Having a word with Judah

Having A Word With Judah
by Mary Harwell Sayler

Someone must have told you stories of your great-
grandfather, Abram, and your great-grandmother,
Sarai – how they had domestic troubles, struggling
to amend the word they’d heard. Surely someone
called them foolish to be so old and childless yet
still plotting, childlike, toward their promised life.

Someone must have said how Isaac, born of long-
held laughter, later wed Rebekah, your grand-
mother, who best-loved her darling Jacob
(the younger twin) and thought him wise.

Someone may have talked in circles of your family’s
love-triangle: how first your father, Jacob, loved
his second wife – the lovely Rachel – more than
he loved your mother, Leah, and how he felt betrayed
by Laban, your grandfather on the other side.

Did you have a clue?

What did you think of the ongoing quarrels, mystifying
motivations, and dramatic scenes between the women
and the men? Were you caught up in the middle, like
that ram caught in the thicket that saved your grandpa,
Isaac, from Abraham’s fearsome hand?

Did it bother you when your family clan altered story
settings, characters, and titles like, “Jacobson” to “sons
of Israel” or “Child of Abram” to “The (more generic)
Chosen” or “True Sons of Abraham”?

How did you like knowing you never would be favored
with your father’s pride in Joseph: your half-brother
and first cousin (antagonist! talebearer!) of you six sons
of Leah – strong, abiding sons of Leah – who contrived
that gory story pouring from your Aunt Rachel’s side?


© 2013, Mary Harwell Sayler, all rights reserved. The poem originally appeared on the Catholic Lane website in 2011.

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Consider the lilies

And Jesus said:

Don’t fret over your life!
Don’t be anxious for what you’ll eat.
Don’t worry about what you’ll wear.
Your life carries more than food,
and your body wears more than clothing.

Think about the ravens:
They neither plant seeds nor harvest,
and they have neither barns nor warehouses,
but your Father tends them.

Aren’t you a bigger treasure than birds?

Worry cannot add one inch
or ounce or hour to your life!
So if you can’t make yourself grow
even a tiny bit,
why worry about the rest?

Consider the lilies.
See how they grow?
They do not work or weave,
but I tell you that even the glorious
King Solomon had no finer attire.

So, if God dresses up field grass
with the finest wildflowers that wilt
and dry up as if in a fire,
just think how much more
God desires to take care of you
and your little faith!

So, don’t keep straining
and stressing over food and water,
and don’t keep worrying.

All over the world people
work for more things,
and your Father knows your needs,
but instead of the world’s way
that doesn’t work well, I suggest
you try this:

Work toward the Kingdom of God
with God-speed,
and you will surely be given
whatever you need.

©2013, Mary Harwell Sayler, prayer-a-phrase of Luke 12:22-31, today’s Daily Bible Reading in the Gospels

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Remembering the promise

Moses called all the people together and said:

Take care to obey
everything I tell you today,
so you can live and multiply then
go in and gain the land the LORD swore
to give your ancestors.

Remember how God led you
through desolate places
for forty years?

He did this to humble and test you
to see what your heart held
and whether you could keep
His commandments.

God humbled you with hunger
then fed you with manna –
a food neither you
nor your ancestors had,
so this you would know:

You do not live by bread alone
but by every word that comes
from the mouth of God.

For forty years your clothes
did not wear out nor your feet swell,
so you would know well
that the LORD your God
disciplines you as a parent
disciplines a beloved child.

And now, you must keep the commandments
of the LORD your God,
walking in the ways He lays out for you – even
dreading to do anything else!

For the LORD your God
is bringing you into a good land –
a land of fresh water springing forth from hills and valleys,
a land of wheat and barley,
a land of grapevines and fig trees and pomegranates,
a land pouring out fine olive oil and pure honey,
a land with no lack of food, nor lack of anything,
a land with iron as common as stones
and hills where you can dig copper.

And when you have all that you want
of the good that God gives,
remember this word from the LORD:
Remember to bless your God.

©2013, Mary Harwell Sayler, prayer-a-phrase of Deuteronomy 8:1-10 from today’s Daily Bible Reading

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Being a child of God and acting like one!

And Jesus said His followers:

Are you listening?
Love your enemies.
Do good to those who hate you.
Bless those who curse you.
Pray for those who abuse you.

If someone slaps your face,
don’t return the insult
but instead turn your cheek.
If anyone grabs your coat,
don’t hang onto your shirt.

Give to the one who begs,
and if anyone needs to borrow,
don’t bother to ask
to get your own stuff back.

Treat every person the way
you want each one to treat you.

Then, if you act like a child
of the Most High God,
your reward will be greater
than great!

Remember: God is kind
even to those ungrateful,
annoying, awful people in your path!
So show them the mercy of God.

Do not judge or condemn anyone,
for God does not judge you
nor enclose you in condemnation.

Forgive and remember:
You are forgiven.

Give and remember:
You will receive
a good measure –
pressed down, packed tight
and running over and over all
you can hold before spilling
God’s goodness
onto your lap!

©2013, Mary Harwell Sayler, prayer-a-phrased Bible promises from today’s Daily Bible Reading in Luke 6:27-30 and 35-38.

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Update from the Apostle John

Okay. Here’s how we can know
we’re of the Truth.

Here’s how we can be sure
our hearts are pure and surely
in God’s presence:

Our hearts torment us
when we feel guilty. Why?

We’re in God –
the Almighty God, Who is far above us
and greater than our hearts or anything
our hearts might try to hide.

Beloved, if our own selves
do not accuse us, then great!
Celebrate!

And come before God
with confidence,
ready to receive whatever we ask,
knowing we obey the LORD
and follow God’s good plan.

For the plan of God
commands us to believe
in the Anointed Name of Jesus,

and God commands us to believe
in the love shown by Christ –
love that must be shown by us
to one another.

So, let’s do it and live!

Let’s stay with God, living
in the LORD Who gives us
Christ as our home and Who
gives you and me to be
the earthed home of Christ Jesus.


©2013, Mary Harwell Sayler, prayer-a-phrase of today’s Bible reading in 1 John 3:19-24

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Bible prayer-a-phase of Isaiah 49

Staying Light in the LORD
by Mary Sayler

Before I was born, the LORD called me.
In the womb, God named me and made
my mouth a sword
hid in the hull of His hand –
a smooth arrow
quivering in Him.

And the LORD said to me, “Ah! You are
My servant who shines in Me,”
but I said, “No! I have served in vain.
I’ve spent my strength
for nothing but my own name,
while thinking myself pure, thinking
my cause was God-caused.

But the LORD, Who formed me to be
His servant as one who brings His own
back to Him in His own strength, not mine,
said, “It is too light a thing to raise and restore
My people who are My people, and so
I will give you as a light to the nations.
I will give you to the nations as a light,
and to the ends of the earth, this light,
lit only by Me, will shine My salvation
into the deepest dark corners of the earth,
lightening and lifting every unfinished end.”

© 2013, Mary Harwell Sayler, prayer-a-phrased poem evoked by today’s Daily Bible Reading in Isaiah 49

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