I Like the Sound

I like the sound

Of a water fall.

A mountain stream trickling down from the heights.

Music.

A kind voice with kind words.

A baby's cooing.

A complement.

Loving criticism.

Encouragement.

'At-a-boy!

Thunder.

The ocean waves hitting the shore.

Enterprise.

Success.

A project that works out well.

I overhauled an engine.

It took hours and hours.

For days and days.

It looked good.

I hooked it up.

Turned on the switch.

Stepped on the starter.

It started!!!

What a nice sound!

Like a piece of music coming together!!!

The Voice of God saying “I love you.”

“Yes, I forgive you”

“Yes I know I can say a definite yes I will take care of you.”

“I will present you faultless!!!”

I like the sound of the character of God!

Billy Masten

11/15/09

I Spoke a Word

I Spoke a Word

I spoke a word.

He was sitting in the back of the room.

There were 12 or so others there.

To most the word I spoke was true and innocent.

To him it meant war!!!

That word I spoke

Cut him.

I know not why

But I saw it cut.

I sought to take it back.

Then to modify it.

It was too late!

The word was like a freight train

I could not stop nor slow.

It took skill beyond my own

To mend the broken opportunity --

To put back together the damage done by my word.

To me it was just a descriptive word.

Still today I do not know what the word was.

To him it represented a conflict from the past

Come back to haunt. It brought back hard memories

Of conflicts discomfort, yes hatreds, from

Wars long since settled, -- but for him --

That word cut like a sword.

The word had a simple meaning to most

But a far different meaning to him.

Never assume a word has the same meaning to another as it has for you.

Billy R. Masten

02/16/10

I saw a thing of beauty to behold.

I saw a thing of beauty to behold.

A pumpkin seed.

A pumpkin plant.

A pumpkin bloom.

A sunflower bloom.

A field of sunflowers in bloom.

A tiny flower

On a tiny weed in my lawn.

Raj Horan spraying Reid's field.

A thunder cloud to the west.

I would have missed them all,

Had I not stopped to look!

Some, no, all developed over time

What I saw was stopped,

Or stepped motion.

I wonder what I missed,

But am thankful

For what I saw!

Billy R. Masten

081910

I Saw a Sliver of Rain

I Saw a Sliver of Rain

I saw a sliver of rain

Streaming down from a lonely cloud

Against a golden sunset sky.

It never reached the ground.

'twas swallowed up by the dry air beneath.

It is like a complement never spoken;

A praise never given;

Respect not shown;

Joy not shared;

Good news kept to ones self;

Thanks not given;

A smile hidden behind a frown;

A gift not delivered;

It is like love never spoken.

A lonely cloud indeed.

Billy Masten

11/10/09

I Looked Today Upon A Thought

I Looked Today Upon A Thought

I looked today upon a thought

That puzzled me.

I thought of love and its meaning.

At first thought, I thought I knew.

Those who love me

Love me even when I am wrong.

They seek good for me even when I fail to seek good for myself.

I know that I love others when I realize

I would give my well-being in exchange for theirs.

But love is more that willingness to sacrifice.

Although willingness to sacrifice for another

Is evidence of love, it is not love.

Then I thought of God and how He loves me.

His love proven by my very existence,

By the world he created.

By his sacrificial act in Jesus Christ,

He demonstrated Hes love!

But sacrifice is not love!

And then the thought that puzzles most –

What does it mean to love God?

He does not need my sacrifice.

He does not need my money.

He does not need my wisdom.

He does not need my space.

How do you love someone who needs nothing from you?

How do you love someone who provides you with everything?

What is the nature of loving God?

With my whole mind?

With my whole heart?

With my whole soul?

With my whole strength?

Yet that is what He requires.

Sin and righteousness then take on a whole different meaning.

Righteousness is loving God.

Sin is not loving God.

Yet I do not seem able even to define the term

Or comprehend its meaning.

Loving God requires faith in Him that only He can give.

And it requires humility, and confidence in Him!

It is in fact “childlike”

Billy Reese Masten

05/06/12

.

I like the feel

I like the feel

Of the first crisp morning of Fall.

A soft breeze on a hot Summer day.

A fireplace in the cold of Winter.

The boisterous turbulence of a Spring thunderstorm.

Of a job done well.

Success.

Thanks.

Smooth soft leather.

Sand paper.

Bricks.

Steel.

Polished wood.

Soft velvet.

Smooth Flexible silk.

Canvass.

A flax water bag.

Lambs wool.

Cotton

A glass smooth surface.

800 thread count sheets on the bed.

A warm comforter on a cold night.

Bare feet in a cool stream on a summer day.

A baby's skin.

A good love story. (The story of God's Love, Jesus, is best.)

The touch of one who loves.

Or a hug!

I like the feel!

Billy Masten

11/10/09

I Choose to Love.

I Choose to Love.

I Choose to Love

Then look around to judge,

And fail in loving.

I judge myself harshly,

And fail in mercy.

I judge others,

And fail both in mercy and grace.

I judge the future,

And fail in Hope.

Where is my faith Oh Christian?

Where is my hope?

Where is my love?

The heart is hard to change,

The objectives? perhaps harder.

The actions?

In my power, not completely possible.

What shall I do?

I shall turn to Him

In faith believing

He has changed everything!

It is He who is able to keep me from falling,

And having fallen to stand me up,

And to present me faultless,

Not by my performance,

But by His.

I do not understand

But I Hope.

My Hope is in Him.

Billy Reese Masten

04/20/12

Hurt

Hurt

He lay in pain in the intensive care unit.

The accident broke every bone in my brother’s face.

And others as well.

External wiring wired to a man made frame

And connected to the bone structure of his face

Held his cheek and eye socket in place

And the other structure pulled the bones of his face into place.

He did not, could not know I was there.

His face shattered and bloody

Touched my very soul.

I took deep breaths

With too much time between.

I hurt with him.

Tears filled my eyes.

Tears filled my heart.

My soul suffered with him.

Compelled to leave his side,

I stepped into the hall,

Exhaled, and my nose began to bleed

In sympathy I suppose.

I saw him frequently in the days to follow.

My nose bled every time.

I love him, my dear brother!

Billy R. Masten

01/26/10

House

House

It is just an old house.

It sits

West of Farm Road 400

Just South of Plainview

Near the abandoned 400 Gin.

Not one flake of paint remains

On the warped, weathered, wooden structure.

There is not one straight line.

Every board yields to the stress on the structure.

The roof has a few shingles left.

Although the impression is of a structure

Completely ready to fail,

It has stood and withstood

The raging West Texas winds

For generations.

Failed dreams have a way of hanging on

Over time both good and bad.

This simple structure, unused for generations

Reminds me of other structures I have seen.

There is the courthouse building

Sitting alone in the ranch setting

Down a dirt driveway about a quarter of a mile

South of the road near Aspermont.

-I understand there was an election resulting from

A conflict in the community and the county seat was

Moved to another nearby town.-

But evidence of the failed dream lives on.

There is the large industrial structure built

Perhaps in the '30s.

It lies North of the road east of Lockney.

I do not know its original intent

Except to house a business venture of some kind.

I am told the town moved its limits

To tax the property

And the company

Abandoned the property rather than pay the taxes.

The evidence of the failed dream

Both for the company and the town.

There was for years a small building,

Made of large stones, south of Floydada.

Only recently did it disappear.

Only the memory of the evidence of the dream remains.

West of O'Donnell is the remnant of an old mine,

Sulphur I am told.

The wells are still there,

And the sediment pits.

The dream is long gone.

These are local images of lost dreams.

History is replete with them.

The fall of Rome,

The Rouge Plant in Detroit,

The Exxon Valdese oil spill

The BP oil spill in the Gulf.

The long line of destruction leaving Kuwait.

The failed bar exam.

There is a framed picture of a wedding,

She in her wedding dress,

He in his tuxedo.

The picture is in a box

In the far side of the attic.

He valued his job.

She her independence.

The dream is broken

But remnants remain.

We are a broken people

With broken dreams

Broken by our own self interest.

And that of others.

We are a finite people

With finite power,

Finite knowledge,

And finite presence.

Yet we are called on to make

decisions requiring near infinite insight.

Such decisions we are called on to make require

More than we have!

What then shall we do?

“Press on to the high calling of Christ!!!”

Do the loving, kind, gentle, graceful, forgiving, thing

With patience, and self control.

And depend on Christ for the outcome.

Dreams then turn to hope

Secured by Christ,

And accessed by faith.

“I go to prepare a place for you and

If I go to prepare a place for you,

I will come again

And receive you to myself

That where I am there you may be also.”

And the dream,

The future hope,

Becomes present reality!

Billy R. Masten

06/10/10

High Pink Clouds

High Pink Clouds

The high clouds reflect the pinkish red light

Of the predawn sun as its rays are impacted

By the prismatic effect of earths atmosphere.

Below them are clouds of dark grey, and light,

With periodic opening to the pink of the high clouds,

And the crisp, clear, blue sky above.

The west Texas scene is undisturbed

By man's buildings,

God's mountains, or trees.

Rather the broad plains and expansive sky

Provide an uncluttered base,

And endless canvas,

For the magnificent active art of the morning sky!

Billy R. Masten

100410

Hate

Hate

Hate like love has an element of timelessness about it.

He seems to consume the one who will allow it

To rule his life.

He becomes the driving force

Motivating action.

Interpreting the senses.

Judging others.

He consumes trust - if allowed.

He rules out forgiveness.

He seeks his own way!

He cannot comprehend a gift - Unmerited.

He is a ruthless ruler!

He is impatient, envious, rude, filled with arrogant pride,

Insists on his own way, is self-seeking,

Resentful, notices all wrong done to him,

Tolerates nothing, but returns evil for evil.

Boils over with jealousy.

Encourages anger and rage.

He is a ruthless ruler indeed!!!

And he seems to live inside seeking whom he may devour.

His goal is our defeat!!!

How can he be defeated?

“Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

“And the God of Peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.”

“And I will put enmity between you and the woman,

And between your off spring and hers;

He will crush your head, and you will strike His heel.”

Thanks be to God!!!

Billy R. Masten

01/26/10

God's Provision

God's Provision

I took a picture because I saw a thing of interest.

It was a tiny little flower on a tiny little weed in my grass.

I took another picture.

It was of a lavish, 10 inch pumpkin bloom in late July.

Both scenes caught my attention

One, so small,

The other, so large!

I was slightly irritated.

There was a honey bee on the pumpkin bloom

feeding on its nectar.

I considered the tiny flower.

About the size of the pupil of a human eye.

Curious about the detail, I zoomed in on the scene, revealed by the picture,

And beheld the surprise presence of a tiny insect

Feeding on its nectar.

The little fella feeding was about the size of the shank of a pin.

Perhaps he was as big as the width of the leg of the honey bee.

Why was I attracted to the two divergent scenes?

Beauty? Yes.

Yellow and orange? Yes.

(The pumpkin was yellow until I saw the little flower.)?

But what about the honey bee, and the tiny, tiny little insect?

The honey bee is too large to feed on the tiny flower

And the tiny insect too small to benefit the pumpkin.

The honey bee takes nourishment from the pumpkin bloom

And aids in its pollination.

The little flower provides nectar for the tiny, tiny insect

While gaining pollination from its activity.

God provided for the needs of each,

large and small,

Plant and insect.

And He made it beautiful and instructive for me.

I have come to believe He provides for our needs,

In time and eternity,

With loving kindness,

And beautiful grace!

Billy R. Masten

191810

Friendship

Friendship

Two things, according to Emerson, are necessary for any friendship.

Truth

and

Tenderness.

Two things cause a balk in friendship.

Antagonism

and

Compliance, condescension or acquiescence.

The goal of the antagonist is the defeat of the other.

Compliance yields to power, not truth.

Condescension simply lets the other win without the involvement of truth.

Acquiescence ignores truth as well.

Friendship, however requires a mutual seeking of truth

Beyond the present understanding of the friends.

Friendship recognizes that truth is not the sole property of either

But rather is beyond our present understanding.

Friendship requires a tender seeking of truth

Without the hard edges of antagonism

Or condescending acquiescence

Without the consensus regarding the truthful

Conclusion of the matter or a position closer to the truth

Than present understanding.

Tenderness toward one another implies

A deep and abiding regard, love, for the other.

Friendship requires the ability to

Table a discussion for further joint effort.

It can tolerate the presence of unsettled issues

While the gray of doubt and uncertainty is separated

Into elements about which conclusions

Satisfactory to the view of each friend can be reached.

There is, in friendship,

Substantial room for hypothesis about the truth

Before conclusions are reached.

Ideology reaches conclusions about truth

Without the hard work of rational analysis.

Ideology without rational

Kills conversation.

And therefore friendship.

Friendship and conversation are largely

Binary operations.

With effort, two may develop sufficient understanding

of one another's

Restrictive fixed ideology

To converse on a subject.

As others join the pair,

Conversation ceases

And shallows to talk of the weather.

The complexities of comprehending the

Self interests of the larger group

Are too much to manage.

If I say this, one will be off ended.

If I say that, the other will be off ended.

If I say nothing, they will think I am rude.

If I am eager to off end, I have lost tenderness.

So

“Lets talk about the weather.”

The weather is immune to

The complexities of truth.

Conversation, as the group grows,

Morphs into negotiation,

A platform for exerting influence,

Forwarding an agenda,

Forcing compliance,

Or other elements of self interest.

Or

The talk is restricted to

The weather.

Is it any wonder

That friends are hard to come by?

Billy R. Masten

05/12/10

Forgive

Forgive

Forgive? Forgive you say?

But he hurt me!

She was wrong!

I will not forgive! I would rather get even!

Forgive! It will be a cold day in ...

Oh!

Maybe I could forgive once

But I was off ended twice!

Three times and my rage will be turned loose.

I am right to be angry!!!

Seven times maybe.

Seventy times seven you say!

But I was so hurt!

He should pay!

What? You already paid? You paid His price?

You took on his sin?

And mine?

Then if I forgive him ---I am forgiving the sin

For which You paid!

It is like I was forgiving You? And if I forgive him not?

Do I make you suffer more?

As you love - So I should love

As you have forgiven - So I should forgive.

As you have mercy - So should I!

Lord change my heart!!!

Billy R. Masten

02/02/10