Lay It all Down

 

Lay it all down 

Lay it all down 

      Under the 🌲 tree

       Gifts wrapped 

             Anxious thoughts

                   Dreams and forgotten ones

Lay it all down 

        Your burdens, your questions

               And rest, quietly, softly 

                   Like the shelter

                 At the base of a towering pine 

Lay it all down

          Yet wanting to pick it up time and

                  time again

                        Blue sky, pines wavering         

                             Wind blowing the trees

                                Waiting, waiting,     

                                  trusting timing is 

                                          Right

   

About this poem: Lay It All Down is a poem about waiting and when we don’t see the full picture to wait with hope.“Waiting is part of the human experience. We wait for healing, for answers, for breakthroughs. But Christmas shows us that God doesn’t waste the wait. He is near in it. And his timing, though mysterious, is always right. God will be faithful to you.” - Joe Holuta

Portraits

Portraits 

Walls of honor and legacy

Shadows and portraits 

Days that have past and dreams to come

Ancestors from years and years and years ago 

Children, and children’s children of today 

I scan the wall and am revived by their memory and  their portraits 

“What is my life?”

“What is your life? 

a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” 1

If a portrait made eye contact somehow 

Oh to see the Joy and Life in their eyes?

Or feel their touch or see warmth of expression

Or hear that encouraging voice

A shadow surely of the people that came before and now heard after them

At first glance, you think those in the  portraits are still

But they continue to narrate life

“We really did have everything, didn’t we? When you think about it.” 2

We will see one another again in such vivid color and expression

O, Ancient of Days 3

Overwhelming at times, the love and joy 

And the experience and recollection of family 

Portraits hang in grand galleries, and the grandest homes and ornate buildings 

But none so beautiful as those I see so closely

A wall or honor, a family's heirloom without question 

About this poem:Portraits is a poem about the experience felt inward when you see portraits of family that meant so much to you or current photographs of family that are living today within the shadow of the ancestors that came before us. 

The voices, gestures, and love still narrate our lives behind the scenes in many ways. So grateful for family!  - Joe Holuta 

1 “..yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”

James 4:14 ESV

2 "We really did have everything, didn't we? When you think about it."

Leonardo DiCaprio in movie Look Up.

3 The Ancient of Days Reigns

 “As I looked,

thrones were placed,
    and the Ancient of Days took his seat;
his clothing was white as snow,
    and the hair of his head like pure wool;
his throne was fiery flames;
    its wheels were burning fire.

A stream of fire issued
    and came out from before him;
a thousand thousands served him,
    and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him;
the court sat in judgment,
    and the books were opened.”

(Daniel 7:9-10 ESV)

Last Glimpse of Autumn 🍂 in a November Sky

Last Glimpse of Autumn 🍂 in a November Sky

Sunshine burst through the last few minutes of the daylight

A cold November day, a windchill,

telling of the season ahead

Bright orange leaves in the treetops

Last glimpse of Autumn embers,

glowing coals in the sky

Years passing, change, reflection and

gratitude  

Regret and fear fade as the gold gilding lines the way

Life is fleeting like the autumn leaves

Yet reminded of the permanence, 

beauty, the passion, and character of generations that lit the way 

The Pond is filled with color today

Reflection and last glimpse of Autumn leaves

in the November sky 

About this poem: Last Glimpse of Autumn 🍂 in a November Sky is a poem about a cold November day when sunshine burst through at the end of day. The leaves in the treetops were bright with light- on fire orange. The colors of the sky and leaves reflected in the pond. I was also reminded that life is fleeting. We remember our ancestor's passion and character as we grapple with the change of seasons ahead. - Joe Holuta

Veterans Day

Veterans Day

“It’s a beautiful day for a walk! 

Guess we should enjoy it while we can,” they said.

Wisdom -for all of life’s journeys.

Gold lettering on his Veteran ball cap.

Service rendered now to Golden years

Gold leaves along the path

Gold ring on the hand -on the 

walker,

Back bending over with a life well lived

Disposition and zest for life stand tall

Never surrender, would never leave one behind

Always faithful, first to the fight

This we’ll defend 

Aim high, always ready 

Forged by the sea, Always above (1)

“There’s gold in them hills

So don’t lose faith

Give the world a chance to say

A word or two, my friend

There’s no telling how the day might end

And we’ll never know until we see

There’s gold in them hills” (2)

“The moon gives you light,

And the bugles and the drums give you music,

And my heart, O my soldiers, my veterans,

My heart gives you love.” (3)

1. Slogans of USA Marines, Army, Air force, Coastguard, Navy, Space force

2. Gold in Them Hills, Ron Sexsmith

3. Dirge for Two Veterans, by Walt Whitman (1865) 

About this poem: Veterans Day is a poem about Veterans Day and a veteran I saw walking on a fall day with leaves of gold lining the way and his veteran cap.  Humility, steadfast hope, and endurance reflected in the determination to walk the way.  The woman walking with him spoke with me and said
“It’s a beautiful day for a walk! Guess we should enjoy it while we can!”  Wisdom for my day, life and future. - Joe Holuta

Two, 2, More Minutes More with You!

Two, 2, Minutes More with You

We are early for school drop off 

Twelve years has past

Like yesterday we walked together holding hands, jumping in puddles

Now, well on his way in all different great directions in life

Oh, I don’t mind waiting with you

Two, 2, minutes more with you 

Thoughts of our early lives together 

Our children from birth to now

Seeing you now with your own family,

careers, homes and kids young to pre-teen, and teens 

Oh how we long, yearn for, desire 

Two, 2, minutes more with you 

Thoughts of those we love and loved and now gone before us

The example, drive, hopefulness, sparkle in the eye of joy 

What we feared was gone with their brief life, even 100 years is a brief life, 

Lives on in those we see before us this day and every day we have on earth

Yet it gets me thinking deeply- how I pine for, cry out for, and dream of

Two, 2, minutes more with you 

I write this down

for the next generation to [pause]

To lift up one another as we wait- for the dream, for the job, for the dx, for the answers, the clarity

So as we see the plan unfold, more beautifully than we could’ve created ourselves, 

We will praise the Eternal, 

and the next, and the next generation will see the value, 

and what ancestors held to heart 

The most important thing in this brief, fleeting  life is always and forever and  shall be

Two, 2, More Minutes More with You!

About this poem: Two, 2, Minutes More with You is a poem about this brief, fleeting life and how we would give anything to spend more time together even two minutes waiting for a drop off at school.

[We get to hear your voice. We get to see the sparkle in your eye, and hope in your actions to a better future together!] 

Long after you and I are gone, those to come after us will remember and follow hard after God, family, and getting all out of life possible for their good and the good of others!

- Joe  and Jayne Holuta

“Write this down for the next generation

so people not yet born will praise God:” 

Psalm 102:18 (message)

“It you have a friend who is struggling, come close and enter the messiness of their pain.”- Vaneetha Risner

SLOW-

2 clouds watching over me