Christine Farenhorst: You and i

Christine Farenhorst: You and i

You and i
            Christine Farenhorst is a very sensitive reformed poet. Her poems are more direct in comparison to other Christian poets. She talks about the reality of sin and what the effect of the Fall has in our lives, even today. She tells it like it is, using examples that we can all relate to. Three of her poems ("July Thunderstorm," "On all my children going to school," and "Who know when you my child, began?"), show this very well.
Farenhorst describes God's perfect creation the way it is, fallen, yet with awe.   “My God, the lightning flows this night, On wings invisible, the light” (Farenhorst, July Thunderstorm, p.10 ll.1,2). Instead of showing terror at the lightning storm, she sees the magnificence in it and recognizes that it is a beautiful display of God’s power. She goes on to say that every night she sleeps in awe of God even during the storm. She adds that life still goes on, even if the weather can be frightening at times, but we can take comfort in our sleep at night knowing that he is watching over us. So we have no reason to be afraid, if we truly believe in an God.
            Christine also displays her sensitivity in poems such as Infinity and On my Children all going to school.   She shows us a picture of her daughter, who, when asked how much she cares for her mom, in all her innocence replies “four miles,” which to her, is infinity. This is a representation of how God's love in never ending. In our own human minds we cannot understand an infinite, never ending love. We, in our human nature are limited in our abilities of understanding God’s love and power.
    When she talks about her children going to school, she describes the scene in several ways, almost all of them on a note of sadness.   She compares the experience to a full bearded man. “Its roots deep embedded, fight razor blade dull.   Yet years will efface every visible trace.” (Farenhorst, On my Children all going to school, p.4 ll.11,12). She...