Tender Whispers of Love: Poetry: Soothing Words for the Real World

By Ellen Richardson

“Poetry? Who reads poetry anymore?”

Actually, poetry is more a part of our lives than we at first might think. The lyrics of songs we love that speak to us in a big way are composed of poetry. The Psalms—from which we can glean so much spiritual support—and the well-known hymns we sing are all poetry.

Ellen invites you on a journey. Together, you can explore the glorious highs and the bewildering lows that life can bring in these powerfully rich poems that express freedom, joy, and hope in Jesus as well as deep grief, loneliness, and other more difficult topics.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Nov 14, 2019
• ISBN: 9781973666394

Ellen Richardson

Ellen Richardson, a physician who practiced Family Medicine in small towns for 14 years and worked for 10 years in hospice and palliative care, was ordained an Episcopal priest in 2008, and served bi-vocationally in congregations of varying sizes in Georgia and Virginia until her retirement from medicine. Since June 2014, she has served as a full time parish priest in the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia. She is a graduate of Episcopal Divinity School and lives in Tifton, Georgia.

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TENDER

WHISPERS OF LOVE:

POETRY

SOOTHING WORDS FOR THE REAL WORLD

ELLEN RICHARDSON

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Copyright © 2019 Ellen Richardson.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

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Bloomington, IN 47403

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Interior Image Credit: Ellen Richardson

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

All Scripture is taken from the New International Version unless stated otherwise.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-9736-6640-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-6641-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-6639-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019907994

WestBow Press rev. date: 11/8/2019

CONTENTS

In Appreciation

Introduction

PART I. ON EMOTIONS

Eternal Love

A Heart Full of Love

Alone and Cold

Come Out and Be Strong

Fear

The Eternal Method

A Dynamic Relationship*

Drunk with Grief

O Selfish God?

Bitterness

Vulnerability

A Feeling of Power

Isolation

The Pull of Home

Hurt Feelings

PART II. ON RELATING TO OTHERS

Paralysis of the Will

Separate

Ode to Jack

A Connection

An Abandoning Person

Ode to the Nurses

Six Arms and as Many Legs: Ode to the Nurses

Oppression

Overgiving

Denial

Just Like You

Contagious

Waiting

A Friend

On Dad

PART III. ON HOPE IN JESUS

Leaning on Jesus

Food: A Tempting Panacea

Flowers in the Desert

Harder to Hold

Our Power Source

On Thankfulness

HS-Tunes

A Spiritual Suicide

Sharpness: The Result of Courage

Spiritual Obesity

Time

Sweet Freeing Jesus

Flying with Jesus

Jesus Frees Us

Routine

Facing Myself

Love Affair

Choosing Real Life

A Gentleman

Heaven on Earth

Safe in Jesus

Grace

Substitute Saviors

Breath

My Only Hope

I Folded My Hands

A Christmas Poem

Approaching Spring

Inaccessibility

His Eternal Nature

Secret Sin

Confinement

See Me Through

Little Birds

Freedom

A Pearl

Alone

Keeping Up

A Spiritual Weightlifter

Turn and Trust

Death Dew

This book is

dedicated to those who are war-weary and heaven-bent.

IN APPRECIATION

I owe Teerat Jackree and Kathleen Sutcliffe each an enormous debt of gratitude; without them, there would be no book.

I thank my late father for the marvelous and most precious memories, for my mother, and my sister in particular, for helping me build a home post-injury. I also thank my dear sister and my lawyer, David McGhee for their work on the lawsuit.

Lastly and mostly, I thank God the Father; Jesus, His Son, and the Holy Spirit, who truly work all things for good (Romans 8:28).

INTRODUCTION

Kathy Troccoli sings, Life can be so good and life can be so hard.

Though we sometimes don’t like to think about it, the world we live in is troubled. Sometimes it seems like so much is coming at us at once, and we don’t know what to do or where to turn. Maybe you can relate. Certainly that was how I felt while growing up.

I was raised by a single mother, and there was much havoc in my little world. In hindsight, a deep darkness of fear, anxiety, worry, and depression