Lesley Lee

Lesley has chosen the lyrics from a Twila Paris song as her favorite poem. As this is a song, here is a link to the song with lyrics.

The Warrior Is a Child
by Twila Paris 

Lately, I've been winning battles left and right
But even winners can get wounded in the fight
People say that I'm amazing, strong beyond my years
But they don't see inside of me, I'm hiding all the tears 

They don't know that I go running home when I fall down
They don't know who picks me up when no one is around
I drop my sword and cry for just a while
'Cause deep inside this armor the warrior is a child 

Unafraid because His armor is the best
But even soldiers need a quiet place to rest
People say that I'm amazing, never face retreat
But they don't see the enemies that lay me at His feet 

They don't know that I go running home when I fall down
They don't know who picks me up when no one is around
I drop my sword and cry for just a while
'Cause deep inside this armor the warrior is a child 

They don't know that I go running home when I fall down
They don't know who picks me up when no one is around
I drop my sword and look up for a smile
'Cause deep inside this armor, deep inside this armor
Deep inside this armor the warrior is a child 

Warrior is a child

And Lesley has chosen a passage from Isaiah as her favorite. She particularly likes all of Isaiah 53-55, but I have just put Isaiah 54 below:

"Shout for joy, O barren one, you who have borne no child;
Break forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud, you who have not travailed;
For the sons of the desolate one will be more numerous
Than the sons of the married woman," says the Lord.
"Enlarge the place of your tent;
Stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, spare not;
Lengthen your cords
And strengthen your pegs.
"For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left.
And your descendants will possess nations
And will resettle the desolate cities.  

"Fear not, for you will not be put to shame;
And do not feel humiliated, for you will not be disgraced;
But you will forget the shame of your youth,
And the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.
"For your husband is your Maker;
Whose name is the Lord of hosts;
And your Redeemer is the Holy one of Israel,
Who is called the God of all the earth.
"For the Lord has called you,
Like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit,
Even like a wife of one's youth when she is rejected,"
Says your God.
For a brief moment I forsook you,
But with great compassion I will gather you.
"In an outburst of anger
I hid My face from you for a moment,
But with everlasting lovingkindness I will have compassion on you,"
Says the Lord your Redeemer.  

"For this is like the days of Noah to Me,
When I swore that the waters of Noah
Would not flood the earth again;
So I have sworn that I will not be angry with you
Nor will I rebuke you.
"For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake,
But my lovingkindness will not be removed from you,
And my covenant of peace will not be shaken,"
Says the lord who has compassion on you. 

"O afflicted one, storm-tossed, and not comforted,
Behold, I will set your stones in antimony,
And your foundations I will lay in sapphires.
"Moreover, I will make your battlements of rubies,
And your gates of crystal,
And your entire wall of precious stones.
"All your sons will be taught of the Lord;
And the well-being of your sons will be great.
"In righteousness you will be established;
You will be far from oppression, for you will not fear;
And from terror, for it will not come near you.
"If anyone fiercely assails you it will not be from Me.
Whoever assails you will fall because of you.
"Behold, I Myself have created the smith who blows the fire of coals
And brings out a weapon for its work;
And I have created the destroyer to ruin.
"No weapon that is formed against you will prosper;
And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
And their vindication is from Me," declares the Lord. 

Jenna Purnell

Jenna chose a Shel Silverstein poem as her favorite:

Smart
by Shel Silverstein 

My dad gave me one dollar bill
'Cause I'm his smartest son,
And I swapped it for two shiny quarters
'Cause two is more than one! 

And then I took the quarters
And traded them to Lou
For three dimes -- I guess he don't know
That three is more than two! 

Just then, along came old blind Bates
And just 'cause he can't see
He gave me four nickels for my three dimes,
And four is more than three! 

And I took the nickels to Hiram Coombs
Down at the seed-feed store,
And the fool gave me five pennies four them,
And five is more than four! 

And then I went and showed my dad,
And he got red in the cheeks
And closed his eyes and shook his head --
Too proud of me to speak!

This poem originally appeared in Silverstein's Where the Sidewalk Ends collection. Good life lessons from Shel Silverstein!

Ashley Chen

Below is a poem that Ashley wrote in memory of her grandfather after he passed away:

Grandpa
by Ashley Chen 

Define grandpa.
Go ahead, look it up in the dictionary.
The entry you see, won't be what my grandpa meant to me.
It won't list the cuddles on the comfy chair,
Warm woolen sweater, and 公公's cheek against my hair.
It won't number the cookies we munched,
(We sure ate a whole bunch)
One careful, once-a-day selection from the cookie tin collection,
Nope, that won't be there.
It won't have the trail maps of all the places we went skiing,
Chilly chuckles on lifts up, silly smiles on runs down, hot chocolate in between.
It won't have pictures of the museums we explored,
Checking out exhibits, science experiments, we were never bored.
It won't have copies of the Mr. Clark stories,
The duck, the field trip, his hardships, and his glories.
It won't be as long as the shortest day we spent together,
It won't record the food, the mood, or the type of weather.
The list could go on, the dictionary is not comprehensive,
(That could make Mr. Webster a bit apprehensive)
But in the end the only definition we need,
Is the one in our hearts, of who John C. Chen was to you and to me. 

This poem needs little explanation. This commemoration of the life of a wonderful man speaks for itself, framed in the context of a dictionary's inability to convey the personal and human aspects of a grandfather.

Ashley's favorite Bible verse is from John:

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
John 14:27

Ashley says that this verse reminds her to receive God's peace in the midst of a busy life.

Daniel Chen

Daniel has chosen a poem by poet Erin Hanson:

Never Trust a Mirror
by Erin Hanson 

Never trust a mirror,
For a mirror always lies.
It makes you think that all you're worth,
Can be seen from the outside.
Never trust a mirror
It only shows you what's skin deep,
You can't see how your eyelids flutter,
When you're drifting off to sleep.
It doesn't show you what the world sees,
When you're only being you.
Or how your eyes light up,
When you're loving what you do.
It doesn't capture when you're smiling
Where no-one else can see,
And your reflection cannot tell you,
Everything you mean to me.
Never trust a mirror,
For it only shows your skin.
And if you think that it dictates your worth,
It's time you looked within. 

In Daniel's own words, he likes this poem "because it expresses that while we may be judged by our outside appearances, we need not judge ourselves by the same standards, as that is not what defines us."

Daniel's favorite Bible verse is a selection from Matthew:

His lord said to him, "Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord."
Matthew 25:21

Also in Daniel's own words, "I've always loved Matthew 25:21 because it expresses, in the simplest terms, our relationship between us and God and the reward for doing well." I couldn't have said it better myself, Daniel!

Aunt Karen -- Karen Wang

Karen and David Wang are celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary this year. As such, Karen has chosen to include the following poem:

Response to Love
                        (for David)
by Karen Wang 

Before the universe began,
Our Father had a plan
To send His only Son
To redeem the fallen ones.
He came and sought me out
When my heart was still filled with doubt.
The emptiness in me
Turned to lasting peace. 

So willingly, joyfully
I gave myself to Thee
For patiently, tenderly
Your love has set me free.
I’ll join with the church as one
As the bride of God’s own Son
And spend my days
With my lips filled with Your praise. 

Before my humble life began
Our Father had a plan
For you to be the man
Who would someday take my hand.
You came and won my heart
Right from the very start.
You filled a need in me,
With you, I am complete. 

Now willingly, joyfully
I give myself to thee
For patiently, tenderly
Your love has set me free.
I'll join with you as one
As the bride of God's chosen one,
And spend my life
As your loving wife.

Karen wrote this song for David in 1989, one year before their engagement, and sang it during their wedding service.

For her Bible verse, Karen has chosen a verse from John:

I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
John 15:5

The above verse was part of a passage which Karen memorized this past year. It reminds us that dependence on God is key in everything we do.

Julie Bates

For her favorite poem, Julie has chosen "Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden.

Those Winter Sundays
by Robert Hayden 

Sundays too my father got up early
and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,
then with cracked hands that ached
from labor in the weekday weather made
banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him. 

I'd wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.
When the rooms were warm, he'd call,
and slowly I would rise and dress,
fearing the chronic angers of that house, 

Speaking indifferently to him,
who had driven out the cold
and polished my good shoes as well.
What did I know, what did I know
of love's austere and lonely offices?

Julie likes this poem for its portrayal of the relationship between the father and speaker as one with deep thought and lots of love. The speaker demonstrates appreciation for the father and regret for lost opportunities: a good reminder for all of us never to take treasured relationships for granted. Julie also likes the story-like nature of this poem emphasized by its heavy use of enjambment (continuing a sentence or phrase after the end of a line).

Julie chose a Psalm for her favorite verses:

My salvation and my honor depend on God; He is my mighty rock, my refuge.
Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.
Psalm 62:7-8

About these verses, Julie says, "I love this verse because it reminds me that God is there for me through every moment of my day. It reminds me that I am so small in this vast world but I have God next to me every step of the way. The word 'refuge' is probably my favorite part of the whole thing; it perfectly and concisely describes how I feel about God and my relationship with Him."

Sarah Chen

Sarah has offered up a poem of her own writing. It is below, with context that Sarah also provided. 

This is a poem I wrote for Andrew's 9th birthday. On birthdays in our family we have treasure hunts to find the gifts. Each person writes a clue that leads to the gift they give. Ideally the clue is a poem that includes some family joke or memory from the past year, as well as where to look for the present. This year I taught Andrew how to pogohop, and had fun giving him challenges and mazes on the sidewalk. I wanted to hide his present by the pogostick, so I wrote this clue: 

Down the driveway in 5 hops, up again in 4

I say "want to play?" and you're out the door 

Stay in the blue boxes or weave around 

Follow the chalk path and don't cross the bounds. 

But I must remind you it wasn't always this way 

You thought it too hard and gave up in dismay 

Only with practice and patience you learned 

These wild new tricks - your perseverance was affirmed.

Like a dufflepud with an extra spring in his stride 

You go bouncing and twirling and boinging with pride 

So when something is hard and you just want to quit 

Just think, in the end you might find it's worth it.

Sarah's favorite Bible verses are both from the book of Psalms:

Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:4 

He leads me in the right paths for His name's sake.
Psalm 23:3b

These two verses remind Sarah that God has plans for her better than the ones she can even imagine for herself and that everything she does is for His glory, at work in God's grand plan for the world.