Silver Linings

By Jon A. Hanning

The contents of this book had their beginnings in 2001, not with the expectation that they would be published, but that they might be a source of comfort to a small group of friends. Administered in a one-a-day fashion in connection with a daily devotion, it quickly became manifest that their would also serve as a source of therapy for their writer. Since their beginning on that early spring day I have spent the quiet moments of my late evenings and/or early mornings in silent meditation and prayer, and then the words would come forth.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 1, 2008
• ISBN: 9781469119403

Jon A. Hanning

Jon Hanning is a husband, father, grandfather, pastor and poet. Born in 1959 and raised in Ohio… a mixture of country, small town and city life has helped this author to develop his thinking process as a result of his exposure to so many different categories of people… red, yellow, black and white and all hues in between… Christian, Jew, Hindu, Mohammedan etc. Married for 27 years and father of two children, he began writing at about age 15, first in little songs about his life experience and family, then eventually Christian poetry, mostly as therapy for himself. After sharing some of his thoughts with friends he was encouraged to do it all the more. He first did so by sending out a Daily Devotional accompanied by one of his poems… and since then, at the urging of others has agreed to produce this book of poems… Silver Linings… a sampling of his collection of poems from the last six years. Described as “rich in depth and meaning” and as stating “just what I feel but am not capable of putting in words” these poems have touched the lives of many. Perhaps they will touch your life too.

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Copyright © 2008 by Jon A. Hanning.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2007908910

ISBN:                         Hardcover                       978-1-4363-0218-0

ISBN:                         Softcover                         978-1-4363-0217-3

ISBN:                         Ebook                              978-1-4691-1940-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

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Contents

Foreword

Acknowledgements

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

There’s nothing like an old friend to help you when you’re down

To lift you like a fresh wind, then gently set you down

So let me write this one tonight especially for you

You put the fire in my pen with everything you do

Jon A Hanning 1979

Dedicated . . .

To my faith family at large

who have encouraged me to continue to write

To my fleshly family

the sustenance in my everyday life

To my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

I hope this edifies your ministry

To Yahweh my God and awesome Creator

who only could bring out the best in me

Foreword

The contents of this book had their beginnings in 2001, not with the expectation that they would be published, but that they might be a source of comfort to a small group of friends. Administered in a one-a-day fashion in connection with a daily devotion, it quickly became manifest that their writing would also serve as a source of therapy for their writer. Since their beginning on that early spring day I have spent the quiet moments of my late evenings and/or early mornings in silent meditation and prayer, and then the words would come forth. Writing poetry has become one of my passions, and through sharing them some of my closest friends in the Lord have continually urged me to publish them. However, to my chagrin and surprise, Christian poetry is seemingly a difficult thing to get published, so after some effort I gave up the quest. In more recent days I made the decision to publish a collection of them on my own—thus this work.

It should be apparent from these small offerings that I, like most Christians, have had my dark days and my bright ones, for that is what life consists of—the dregs of despair and the grind of everyday life lightly seasoned with a sprinkling of joy here and there. This is a dreadful world that we live in with all of its clamor and confusion, and we watch as all things good and decent swirl down the drain in the face of those who would stand for the death of common sense, and all this in the name of an exercising of their rights. Even the Bible declares the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. As this trouble increases and we each endure the time of dark clouds, may we not look together for those little moments when the silver linings come shining through?

In 2001 I was privileged to travel about the Eastern United States and speak on the subject of Dark Clouds and their Silver Linings to a number of groups. One of them consisted of a predominantly Polish speaking audience, so I spoke through an interpreter. All went quite well until we got to this phrase about the silver linings. It seems there were no available words in the interpreters vocabulary to convey the thought. He explained to me afterwards that he wasn’t sure he got the point across because he wasn’t sure he got the point. After a discussion we determined that the thought given was that every dark cloud had a silver coating, which no doubt left the audience confused. I reached inside of the brother’s suit jacket and tugged at the lining—A lining. It’s on the inside hidden from view. He understood, and at his next meeting with that group he corrected the thought. So many folks likewise don’t know how bad of a dilemma we are in these days. Like a pot of boiling frogs, people seek to move forward with their lives, insisting that things are as they always have been, but the substructure of the fabric of society weakens as each day passes. Yet, I see with the heart of a Christian that many people are seeking the better part and seeking to serve the God who alone has an answer to our problems.

Acknowledgements

My writing has been influenced by so many people, indeed, with everyone I’ve met in one way or another, more especially by those with whom I’ve shared this common faith—Teachers like John Wojnar (the Polish interpreter above); Carl Seebald; Roy Ekroth; Ralph Herzig; Bill Roberts and all the rest of the circle of students of God’s Word with whom I generally congregate across this great land. Also folks from my workplace—Terry Lloyd, Roger Totten, and Gayle Berry; my personal close friends like Roberta White, Colleen Crawford, Donna Fullen, RaNae Frazier, Larry, Debra, Michael, Linda, Gentry, Jennifer, Teri, Lawrence II, and Derek Williams; Marilyn Willacker; Betty Schalk, Carlla Olson, Rush and Sharon Mauney (Jessamine), Ken and Dana Arends, Kathy Larkin, Ken and Lisa Williams, Tom and Sandy Cimbura, Jean and Marjorie Towery and other brethren who can’t possibly know how much they move me with their kindness. There are also a few cyber friends who have given me hope and who have touched my heart in various ways; Carol Williams, Reagan Balman and Dina Sharpe—folks with soft warm hearts and fierce commitment who are likewise talented, yet who seek to use their talents while exercising a deep humility of spirit.

My family; Sandy my wife, Tristopher and Mattie (my children) and their offshoots, Mom and Mike and the congregation with whom I weekly meet with—you all have touched my heart and influenced my life with a positive light.

Finally, and most importantly I acknowledge my God and orderly, Creator of the universe and giver of the promise of peace, and His Son Jesus Christ, to whom I have pledged my heart and all my being’s ransomed powers . . . A-men.

Chapter One

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Silver Linings Mid-Storm, Athens Ohio; 2007—j. a. hanning

Dark Clouds ~ Silver Linings

These particular poems stem from a deep contemplation of life’s darker side… those little moments when it appears perhaps you can’t go forward, but then you remember to trust in Him, and going forward is suddenly the only way you can go. I received a note recently from my friend Regan Balman who had just lost his dog. I sent him some of these poems in a folder and he responded, "I placed your poems into a binder, and I will cherish it. I didn’t read any until I lost my dog, and then thought I could use some ‘silver linings.’ I found dark clouds, despondency, and breaking hearts. Well, what do you know? It was just right. I know I have a brother I can relate to. Thank you." So you see, it’s something like that. My friend Regan is one of many silver linings in my life… indeed we all stand to be the silver linings in the dark times of one another’s lives.

*

Dark Clouds ~ Silver Linings

Far down in the recess of the valley

Seeking God, yet seeing not His smile

Longing to serve Jesus in the darkness

Reaching up, if happily we might find

Cross the border to the open prairie

Mountaintop in distance blocks the Sun

With the feeling surely He doth tarry

Yet saith the seer surely He will come

Trudging on, seeking still to serve Him

In such darkness, can I truly know?

His commandments snap beneath my footsteps

Silently I wait for rooster’s crow

Dark Clouds fill the bowels of the horizon

Despondency reigns in a world that knows not God

Hope is like a memory behind us

Oh how we long for love’s tender prod

Morning comes like light over yonder mountain

The Righteous Sun with healing rays doth shine

Piercing clouds, revealing silver linings

That the world may know the depth of love Divine

*

Children of the Light ~ 1 Peter 2:9

In the silence of the shadows

In the quiet of the night

Watch and pray for all God’s guidance

You can ne’er escape His sight

While the world around us crumbles

May it never cause you fright

Even though we live in darkness

We are children of the light

Gathering Foes

Gathering foes like darkness fall upon my whereabouts

Though only for a second I let go the wheel of faith

So soon is faith replaced then by a cloud of circling doubt

His face is hard to see through fog as also is the way

I’m grappling for the anchor Lord that’s slipping fast away

As the flesh tears from the fingers of my hope

How often must this trial pass by, how often must I fall?

How long before I finally learn to cope?

Though He slay me—in Him will I still trust

Holding tight to the promises of His Holy Word

And scampering after Jesus alone is not enough

But taking care to place the feet where His footprints were heard

*

Bright Memories

Bright memories

transport you back to tender days

When we were younger than we knew, and though forgetful then to pray

It seems to the faded remembrance, like pleasant times were all but few

And the bitter and sad are off in the fog, as if I had never e’en knew

But oh all the trials and temptations that I had in those days gone by

As I struggled along in the day-to-day strife to just try to hold back the cry

But the

Lord

gave me compensation for the valuable tests that He gave

Though bruising my flesh, crushed my old man to death and taught me how to behave

So don’t count all of your difficulties as so many pains you could spare

Just be thankful for all of life’s lessons that we’re given such blessings to bear

For the polish and shine that it’s giving, though we can’t see its benefit now

Will someday be revealed, and just how we felt would all be a blur somehow

*

White Beards Flowing ~ James 5:10

White beards flowing in the wind along with blowing garments

whipping in the desert sun on bodies aged with time

That’s what I think of when I hear names like Zechariah,

Abraham, and Moses—and the feeling is sublime

Though they uttered much to many that they did not understand

some were told to shut the book because for others it was meant

We stand now in amazement that the Lord set up this plan

and how they spoke, it’s come to pass again and yet again

Some have said the Bible came from drunken men who lived in caves

I think perhaps he never read past halfway on page one

For if he knew the harmony and balance, he’d behave

he’d blaspheme not with his foul mouth, indeed, that he would shun

For we see the great fulfillment of some glad prophetic tongues

and much more that’s yet to follow that has only just begun

Our faith is truly bolstered by the facts that do unfold

though these words are aged with time—they seem young

Suddenly there’ll be leaping lads whose crippled legs once buckled

and unstopped ears and unloosed tongues, working at long last

Green grass bears no serpents that would slither unawares

quiet streams will flow where deserts once bleached life from our past

Dreams of living souls who’d lain for years in long-forgotten tombs

of flowing tears just shed for joy at sweet reunion feasts

Of the wondrous joy at hearing of the adversary’s doom

as underway—imprisonment—of his fears, will be the least

So a blessed thanks to all those souls who lived and died in faith

from Abel to the baptizer—for God they spent their lives

Who laid the warm foundation stones upon which our dear Savior

did plant His feet and offer up His life so we might rise

*

Grooves ~ James 5:16

Calloused knees press down on the pine boards night after lonely night

and grooves are worn to be found by later generations

Perhaps not realizing the cause of those impressions in their sight

but such things are not unnoticed by the Savior of the nations

The turmoil of the human heart which seeks resolution—a Divine answer

the thankful man who prizes God for all that He bestows

Or a distraught soul who contemplates a dying friend’s advancing cancer

or simply just a conversation—man to God—peace to know

All are counted by the Father and regarded by the Son

the prayers of the righteous hold a value that cannot be counted

For a disposition that is pleasing to Him that one day shall be won

as His grace gives strength ensuring that all evil shall be surmounted

*

Waiting in the Darkness

Waiting in the darkness for the call

for the peeking of the rising sun above the garden wall

For the gentle prod of service to enrapture in my ear

being quiet to be sure that I will hear

Vigilant to never leave my post

for to do His will is the thing I really love the most

Though sometimes I do muffle the execution of His plan

but my Master knows I am just a man

Like a crooked stick He finds me in the dawn

but e’en