​After writing last week's poem, The Art of Brotherly Love (written about seven weeks ago), I immediately began my next one — that ultimately took three weeks to write — which (lately, at least) is a crazy-long time for me. Nearly two weeks into that period, with a little frustration setting in, I came across this passage from Leviticus in my Bible reading and jumped at the chance for a change.

I had nearly read the entire book Leviticus without writing a single poem because of all of the rules and regulations it contained, then I finally read these rules and regulations.  There are 46 verses in Leviticus 26: 13 cover the blessings for obedience, 26 are on the punishments for disobedience, and the last 7 speak of how God will remember those who repent.

Leviticus 26:1-13

​No carvings of statues nor idols of stone;
I am the Lord God to be bowed to alone.
Remember my Sabbaths, they can't be ignored;
revere where I'm worshiped for I am your Lord.​

If you will obey my decrees and commands,
then I will send seasonal rains through your lands.
The crops from the ground will produce such a yield,
and trees will bear riches of fruit in your field.

Your threshing will last till your grapes have been grown,
your grape harvest lasting till grain has been sown.
And you will eat all of the bread you can stand,
while living both safe and secure in your land.

I'll give the land peace so you'll lie down at night
and sleep without trouble and worry or fright.
The dangerous beasts — I'll remove them for you;
​your land will not witness the sword passing through.

Your enemies will be exhaustively chased,
and they will be felled by the sword and laid waste.
Five chasing a hundred, a hundred pursue
ten thousand — your enemies slain before you.

My favor on you will make you multiply,
confirming my compact between you and I.
You still will be eating from last harvest's store,
which you'll need to clear out to make room for more.

Among you my dwelling place I will erect,
and you, in my soul, will I never reject.
And I'll walk among you — be your God, divine;
and you as a people will ever be mine.

I am the Lord God, who from Egypt has saved
and freed you from those who would keep you enslaved.
I've broken the bars of the yoke that you wore
and freed you to walk with head high evermore.

​Do not make idols or set up carved images, or sacred pillars,
or sculptured stones in your land so you may worship them. I am the LORD your God.

You must keep my Sabbath days of rest and show reverence for my sanctuary. I am the LORD.

If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands,

I will send you the seasonal rains. The land will then yield its crops,
and the trees of the field will produce their fruit.

Your threshing season will overlap with the grape harvest,
and your grape harvest will overlap with the season of planting grain.
You will eat your fill and live securely in your own land.

I will give you peace in the land,
and you will be able to sleep with no cause for fear.
I will rid the land of wild animals and keep your enemies out of your land.

In fact, you will chase down your enemies and slaughter them with your swords.

Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand!
All your enemies will fall beneath your sword.

I will look favorably upon you, making you fertile and multiplying your people.
And I will fulfill my covenant with you.

You will have such a surplus of crops that you will need to clear out the old grain to make room for the new harvest!

I will live among you, and I will not despise you.

I will walk among you; I will be your God, and you will be my people.

I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt
so you would no longer be their slaves.
I broke the yoke of slavery from your neck so you can walk with your heads held high.

​Leviticus 26:1-13

​Based on James 3:18; Ephesians 4:3; Galatians 6:1-2; Ephesians 4:25; 1 Timothy 5:1-2; 1 Corinthians 5:3-12; 1 Peter 5:5; Proverbs 16:28; Romans 5:2; Romans 12:10

​​Develop a healthy and robust community,
one that is centered around God — alone.
When treating each other with honor and dignity,
you'll reap the harvest you richly have sown.

In peace through the Spirit, together in unity;
make every effort to live in this way.
​If one of you errors and sins with impunity,
​gently pursue them without a delay.

Choose truth over pretense and speak with sincerity;
we are Christ's body, connected as one.
When we favor lying instead of integrity,
we cheat ourselves when its all said and done.

Speak gently to women of years soft and motherly,
treat the old men as the father you knew.
Engage with young men in a manner that's brotherly,
maidens as if they were sisters to you.

Do not look away, hoping problems will disappear,
deal with them openly out in the light;
assuming the issue's so small to act cavalier,
​thinking it surely will turn out alright.

You cannot ignore those whose lives are promiscuous,
flippant to God's ways or rude to their friends.
Their greed and their drunkenness can't be continuous,
with love and firmness it all has to end.

When coming together, be clothed in humility;
God shuns the proud — gives the humbled his grace.
Turn rumor and gossip around to civility;
speak in their absence as you would their face.

We must bear the "burden" of being considerate;
empathy's easier shared with one heart.
Devotion to family is often deliberate;
​practice makes perfect since love is an art.

​ MSG: The Message   •   NCV: New Century Version   •   GWT: God's Word Translation   •   NIV: New International Version   •   TEV: Today's English Version   •   LB: Living Bible

​It is better with two than to be all alone,
since your labor combined could produce more success.
Should one fall, then the other could aid their distress;
make a better defense than could each on their own.

We were chosen to live all together as one,
since we all are a part of the body of Christ.
For a cord of three strands that are braided and spliced,
will not easily break once the pulling's begun.

If we live in the light as God is in the light,
we can share with each other in fellowship sweet.
Let us practice: confession — forgiveness — repeat;
​being patient and gentle and kind and polite.

As your faith will help me, and my faith will help you,
I must make the allowance for how you might live.
As the Lord has forgiven, so we must forgive;
seek the best in each other in all that we do.

​ TEV: Today's English Version   •   CEV: Contemporary English Version   •   NCV: New Century Version   •   MSG: The Message   •   GWT: God's Word Translation   •   NLT: New Living Translation   •   NIV: New International Version

​While reading the Book of Leviticus and not finding much to write about, I turned my attention back to the series of poems I've been working on concerning the book, The Purpose-Driven Life, written by Rick Warren. Taking the scripture mentioned in each of the forty chapters and turning them into poetry, the next chapter in line for me was chapter/day 17 entitled, A Place to Belong.

This chapter had everything to do with being part of the body of Christ, a subject I've touched on in other poems I written.

When I first began this series in 2004, I looked at the first seven chapters of Warren's book and selected the easiest chapter I could tackle (poetically-speaking), and did the same for the next 7 chapters, and so on. When I was done, I ended up with six poems out of the 40 chapters for the six-week study.

Six years later, I decided to complete the series and wrote another poem in 2010. After another six years of not writing much of anything, I started writing more of these poems beginning in 2016.

All of these poems written through 2018 were thematic for me.  Meaning, after reading the scripture associated with a particular chapter, I had an idea and a concept of what I wanted to say. As I wrote, I lightly touched on the relevant scripture.

Beginning with 2020, I can no longer visualize what I want to write. I am wholly dependent on the relative scripture. Without any idea where the poem is going or what it is about, I'll read the scripture for a particular chapter over and over and over and OVER in various translations and just try to bend it any way I can.

​For example, the opening verses for this chapter:

​You are members of God’s very own family, citizens of God’s country, and you belong in God’s household with every other Christian.
Ephesians 2:19b (LB)

God’s family is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.
1 Timothy 3:15b (GWT)

​After poring over these verses, out comes the following:

​Like us, you are citizens — saints from God's nation;
you're members and part of God's household, abroad.
​The church is God's family that forms the foundation
and pillar of truth of the one living God.

​Based on Ephesians 2:19b; 1 Timothy 3:15b; 1 Corinthians 12:12; Ephesians 3:6; Ephesians 4:16; Romans 12:4-5; 1 Corinthians 12:26; 1 Corinthians 12:7; ​James 5:19; Hebrews 3:13; 1 Peter 2:17b; Ephesians 4:16b

​​Like us, you are citizens — saints from God's nation;
you're members and part of God's household, abroad.
​The church is God's family that forms the foundation
and pillar of truth of the one living God.

For just as one body whose members are many,
so everyone makes up the body of Christ.
The value of one is not greater than any,
nor pain any less were the least sacrificed.​

Both Gentile and Jew who believe him will share it — 
God's wonderful riches since both are his heirs.
Each part of the body of Christ will inherit
each promise and blessing that's equally theirs.

He makes the whole body fit nicely together;
each part does its part for the body to thrive.
If one part decided to leave and untether,
apart from the body it couldn't survive.

When somebody suffers — a sister or brother,
the body's in turmoil and aches as a whole.
For God's so connected us one with another,
we're truly his body: one heart, mind and soul.

And, likewise, whenever a member's uplifted,
we all share the honor — the glory's diffused.
We're special and each have uniquely been gifted
to help our church family when those gifts are used.

The body's not well when its parts start to wander;
when lost in confusion or deserts they roam.
Forget all the meetings or viewpoints to ponder,
​just go out and find them and bring them back home!

Encourage and love one another while knowing
the closer you are brings you nearer to me.
Keep building, supporting, equipping and growing — 
for this is the way that I want you to be.

Ephesians 2:19b (LB)
You are members of God’s very own family, citizens of God’s country, and you belong in God’s household with every other Christian.

1 Timothy 3:15b (GWT)
God’s family is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.

1 Corinthians 12:12 (ESV)
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.

Ephesians 3:6 (NLT)
And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 4:16 (NLT)
He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

Romans 12:4-5 (MSG)
Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around.  The body we’re talking about is Christ’s body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body.  But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn’t amount to much, would we?

1 Corinthians 12:26 (NCV)
If one part of the body suffers, all the other parts suffer with it.  Or if one part of our body is honored, all the other parts share its honor.

1 Corinthians 12:7 (NLT)
A spiritual gift is given to each of us as a means of helping the entire church. 

James 5:19 (MSG)
If you know people who have wondered off from God’s truth, don’t write them off.  Go after them.  Get them back.

Hebrews 3:13 (NIV)
Encourage one another daily . . . so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. 

1 Peter 2:17b (MSG)
Love your spiritual family. 

​Ephesians 4:16b (NLT)
As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love. ​

​​ LB: Living Bible   •   GWT: God's Word Translation   •   ESV: English Standard Version   •   NLT: New Living Translation   •   MSG: The Message   •   NCV: New Century Version   •   NIV: New International Version

​Some months ago, we sang a song in our church that spoke about following God's cloud — like the Israelites did — and I thought it was interesting since I was in the middle of reading Exodus at the time.  I imagined that I could write something similar as well.

I had already come across those verses (discussing the pillar of fire and cloud) earlier in Exodus and thought that the next time I came across a similar passage that I would write about it.  Finishing up Exodus without finding those verses, I thought of backtracking to where I had read about it earlier in the book, but decided against it.

After Exodus, chronologically speaking, comes Numbers 7-10 before picking back up with Leviticus.  And, in that little sliver of Numbers, I found what I was looking for:

​It remained that way continually; the cloud would cover the tabernacle by day, and at night it would appear like fire.  Whenever the cloud was lifted from above the Tent, the Israelites would set out, and wherever the cloud settled, there the Israelites would camp.
Numbers 9:16-17

​The initial idea in my head didn't really translate to the page as I had intended, but this is OK as well.

​Lord, lead us by your Holy Spirit
whether moving or perfectly still
so consume us with fire
and a burning desire
to be centered in your perfect will

Lord, choose to live right here among us
how we want you to live in our heart
like your Father made home
​while the Israelites roamed
in the Holy of Holies and Ark

like your cloud through the day let us show them the way
like your fire at night let us show them the light

Lord, keep us all in your protection
in your arms, we will not be afraid
and supply us our need
as we follow your lead
and we step in the footprints you've made