Esther, an old testament book, tells the story of Esther who becomes an unlikely queen. She is a Jewess. Her people are captive to and subservient to the Persians. She is called upon to be an emissary of God to spare the Jewish people. Her uncle Mordecai is a pivotal individual in all the transpires. Mordecai had a mortal enemy by the name of Naman. Naman conspired to have Mordecai executed. Ironically, the gallows that Naman had prepared for Mordecai’s execution became Naman’s and Mordecai received the honor and recognition that Haman coveted. For Mordecai: no noose is good noose. For Haman, he found himself at the end of his rope.
Power’s Irony
Hanged from the gallows
In the hot morning sun.
Swelling and decaying
Flesh baked tender done.
Slipping from the noose.
Falling, splattering
Sending forth stench.
Now unrecognizable
Haman fills the sewage trench.
Having been a vulture.
He now feeds them full.
An ironic ending to power’s great pull.
Richard L. Brewer
Published by sparedbygrace@yahoo.com
I am Richard Brewer—a Christ-follower, psychologist, husband, father, grandfather (Papa) sometimes writer, and lifelong student of people.
For much of my professional life, I've had the privilege of sitting with people as they wrestle with some of life's most difficult questions—questions about faith, suffering, grief, relationships, identity, failure, hope, and what it means to live well.
Those conversations have changed the way I see people and the way I understand my own faith. They have taught me that life is rarely as simple as our explanations of it, that people are almost always more complicated than they appear, and that sometimes the wisest response to a difficult question is to empathize and to keep asking better questions.
I am a committed Christ-follower, but I am not interested in pretending that Christianity eliminates mystery or that faith means having an answer for everything. Faith invites us to pursue truth honestly, to think deeply, to acknowledge what we do not know, and ultimately to trust the God we do know.
Mediocre Meanderings is where I explore some of those questions.
I write about faith and psychology, grief and suffering, leadership and relationships, aging and ordinary life—and occasionally whatever else catches my attention along the way.
I do not write from the perspective of someone who has figured life out. I write as someone who has lived enough of it to know that I have not.
These are my thoughts, questions, observations, and occasional attempts at wisdom. Take what is useful. Challenge what is not. And, if you would like, meander along with me.
View all posts by sparedbygrace@yahoo.com
Mediocre Meandering 