Sunday, March 22, 2026

Clap

I've always enjoyed poetry. As a young girl, I would collect some favorites and tape them to my bedroom wall. I always felt a connection to the poet and either the simple or more complex words that were put down on paper.

Each year at school, we would have a book fair given by Scholastic Books. [I'm sure many of you remember those!] My mother brought home a book for herself.
I loved the title of it: 'Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle... and Other Modern Day Verse'. Great, right?

Well, I gave my mother, what I felt was ample time to read it, then, me being 8 snatched it and began to read. My father discovered I had it in my room. We began reading them together. Then, as we continued turning pages, we came across, what I remember as a wonderful and beautifully written poem, penned by Marcie Hans in 1965.

Its context reveals truth about man-made over God-made. It shows a comparison over contrast depicted with the two elements. Obviously, written in 1965, we were on the cusp of space voyage with NASA.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do:

Fueled

Fueled
by a million
man-made
wings of fire –
the rocket tore a tunnel
through the sky –
and everybody cheered.

Fueled
only by a thought from God –
the seedling
urged its way
through the thickness of black –
and as it pierced
the heavy ceiling of the soil –
and launched itself
up into outer space
no
one
even
clapped.

Bravo!
Cathy Cupples

“I planted the seeds in your hearts and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow.” – 1 Corinthians 3:6-9

“The kingdom of God is as if man should scatter seed on the ground...the seed sprouts and grows – he knows not how.” – Mark 4:26-29