Neill
Genesis 1 King James Version (KJV)
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
And the evening and the morning were the third day.
And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Long Suffering
Tied to the earth is body and soul
Layer upon layer as years pay the toll
Leaving the message when we are old
That life is, worth living…
Traveling through time and space
Aging upon each face
Of those weary travelers who have suffered long in this place…
Some come haggard from the weight of the race…
Some only sit and stare…
But some come joyfully with soul and grace…
They know the one, who showed them He cared…
Putting their faith and hope in Him, no need to fret; no need to despair
Shadows cast over lives; they are people of prayer…
It keeps them on their way…
Suffering long is part of their song…
Knowing and trusting that He will bring them home
Long suffering; obedience, taught…
Their lives are not lived for naught…
For they are in the mind of God, He carried them in each thought…
The ones who endured, and overcame, who lived for God and fought,
Evil’s cunning game…
Will receive their just reward!
Rejoicing in the Lord…
Long suffering, a friend on whom they could depend
God’s grace is sufficient for them!
~Marla Shaw O’Neill January 3, 2018
The Soul Takes Flight Poetry
Ephesians 4:1-4 Tree of Life Version (TLV) Therefore I, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you were called—with complete humility and gentleness, with patience, putting up with one another in love, making every effort to keep the unity of the Ruach in the bond of shalom.
There is one body and one Ruach, just as you also were called in one hope of your calling;
Sixty-four Years
Psalm 91:16 New King James Version (NKJV)
With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation.”
Now I could complain and tell you
That life is full of woe
But that wouldn’t give you much hope
On this crowed road as you go…
Heartache and suffering is part of the trip
But there’s no need to worry, let me give you a tip…
If you’re trying to walk alone, carrying a heavy load
Listen, there’s a way to help you, on this long, winding, road
Jesus said,
Take my yoke upon you, and rest your weary head.
Yes, sixty-four years is quite some time, some stay longer and some go sooner…
We don’t know why…
There’s no dead-end, for the road ahead, take it by faith help others and spread
His love, on your journey to home…
Life doesn’t end; it truly begins; when the body dies but until then…
Keep your eyes focused on Him…
So in the realm of eternity…
Sixty-four years, why, you’re just a kid
Keep on plugging along
Do not grow weary, do not give up…when you get tired; just sing a happy song…
Remembering there’s so much more to do…
Things have a way of working out…don’t get bitter, and do not doubt.
Shuffling feet and no more teeth, hair falling out and bones that creak…
Food has lost its flavor and body is weak…
Mind forgetful and people don’t speak…
Heart pounding and skips a beat…
Lotions and pills, doctor visits, better make out your will
Getting old is not for wimps…
Why it’s just inconvenient is all
Eyes growing dim
But one thing I know…
He’ll renew your strength when your Joy’s in Him
I never knew it would be like this…
Keep praising God and you will see…
It’s not the flesh who’ll see Jesus the King…
But the Spirit; living inside of thee…
Youth renewed like the eagles…
Strong and bold and agile, is the spirit who has been made free…
Not born of the flesh, but born of God; these sixty-four years seems like only a flash…
No need to worry, but simply ask,
And God will meet you there!
~M. S. O’Neill January 3, 2018
The Soul Takes Flight Poetry by MS O’Neill
Psalm 90:14-17 The Message (MSG) Oh! Teach us to live well! Teach us to live wisely and well! Come back, God—how long do we have to wait?— and treat your servants with kindness for a change. Surprise us with love at daybreak; then we’ll skip and dance all the day long. Make up for the bad times with some good times; we’ve seen enough evil to last a lifetime. Let your servants see what you’re best at— the ways you rule and bless your children. And let the loveliness of our Lord, our God, rest on us, confirming the work that we do. Oh, yes. Affirm the work that we do!
Happiness…
Dedicated to my babies!!!
Photo by MS O’Neill
Showers of raindrops are like, tears
That clings and washes away all fear
Happy little droplets that let me know you are here…
And when I gaze upon you, I smile and all is clear
Clear as the raindrops that are hanging, on leaves as I see them appear
My heart sings a morning song, I am happy all the day long…
Raindrops fresh and clean
Tell the world that all will remain…
When hurts and disappointments fill your life with pain…
All will be washed away by the clear, gentle, rain!
Leaving not even one tiny stain…
Raindrops, sent by God, bringing happiness, again!
~Marla Shaw O’Neill January 3, 2018
The Soul Takes Flight Poetry by: MS O’Neill
Psalm 51:7-15 The Message (MSG)
Soak me in your laundry and I’ll come out clean, scrub me and I’ll have a snow-white life. Tune me in to foot-tapping songs, set these once-broken bones to dancing. Don’t look too close for blemishes, give me a clean bill of health. God, make a fresh start in me, shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life. Don’t throw me out with the trash, or fail to breathe holiness in me. Bring me back from gray exile, put a fresh wind in my sails! Give me a job teaching rebels your ways so the lost can find their way home. Commute my death sentence, God, my salvation God, and I’ll sing anthems to your life-giving ways. Unbutton my lips, dear God; I’ll let loose with your praise.
That Your Joy May Be Full