Reflection: John One [dash] Five (ish)

Personally, this is probably one of my favorites. Picking a favorite is really hard because all of my pieces are significant in some way and mean something to me (obviously, otherwise it wouldn't be real poetry). This one's so much fun for me though. Just saying the title, "JohnOneDashFiveIsh" is kind of fun. I'm just a nerd, I apologize.
I have a very... strange writing process when it comes to this stuff. I try my hardest to glorify God with my writing (as well as everything else I do), so prayer and spiritual inspiration are huge aspects. This piece in particular was a little different. Usually, I end up with so many little scraps of paper with random words or phrases/sentences scribbled on them that I can hardly keep up with them all. These result from random thoughts I have throughout my daily routine, usually over the span of a few weeks or so. God lays a topic or thought on my heart, and I realize that I'll write a poem about it sometime soon. Then, the topic continues to come up in discussion, on television, on the radio, in school, at church, at home, everywhere. The message becomes very insistent and reoccurring, I guess you could say. These random sparks of understanding kind of act as inspiration, and I scramble for a piece of paper to write things down. I keep them in my brown journal along with the rest of my poems or starter papers, and I just wait until it finally comes together and I sit down to make sense of it all (and do some more intense praying). I also tend to listen to music. The genre depends on the mood or feeling I want conveyed in the poem. For example, while doing these reflections, I listen to Vitamin String Quartet (look them up, they're great).
Anyways, like I said before, my routine was different while writing "John One [dash] Five (ish)". About a week prior (keeping in mind I'm horrible with timelines and dates) I had a dream. Most of the dream itself is irrelevant, but I did wake up knowing I needed to read The Gospel of John. It was kind of funny/weird, I was staying the night at a friend's house and had just fallen asleep, and I woke up suddenly and asked "Um... Hey, what's in the Gospel of John?" Needless the say, it was a special moment. Anyway, throughout the week I read through the book and such. If you haven't thumbed through this section of the bible yet, I highly recommend it.
One day, I believe I stayed home from school because I was sick (I don't really remember, I'm kind of guessing). I was sitting on my couch in the living room on my laptop, keeping myself entertained. I had a few songs stuck in my head at the same time, and if you've ever dealt with this, you probably understand how overwhelming it is to want to sing numerous lines from different songs. You can also probably guess which songs they are (hint: they're in the poem). Suddenly, while singing a line from Mighty To Save, specifically,

"So shine your light and let the whole world see, We're singing for the glory of the risen King",

I added some lines afterwards that weren't part of the song. They came out of no where and I didn't know why I said them, but they kind of flowed so I typed them into a note on my laptop, thinking maybe sometime later I'd turn it into a poem. I looked at the words, and added some more. In the course of an hour, I had an almost identical version of what is now "John One [dash] Five (ish)". I read the beginning verses of John and used the songs stuck in my head to piece together how I view my walk with Christ, my strengths, and my weaknesses as a human. My strength is Christ within me. He is the only thing about me that is flawless, the only thing I can brag about is His majesty. My weaknesses are numerous because I am human, but God never fails; He's perfect.

John 1:5 says "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it" (ESV)

Let's look at the verse in context:

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴In him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

⁶ There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷ He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.

Scripture speaks for itself. God is light, in Him there is no darkness at all. Light overcame darkness. Darkness did not understand the light (overcame is translated as understood in different versions). My life, the world itself, is darkness. I still can't understand God completely, but I'm only human. I never will understand everything. However, I wasn't called to understand. I was called to share the light I've been given with others. I've been called to be a light in other people's lives.

Also something to think about:
I named this poem after John 1:5, as well as the section of scripture I included above (which explains the "ish"). Recently, while doing some studying, I noticed another 1:5 relation:

1 John 1:5-
 ⁵This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

Just a nice correlation, I thought.

May the words of the mouth and meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Psalm 19:14

-Danny