Travel light For the road has all you need But pack right - The important things - and Godspeed. Have a good flight. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
God
ROSES OF GRACE
It’s only by the grace and power of God that we are able to forgive some people. But we are. For the sake of our own inner peace and soul health. We are. Because we want to. And we receive the help to do so. Help to be free of hatred, free of anger, free of bitterness and, eventually, free of hurting and pain.
Sometimes my emotions feel like flowers and today I am full of roses. Love is a strange medicine. It hurts when it heals, and it caresses and brings pleasure when it is actually causing damage. Don’t assume all is well simply because someone is smiling. When they’re crying is usually when they’re most honest and healthy and in the process of healing.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains
WORSHIP
When I’m down You give me strength Atheists say You don’t exist But You lift me up when I’m depressed And calm me down and give me rest How can I express my gratitude? Nothing I am or give or do Can come close to repaying You For being so faithfully kind and merciful Your Kindness is my sole inspiration Your goodness os deserving of imitation Your fidelity to rightness is a lesson In integrity, severity mixed with compassion People seek You in prayers and dogmas In churches, mosques, temples and likewise I seek You in Kindness and in Goodness In Bravery, in Purity, in Humility, always. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
NATIVE TO YOU
God’s World is not foreign It is indigenous After you’ve finished touring You return to us God’s Law is not complex It is very simple Needs no super intelligence To do the needful God’s Love is not exotic It is native Homeliness is romantic Non-invasive You are not an alien In God’s eyes Be at peace with yourself And you will rise. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
PASS IT ON
If you think of how many times God has forgiven you… So many sins, so many crimes God has forgiven you… In this and in former lifetimes God has forgiven you… You would have more compassion for your fellow humans’ crimes of reason and sins of passion. For your fellow humans you would reduce your judgement’s ration. For you’re fellow humans. Che Chidi Chukwumerije
POWER
All power belongs to God, and only to God. If power is given to you, then you are just temporarily a vessel through which power in part will seek to fulfil the Will of God.
If you try to wield power and to bend it to your own will, and use it solely in service of your own ego and volition, then it will turn against you and destroy you, even if this destruction only becomes obvious to you after you have left this earth and it is too late to stop or reverse your self-destruction via power.
This is the worst kind of destruction, the one that becomes visible only after you have left the earth. You will have to come again as a baby and live a new life, to attempt to painfully undo the errors of the former.
Power is a very strange thing. It is not what you think it is. It is not what you see or think that you are seeing. What you see as power, no matter how obvious or subtle it may be, is just a temporary vessel through which power seeks to fulfil the Will of God. For all power belongs to God.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
HEAVEN
To serve God, humbly and quietly
Without pomp and pageantry
Is Heaven.
Modestly and consistently,
With conviction, gratefully.
Expecting no reward,
No recognition, no award –
Because the joy of service
Is reward enough –
Is Heaven.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
NOT MY EARTHLY, BUT MY HEAVENLY FATHER
What binds me to my earthly father is
Love, duty, gratitude, respect and admiration.
What binds me to my Heavenly Father is
Eternal life,
Eternal gratitude,
Eternal purpose,
Eternal faithfulness here and everywhere,
Now and forever.
Not my earthly – but my Heavenly – Father.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
