Here are a selection of spiritual poems to help you cultivate inner peace, contentment and eventually, self-love. I hope you enjoy these spiritual poems. They each speak of a different aspect of living an authentic, honest and humble life.
Start Where You Stand
Berton Braley
Start where you stand and never mind the past,
The past won’t help you in beginning new,
If you have left it all behind at last
Why, that’s enough, you’re done with it, you’re through;
This is another chapter in the book,
This is another race that you have planned,
Don’t give the vanished days a backward look,
Start where you stand.
The world won’t care about your old defeats
If you can start anew and win success;
The future is your time, and time is fleet
And there is much of work and strain and stress;
Forget the buried woes and dead despairs,
Here is a brand-new trial right at hand,
The future is for him who does and dares,
Start where you stand.
Old failures will not halt, old triumphs aid,
To-day’s the thing, to-morrow soon will be;
Get in the fight and face it unafraid,
And leave the past to ancient history,
What has been, has been; yesterday is dead
And by it you are neither blessed nor banned;
Take courage, man, be brave and drive ahead,
Start where you stand.
A Brand New Start
Jill Lemming
God sometimes brings us to a place
where answers can’t be found…
Where we cannot see tomorrow,
for confusion all around.
Yet deep inside we realize
that all things work for good…
Even times when we’ve been wounded
and we feel misunderstood.
Don’t dwell on the injustice
and stay focused on God’s heart…
Find forgiveness and go on,
you can make a brand new start.
A Little Prayer
S.E. Kiser
That I may not in blindness grope,
But that I may with vision clear
Know when to speak a word of hope
Or add a little wholesome cheer.
That tempered winds may softly blow
Where little children, thinly clad,
Sit dreaming, when the flame is low,
Of comforts they have never had.
That through the year which lies ahead
No heart shall ache, no cheek be wet,
For any word that I have said
Or profit I have tried to get.
He is Always There
Anonymous
We can’t foresee the turning of the tide
When problems beset us and tears are cried.
Sometimes life deals from the bottom of the deck
Filling us with worry and leaving us a wreck.
The enemy seeks to devour and destroy,
Using deceptions to eliminate our joy.
While walking through the valley, our heads hung low,
The mountain top seems so high, our footsteps slow.
How many times have we traveled this road
To battle the frustrations of troubles bestowed?
Yet when we come to our darkest hour
God demonstrates His infinite power.
It doesn’t matter how bad things might seem,
He always comes through, our faith to redeem.
God will not fail us in our times of pain.
He’ll never forsake us, by our side He’ll remain.
So when we find ourselves at a total loss
Or when the valley seems too wide to cross,
Just remember you’re in His love and care,
Look over your shoulder, He’s always there!
Kindness
Naomi Shihab Nye
Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever.
Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.
Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.
Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to mail letters and
purchase bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
it is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you every where
like a shadow or a friend.
If you would like to read more in depth spiritual poems I recommend Rumi, Hafiz or simply seek and you will find spiritual poems that resonate with you. Spiritual Poems are like any other poem, when they resonate with your experience it is like you are having your experience mirrored back to you.
When it doesn’t resonate, it can seem like the poet is speaking about something which you have no idea. As always be patient, gentle on yourself and know you have your own unique path.