Hunger

After Philippians 2:1-4

The hunger for glory

is an illness, a consumption

laying waste, a conceit

of soul, or heart, a desire

to be elevated. It is

the hunger never sated,

because glory is

an addiction, by nature

never enough, always

coupled with the need

for more, because more

is never enough,

an opiod of the soul

that requires more

and more, insatiable,

a craving overwhelming

that leads to paralysis.

Photograph by Jason Hogan via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Expelling pride

After Philippians 2:1-4

It is a cancer, this thing

called pride, a cancer

eating away at the body,

consuming healthy cells

and organs, choking off

life, because that is what

it’s called to do,

take a life.

destroy a life,

obliterate a life.

Its cure, sometimes

painful, always a hard,

different thing, is

oneness, or being 

of the same mind, having

and sharing the same love,

existing in one accord,

a unity not possible

without oneness of Spirit.

Photograph by Hannah Valentine via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Certain things

After Philippians 2:1-4

The old saw: nothing

certain but death

and taxes. That’s it,

summing up life,

they knew. But one

more, not just death

and taxes, but one

more certain thing:

pride, the affliction

universal, the one

we all bear,

consumption of heart

and spirit, a disease

whose only known

cure is humility.

Photograph by Xuan Nguyen via Unsplash. Used with permission.