KEEP FAITH by Ruth Calder Murphy

“First, Be Kind”

It’s a simple philosophy, on one level, and one I repeat to my children every day: “Be Kind”. If you don’t understand, try to understand. If you still don’t understand, nevertheless, be kind.

One of the most famous chapters in the Bible is 1 Corinthians 13, where the writer talks about Love being “the most excellent way”. Verses 12 and 13 say this:

“…For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

I think the point that’s being made is that we can’t always understand – we do see (as another version puts it) “through a glass, darkly”, but we can still have faith, and hope and, above all, we can love.

The last few lines of my poem are an exploration of this:

“Keep kindness close and let it lead;

Keep faith with Love

and hope, in deed.”

Keeping faith with love is a daily exercise, in all our relationships and connections and hoping “in deed” – in other words, behaving in a way that communicates hope - is simply an outworking of that keeping faith…

The rest, I think, speaks for itself.

Keep Faith

Keep kindness close,

keep love and light,

keep peace, keep life;

keep burning bright -

until they overflow the bounds of you

and spread to others, passing through

and fill the world around you, too…

Keep space around your mind and heart

that they might breathe and stretch and grow

and feel and know as fits their part

- and flex creative muscles, so

for usefulness and Beauty’s art.

Receive, on every inhaled breath,

life’s fullness: love, and peace and light;

release, on every exhale, Death -

and rise again, more strong, more bright.

Keep kindness close and let it lead;

Keep faith with Love

and hope, in deed.

Ruth Calder Murphy is a writer, artist, music teacher, wife and mother living in London, UK. Her life is wonderfully full of creativity and low-level chaos. She is the author of two published novels, The Scream and The Everlasting Monday, several books of poetry and one or two as-yet unpublished novels. More of Ruth' Spiritual poetry can be found in her book, Spirit Song and the soon-to-be-released sequel, "River Song". She is passionate about celebrating the uniqueness of people, questioning the unquestionable and discovering new perspectives on old wonders. She is learning to ride the waves that come along—peaks and troughs—and is waking up to just how wonderful life really is. You can visit Ruth and view more of her art on her website, or on her writer's page on Facebook. All her books are available on Amazon, here.

~If you are interested in seeing your poetry appear in this blog, or submitting a poem by a woman that has inspired you, please click here for submission guidelines. I greatly look forward to hearing from you!~

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