Storage

After Luke 12:13-21

We pack it all in

our basements, or attics,

our storage lockers, our storage pods,

our garages, our closets,

our warehouses, our second

and third houses,

we pack it all in and 

soon realize it’s not enough,

we don’t have enough

for our comfort, our safety,

our security, our peace of mind,

our station, our position,

the reason doesn’t matter

but we need more

so we get more and find

new ways and new places 

to pack it all in. so it’s there,

ready and accessible, our comfort

until we realize we need more

until our life is demanded of us

and they say in remembrance

that he with the most stuff

loses.

Photograph by Reinhart Julian via Unsplash. Used with permission.

The question of the question

After Luke 12:13-21

A sermon, a lecture,

a teaching, with crowds

listening, taking notes

on their hearts, when he stood

when he stood up

drawing attention and

interest and asked

his question that had

nothing to do with the teaching,

the lecture, the sermon, nothing, 

but he asked his question 

burning his heart in anger

and it was the important thing,

the most important thing,

so important that he made

himself a spectacle, or perhaps

he was just irregular

whatever the motivation, but

he asked it and received

an answer unexpected

an answer unwanted

an answer appropriate.

Photograph by Priscilla Du Preez via Unsplash. Used with permission.

The Book of Ours

After Luke 12:13-21

It’s not the possession

it never is

it’s the motive,

the inspiration, the impulse:

as if we earned it

we paid for it

we own it

and it’s our rock

it’s our insurance

our security our hedge

not the least of which,

because we earned it

and we want more,

because it’s never enough

we want more

we need more

we earned it

it’s ours

our Book of Ours.

Photograph by Marie-Sophie Tekian via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Wealth

After Luke 12:13-21

Wealth piles up

grows exponentially

(I am blessed don’t you see)

(I must be good or done

everything right) (obviously)

I have my 401K

my stocks my bonds my gold

my offshore bank account

my domicile in Ireland

my cash my real estate

my social capital to propel

my children upward

time to consider

time to build for the future

time to build more wealth

building wealth a spiritual gift

this is what I’m called to do

and I listen to the call why not

what’s the worse that could happen

it’s not like I will have a stroke

or heart att—

Photograph by Виталий Смолыгин via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.