June 22–28 ❘ David’s Regret
Poem and discussion centering on the story of David and Bathsheba, inspired by 2 Samuel 11.
David’s Regret
For about a month,
it was like nothing had happened.
I felt ashamed of myself—
so easily overthrown by desire,
like a common soldier on leave
after months at war—
but I knew the servants wouldn’t talk.
They seldom acknowledge
what they aren’t forced to see.
Then came Bathsheba’s message,
silent accusation under simple words.
Whether I confessed or kept quiet,
I had sentenced her to death
as surely as if I had thrown
the first and last stones myself.
When I used to live as an outlaw,
I ate showbread that wasn’t mine
and called soldiers to shield me
by betraying their king.
God had always been merciful,
but His path was arduous and long.
In wilderness, one never knows
how or when deliverance is nigh.
This once, I thought, I would work
salvation for myself—
but Uriah would not cooperate,
and so I sacrificed him for my sins.
I had not much longer to learn
that Messiah would come,
not as warrior to elevate me
over outside plotters and enemies,
but to save me from myself.
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Contact me at merrijane.rice@gmail.com
June 15–21 ❘ Transgressions
Poem and discussion centering on Heavenly Father’s plan for our progress, inspired by Genesis 3:6, 12:18–19, and 27:6–8.
Transgressions
We have children
and when they are little,
we set them tasks
to help them grow:
make your bed,
do your homework,
be kind to your friends,
do not lie.
Beds get made askew.
Homework is filled with errors.
Friends are treated to raw whim.
Lies are told and tied tight,
then regretted and unpicked.
We don’t ask for flawlessness.
Children learn life by trial
within boundaries:
so Eve eats the fruit
and Abraham lies to Pharaoh
and Rebekah tricks Isaac
and we find ourselves
crying on the back pew
as we consume our covenants.
Father sets bounds and tasks,
then lets us choose a path
to make them happen
one way or another.
Like sine waves testing crest
and trough, we move forward
to completion. No time to worry
who will read our stories
down the road and judge us
imperfect.
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Contact me at merrijane.rice@gmail.com
June 8–14 ❘ Choosing a King
Poem and discussion centering on the Israelites’ desire for a king, inspired by 1 Samuel 8.
Choosing a King
Samuel didn’t accurately state
our case for history,
why we begged him to heed
the people’s voice, to give us
the rights of other nations.
He listed monarchy’s ills—
children taken for soldiers and slaves,
lands confiscated for cronies,
wealth taxed to prop up the privileged—
but he failed to note
that all earthly leaders are corrupt.
His sons were no better than Eli’s.
We—God’s chosen people—
were always surrounded,
always on defense,
always made to prove our faith
again and again on the brink
of destruction.
What we really wanted
in this world of constant warfare
was a rallying point for our anger,
an avatar to fight our battles
with bravado and flair.
We were tired of waiting on a Lord
who gave us a promised land
infested with vipers
we could neither conquer nor join,
His wrath levied more often
on us than our enemies.
So, since we had agency,
we embraced a new path,
all the consequences examined
and carefully packed away.
You think you would have acted
differently in our position. But
one day you’ll tell your own stories
to judges as yet unborn
about how you always had good reasons
for doing the wrong thing.
Read more of my poetry at www.facebook.com/latterdaysaintpoetry
Contact me at merrijane.rice@gmail.com
June 1–7 ❘ Eli the High Priest
Poem and discussion centering on Eli the High Priest, inspired by 1 Samuel 2:12-17.
Eli the High Priest
My life didn’t turn out as planned.
I expected obedient children
who loved the Lord. Indeed,
why shouldn’t I have them?
Does God not decide who is born
to whom, and am I not His servant?
Sons and daughters of Belial litter
the earth. Surely two such
would not be assigned to one day
attend His holy sanctuary.
I taught them from birth
their special status—set apart
from others with an inheritance
greater than lands and herds,
holier than fine houses filled
with common wealth.
I showed how to wash and pray,
guided in every sacrifice,
made them practice each ritual
until habit honed movement
to smooth rhythm of familiar grace.
I mistook pride for piety,
didn’t discern stolen license
in their eyes and smiles till,
it seemed to me, too late.
How often well-intended plans
go awry. How often
God’s miracles escape
the nets we set to catch them.
See Jeff Strong interview here
Read more of my poetry at www.facebook.com/latterdaysaintpoetry
Contact me at merrijane.rice@gmail.com
May 25–31 ❘ Two Boats
Poem and discussion centering on Noah’s ark and Jaredite barges, inspired by Genesis 6–7.
Two Boats
One of gopherwood—
a cruise-ship-sized floating farm
lit by glowing tzohar—
cradled the sole, bone-weary family
left of Adam’s lonely line
through relentless days
and nights and days of flood.
Another—one barge of eight
sealed and pitched dish-tight
with molten Gazelem stones
in each peaked end—
sheltered a branch of kin
clipped from a tangled tree
through wind and watery deep.
Both boats were built
plank by plank with God’s help
to be temples of life-saving covenant
and inner light.
Read more of my poetry at www.facebook.com/latterdaysaintpoetry
Contact me at merrijane.rice@gmail.com
May 18–24 ❘ Choose Ye This Day
Poem and discussion centering on the difficulty of exercising agency well, inspired by Joshua 24:15.
Choose Ye This Day
There’s paradox
in having abundant options,
a riotous tangle of freedom.
Every tender branch springs
green with possibility.
Which do I clip to let light in
and give room for new growth?
It’s like thumping heavy,
hollow-sounding melons
and not knowing which one echoes
most believably with sweetness,
or standing before Frost’s
two equal, divergent, leaf-
lined roads, unable to decide
which wins my commitment,
or writing without an editor
to prune overgrown metaphor,
reading without a seer stone
to focus inspiration, trying
to choose God with no one
to remind me why.
Read more of my poetry at www.facebook.com/latterdaysaintpoetry
Contact me at merrijane.rice@gmail.com
May 11–17 ❘ View from Nebo
Poem and discussion centering on feeling stuck and unable to progress, inspired by Deuteronomy 34:1–6.
View from Nebo
From Pisgah’s peak, I see
bleak desert stretched behind me,
dotted with hidden springs
of miracle, each a stepping stone
across a valley of shadow and sacrifice.
Before lies a sweeping vision
of green land flowing with cream
and sweetness, crackling with fat
of roasted meat and browned crusts
of fresh-baked bread. I see peace
and rest and fullness ahead
but I cannot find my way forward.
Have I wandered in wilderness
so long only to fall short?
Have I made some ancient error
for which I must ever bear
unintended consequence?
Perhaps I am not always guilty
when the Lord withholds
what I want. He calls to me,
invites if I’m willing to exchange
my promised land for His own.
Read more of my poetry at www.facebook.com/latterdaysaintpoetry
Contact me at merrijane.rice@gmail.com
May 4–10 ❘ Leprosy
Poem and discussion centering on repentance and purity, inspired by Numbers 12.
Leprosy
Like Miriam, you have followed
one wayward thought to another,
then wrong act to act,
till you are riddled through,
buried in a blizzard beyond
your ability to escape.
Like Aaron, I am a foolish guide
called to guard you safely home
but was blind to your straying
till too late. Now, I beseech mercy
at the seat of Him who holds
all power to heal.
What takes time to lose,
takes time to find.
I will not move camp even after
seven times seventy days.
I will wait at desert’s edge
till God brings you in again
clean.
Read more of my poetry at www.facebook.com/latterdaysaintpoetry
Contact me at merrijane.rice@gmail.com
April 27–May 3 ❘ House of the Lord
Poem and discussion centering on the construction of the tabernacle in the wilderness, inspired by Exodus 36–40.
House of the Lord
Children of Israel reared
a tabernacle in Sinai with eyes
set to find God in the details—
gold angels, brass vessels, silver rings,
linen hangings, acacia pillars, fine leather,
perfume, dyes of blue and purple and red.
Our temple also
bears His chisel marks
in every marble facing,
His careful brushstrokes
in each painting, fire
of His countenance rising
in stained glass flames from earth
to sky. He is stitched by hand
into rugs, curtains, altar cloths,
and cushions
where we sit
in quiet and light at center
of this re-created Eden.
The veil hangs thin,
blowing open at slightest stir.
We rest
for a moment,
before taking our next steps
on the path forward.
Read more of my poetry at www.facebook.com/latterdaysaintpoetry
Contact me at merrijane.rice@gmail.com
April 20–27 ❘ Provocation
Poem and discussion centering on the provocation in the wilderness, inspired by Exodus 32.
Provocation
When it seems the Lord delays
His descent to direct me through desert,
my fears mix with fire of anxiety
and out come all my familiar gods:
precious plans of personal design,
pursuit of financial security,
soft swaddle of sympathy from arms of flesh,
retreat to knowledge without insight.
I have often laid offerings of time,
talent, and energy upon their altars.
I have prayed for them to cover
old wounds and imagined these idols
to be rescues of last resort.
But raw life eventually grinds
all to powder, erodes me
to a primitive state in wilderness.
I return, remembering the only One
who ever led me out of Egypt
dropped small, sweet crumbs
from heaven.
Read more of my poetry at www.facebook.com/latterdaysaintpoetry
Contact me at merrijane.rice@gmail.com
April 13–19 ❘ Thunder
Poem and discussion centering on the Lord’s appearance to Moses on Mount Sinai, inspired by Exodus 19.
Thunder
A voice from the mountain
neither still nor small
rumbles down stony slopes
across open plain
solid as boulder rolling
or granite slab strong enough
to brace covenants against breaking
and hold indelible law through flood
of millennia. We wear away,
crumble under time’s duress,
but the voice from the mountain
rumbles on, echoes around,
grants power and endows
with commandments not a few.
Read more of my poetry at www.facebook.com/latterdaysaintpoetry
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April 6–12 ❘ Escape
Poem and discussion centering on the pharaoh during the time of Israel’s Exodus from Egypt, inspired by Exodus 7:1–5.
Escape
There’s a bit of Pharaoh in me,
a voice that reasons miracles
aren’t real if they can be explained.
Israel’s children keep one night
etched in collective memory,
but I forget what I suffered yesterday
and shed from mind old plagues
and pleas once relief comes.
Signs multiply—safety, comfort,
smoothed paths from enemy
to friend—but I harden
under glut of answered prayers.
I imagine myself entitled to
and author of my own grace,
yet God persists.
More patient than sift of wind
through Nile grass or ripple of life
lapping silted banks, He erodes
Egypt grain by grain from my soul,
sets me free to follow Him
into wilderness.
Read more of my poetry at www.facebook.com/latterdaysaintpoetry
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March 30–April 4 ❘ Rahab’s Passover
Poem and discussion centering on Rahab who helped hide Israelite spies in Jericho, inspired by Joshua 2:9–13.
Rahab’s Passover
Salvation is a scarlet cord
as red as lamb’s blood
offered by Joshua’s spies
as a sign to set apart
one house and those hidden within,
to preserve a family line
as a blessing for all nations
through another Joshua—
long-awaited Son offering
scarlet tokens of salvation.
Read more of my poetry at www.facebook.com/latterdaysaintpoetry
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March 23–29 ❘ Uraeus
Poem and discussion centering on the pharaoh of Egypt during Israelite Exodus, inspired by Exodus 1:22.
Ureaus
Pharaoh condescended
to let the girl babies live—
he saw no threat in them.
He didn’t suspect deceit from midwives
whose training in deliverance
was first and second nature.
His all-seeing eye overlooked mothers
with something to hide and sisters
guarding against the destroyer.
His own daughter easily evaded
his defenses. She drew his downfall
from the Nile and brought it
straight home to his bosom.
His whole life,
Pharaoh mistook women.
He little regarded the seed of Eve
and their deep-seated enmity
for snakes.
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March 16–22 ❘ Type and Shadow
Poem and discussion centering on Joseph of Egypt as a type and shadow of the Savior, inspired by Genesis 37–45.
Type and Shadow
Joseph seems like a regular guy
with a normal life and plans
for the future. He has a family
he didn’t choose but loves
anyway with that kind of love
a child gives permanently
to the people he builds his story on.
He’s learned a few things—
how to trust God and make
the best of a bad situation,
how to offer the undeserving
a chance to prove
and reprove themselves,
how not to spoil a big finish
by rushing past pain
to get to the end.
But other than that,
he seems like anyone else.
Or rather, what anyone could be
if we paid attention to who’s behind us
catching sun and casting
long, deep shadows forward.
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March 9–15 ❘ Many Colors
Poem and discussion centering on how stories in Genesis prefigure our own longings for redemption, inspired by Genesis 37:3–4.
Many Colors
Clothes don’t make us,
though they hint at possibilities,
like prophetic dreams
and well-chosen baby names.
One could wear blue as sign
of sadness or love of open sky,
red as show of pride
or badge of shame. Black
and white at times spell out
internal conflict, or ombré
when no frequency of visible
light quite defines ambivalence.
Yahweh offers me a garment
of refracted glory—some day.
I struggle in wrappings
of temporary self-expression
and shifting guise, reluctant
to discard withered fig leaves
and be seen naked.
When does it end, this trip
and fall from sheltered garden,
this abduction into Egypt?
When will this ark, driven along rivers
and floods, reach my land of promise?
I long to look up and see God
running to meet me, to feel
tears on my neck as He weeps
a good long while.
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March 2–8 ❘ Leah at the Edges, Rachel’s Response
Poem and discussion centering on Leah and Rachel’s relationship as sisters and wives of Jacob, inspired by Genesis 29–30.
Leah at the Edges
If you measured my life
by low points and high,
all my loves and jealousies
recorded as scripture of extremes,
you’d miss times of stillness,
daily cycles when I fed
and clothed, cleansed
and smoothed out roughness.
You wouldn’t see the hours
I bore with wounds one can’t
ask friends to fast and pray for
because there is no cure for life,
no dramatic rescue for one
merely stuck in everyday mud.
But maybe you don’t need
to feel the weight of all this water
underneath each cresting wave.
Maybe there is truth enough
to glean from spare detail
and beauty enough at the edges
to sketch a face with tender eyes
that you can be pleased with,
as though you had returned
from a long journey
and seen the face of God.
Rachel’s Response
Maybe our father persuaded Leah,
told her men only want
one thing—maybe two—
and if she gave those to Jacob,
he’d come around.
She was young and naive,
as I was. I can’t blame her
for loving Jacob past reason,
as I did.
But was it a small thing
that she took my husband,
my promised place as the first?
Wasn’t it enough that she mocked
my famine with her fullness,
but her wolves must also devour
my lamb? As older sister,
she should have protected me,
not turned enemy.
In the end, it doesn’t matter
where fault first took hold—
in my father, my sister, me.
We forgave. We lived and let live.
And when I died,
you should have heard Leah.
Her sobs emerged from a place
deeper than sorrow.
Her groans poured forth unbidden,
as though she were giving birth
to another chance for deliverance.
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February 23–March 1 ❘ Lot’s Argument
Poem and discussion centering on being in the world but not of the world, inspired by Genesis 19:1–26.
Lot’s Argument
I don’t ask for much—not fame,
power, or extraordinary calling.
I don’t covet wide acquaintance.
I enjoy little things: comfortable home,
loyal family, safe living. I want love
and respect only from those I love
and respect. I’d readily leave next-door
strangers to the consequence
of their own lusts,
but I’m caught by contract
between what I want and what I owe.
God gives me no out—I must love
my neighbor and my enemy.
I must deal with this smutty,
smudged-up world against inclination.
So forgive me if I seem irritated,
a bit reluctant to strike a bargain.
I’m trying to fit an ill-suited bill,
testing ways to defend faith
from casual vandals and violators
without becoming a target,
working out what it means
to serve and survive.
I just need a little more time
to finagle a way through this contradiction
before it all blows up in my face.
Read more of my poetry at www.facebook.com/latterdaysaintpoetry
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February 16–22 ❘ Multitudes
Poem and discussion centering on the Abrahamic covenant, inspired by Genesis 15:5.
Multitudes
My children are seedlings still
with roots tentatively threading earth
and branches spreading heavenward.
I can’t yet imagine grandchildren,
much less progeny innumerable
as dust,
but they will come.
As Abraham’s child, I am heir
to new names and promised lands.
I already bear little cuts that come
from pruning and practicing
sacrifice.
My family will grow
like an aspen stand intertwined
at base though miles apart on surface.
We will multiply like rust-red buds
bursting in spring, like gold-coin leaves
shed to forest floor in autumn.
I must cultivate carefully.
How many tender ears will hear
the words I say to one child now
withered by sorrow? Look
toward the night sky. Count
all the stars in heaven
if you can.
Read more of my poetry at www.facebook.com/latterdaysaintpoetry
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February 9–15 ❘ Building an Ark
Poem and discussion centering on preparing for the spiritual floods in life, inspired by Genesis 6–7.
Building an Ark
I’ve hammered planks together more or less
according to instructions from the Lord,
and stretched to meet my cubits, I confess,
by asking Him to multiply the boards.
Three stories are complete within my hull,
chock-full of needful things in careful stacks.
I’ve pitched both in and out my mortal soul
to keep the world from leaking through the cracks.
I’ve set a single window at the top
so I can let in light as need may be,
and cut a door so I can open up
to gather all my dear ones near to me.
I’ve kept all God’s commands as understood,
so surely He won’t need to send the flood.
Read more of my poetry at www.facebook.com/latterdaysaintpoetry
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