Depart oh darkness.
You are not welcomed here.
Storm I will not surrender to thee.
You can let me be.
I am not a flower.
I am a tree.
Though you may try
I will not bend, break, or die.
I am here to stay,
so depart oh darkness.
You are not welcomed here.
Storm I will not surrender to thee.
You can let me be.
I do have more poetry in the poetry section of my site and poetry readings on YouTube.
We all know things other do not. It’s a fact of living. You’re not going to have the same knowledge base or experiences as someone else. No matter where you are on your journey you can help other people. I have been on my creative journey for a few years now and I have been learning things every step of the way. That is why I’m sharing things I know with this blog series, Tiff’s Tips.
My experiences and my life have taught me things that you may not know. What I have to say may help someone just by the facts I share, or who I am may explain it in a different way, with a different light that makes the tip click into their mind.
Yes, some of these things may seem common place or obvious to you, but others may not realize or know those tips.
I hope you enjoy this series and I hope you learn from it. Please allow it to help your mind grow and your thinking to shift, so that you can achieve your goals. Hopefully by the end you will see your art and goals in a new light.
I will leave you now with the first ten tips of this series. In the coming months I will explain and expand on each of them.
Side note: I did do a video project about goals years ago. Check out the playlist if you’re interested.
This is part of Tiff’s Tips a blog series. I have also done a goal setting video series on YouTube.
A tiger can be caged.
A bird can live without flight,
and I can live without you.
He can hold his breath.
She can close her eyes,
and I can live without you.
Life will go on.
I will see the storms and sunshine,
and I can live without you.
But something inside longs to thrive.
Something inside longs to be free
and can only be when I live with you.
This was written on August 1, 2019.
I do have more poetry in the poetry section of my site and poetry readings on YouTube.
I, Tiffany Joy, have started a new YouTube project. You must all be absolutely shocked! I do always feel like I’m starting new projects. This one is part of my efforts to promote what I’ve already written, by recording readings of my work. I’ve started by recording my poetry readings.
Most of the poems are from my book Growing Poems. I am starting to mix in my newer poetry that I published here.
I figured that I would share my favorites with those who either have stumbled on my site or frequent it more that Youtube. I’ll also be sharing this on my social media accounts, so I guess the post will just be spreading the word more.
The first is one of my newer poems, but the first reading. It is called, “To Those Who Struggle.” For personal reasons, I needed to share this first. After all I always meant to have it as a reading.
Poems and Memories is a poem I wrote right after I realized what I was going to be calling my first poetry book. It reflects the idea of poems growing and being part of me.
Lady Isabella is again from my poetry book and is about my dog. I wrote it as her life was ending and it has always been a hard one for me to read. However, I do love it.
The last poem is Power. It is also from my poetry book. It is a 3 stanza poem that I wrote in college about a relationship.
There is a complete playlist of all my poetry readings, including older ones, on YouTube.
I hope you enjoyed my poetry readings, as much as I enjoyed making them. Feel free to give me any feedback you have. All is welcomed.
I don’t remember too many lessons about God from when I was a kid. Honestly, I believe the majority of lessons I hear in church fall away from my conscious memory. When I was a kid the ratio was even higher. This is because most services were spent in the back of a catholic church where me and my sister would help each other not pay attention.
One Sunday I did go to a children’s church program. It was at my step-dad’s church, so I was at least 8 years old. The kids would go downstairs, into the basement of the church, while the adults learned in the main sanctuary.
As the lesson start all the kids were given gum. We were told to chew it up and then put our gum on the cross.
Now I didn’t know much about Christianity, the cross, or church, but I knew the basics. Putting gum on the central symbol of Christianity seemed disrespectful.
My gum was chewed up, covered in my spit, and gross. That was part of the pastor’s point. Our sin is gross.
The part about putting it on the cross was showing us we can give our grossness to God. Jesus dies on the cross and rose again, so that we can know a relationship with Him.
Through out my life I forgot many lessons, feel away from God, and didn’t believe in Him. However, I never forgot the lesson of the gum on the cross.
This is a post in the series God Shows Up. Follow the link to read more.
She said slow down sunshine
you have all your life to live.
Slow down sunshine
you have all your love to give,
so slow down sunshine
let your mind be inactive.
Simply slow down sunshine.
This is a journey not a race,
there is no medal to win;
no champion to face.
You can do all you want
in time you will see.
Enjoy what you have now
before it becomes a memory.
All you need to do is slow down.
She said slow down sunshine
you have all your life to live.
Slow down sunshine
you have all your love to give,
so slow down sunshine
let your mind be inactive.
This is another poem that started it’s journey as a song.
I do have more poems on my site and poetry readings on YouTube.
Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian, just like going to a rock concert doesn’t make you a musician. Still church is an important aspect of the Christian life. Finding your church home and being part of a community helps you grow spiritually and can strengthen your relationship with God. A church family also can support you and give godly advice.
I’m not sure which one of my 4 close friends found Elevation or suggested it first, but we all went one Sunday evening. After attending only a few times, we were invited to come early for dinner. I was uncertain about going. I thought we would be out of place and not belong, but the gang went.
We soon would start to go to ‘after hours’ and spend more time with the church people we had just met. I then started helping out, along we the others. We became part of the family of Elevation.
As we grew spiritually Elevation felt more like family. We were home when we were around Elevation’s people.
For a few years I did move away and had to find a new church. It was hard feeling alone in my journey and not among my church family. In a way that grew my faith and moved me along my spiritual journey. It showed me how to follow God alone and what truly blocks me from following Him closely.
Once I moved back to the area it felt as though I filled a new void and fit into the family again. Sometimes I even forget that there was a time I wasn’t seeing the Elevation family weekly.
Yes, we can be weird and easily distracted. We are not perfect, but we love God and follow Him. The Elevation family helps those in need and loves all. We do our best with what God gave us and work towards being closer to Him. Our church helps each one of us do that.
For more information on my amazing church you can check out our website.
For more information about how God has shown up in my life you can check out the other posts in this series.
I don't want a seasonal type of lover
one whose love will change and fall.
No, I don't want a seasonal type of lover.
I want nothing or I want it all,
so jump into my river.
I'll take you to the ocean of me.
I don't want a seasonal type of lover
one whose love will change and fall.
I want someone who will stay
a love whose love will be strong,
so come behind my mask
and watch my wall crumble down.
I don't want a seasonal type of lover
one who's love will change and fall.
This was originally written as a song and in the future it may become one again. For now I hope you enjoy it as a poem.
I do have more poems on my site and poetry readings on YouTube.
When I was about 10 years old I went to a Christian camp named Camp Brea and . It was a standard camp experience. We camped in cabins, there was a lake, and it was in the middle of a forest. Trees surround the majority of the camp with the exception of the lake and a long building with dirt parking spaces. There was also a chapel among the trees.
One day towards the end of camp I was in the chapel, a service must have just finished. I was alone with one adult camp counselor. She and I sat on a bench and talked about Jesus. She asked me a few questions about faith and accepting Jesus. At the time everything made sense and Jesus seemed present. She guided me through a standard prayer and then we signed a paper that I could bring home with me. It was a confession of my faith; a sign that I decided to accept Jesus into my heart.
The paper was lost, along with the memory of what happened. I returned to my life and didn’t think anything else of that summer camp. It wasn’t until I was telling my testimony, after becoming a Christian that I even remembered that there once was a paper and the memory existed.
I see where God did intervene on my behalf. I could have gone down darker paths or have horrible accidents. There was a time when I was far from him, making wrong decisions, and living a life focused on fun. It was because of those wrong decisions and impurity that I was led to California where I eventually found God again and gave my heart fully and truly to Jesus.
In the end He was with me, even if I didn’t know it. Even when my life didn’t reflect Him, He was in the background waiting.
Blessed are the broken
for they get to be fix.
Blessed are the outcasts
for they’ll learn true love.
Blessed are the reformed hurtful
they’ll know forgiveness.
Blessed are those with a surrendered and dirty heart
they are in the Lord’s arms.
Blessed are those with clean hearts
the Lord will call them home.
Blessed are those who bless others
they will shine the Lord’s love.
Blessed are those who forgiveness
they will share the Lord’s compassion.
Blessed are you
for you are beautifully alive.
I do regularly publish poems on my site and post poetry readings on YouTube.