Blessed to Be a Blessing

June 27, 2025June 4, 2025 / Greg Asimakoupoulos

**Calligraphy of Greg’s poetry by Timothy R. Botts**

We’ve been blessed to be a blessing!
We’ve been saved to serve the Lord!
We’ve been qualified for service
given gifts God’s grace affords.
In our labor and our leisure,
there is something we can do
to restore the church’s purpose
and her ministries renew.

We’ve been made alive to listen
to the whispers of despair.
God has given us the courage
to speak up and show we care.
We’ve been pardoned to be partners
with the Holy One who made
everyone to serve His purpose
so His glory is displayed.

We’ve been healed to help the hurting
as they grieve for ones who’ve gone,
as they try to find the means to
stay the course and carry on.
We’ve been called to be a family,
to achieve what God intends
as we play the part assigned us
mending fences, making friends.

** These lyrics can be sung to the tune “Ode to Joy”
*** This calligraphy and poem is part of Greg’s new book “My Rhymes and Reasons” illustrated by Timothy R. Botts

In addition to each week’s post on this website, Greg Asimakoupoulos offers daily video devotionals on his YouTube channel. Here is a sample video. If you are interested in receiving these devotionals Monday through Friday, you can subscribe at My Rhymes and Reasons on YouTube.

Summer Solstice

June 20, 2025June 4, 2025 / Greg Asimakoupoulos

**A view of the sun setting on the earth from space**

Today is called the longest day
when daylight mocks the night.
A day to spend with friends just marking time.
A time to mark a year half-gone
and note what’s still to do.
A day to prompt the penning of a rhyme.

Summertime is finally here.
A carefree mindset reigns.
A season of picnics and barbecues.
Baseball games and evening hikes
and frisbee in the park.
Today we light a three-month lengthy fuse.

I love this day. I’ll stay up late
and drink in sights and sound.
I’ll find a way to celebrate the light.
The summer solstice gives us pause
to measure how time speeds
and how the daytime soon dissolves to night.

I Pledge Allegiance to Flag Day

June 13, 2025June 4, 2025 / Greg Asimakoupoulos

**“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America…”**

Remember when we flew the flag
with pomp and circumstance?
We honored dear Old Glory with much pride.
We pledged allegiance standing tall
with hands across our hearts
acknowledging the soldiers who have died.

One day a year we took the time
to recognize our flag
and teach our children what it represents.
But now it seems those times are past.
The 14^th day of June
is just another day. It really makes no sense!

Our stars and stripes are still the means
of picturing our past
while calling out our best symbolically:
a God-blessed nation unified
where there is room for all
from east to west, from sea to shining sea.

It’s Commencement Time

June 6, 2025June 3, 2025 / Greg Asimakoupoulos

**A wallet-size replica of Greg Asimakoupoulos’ high school diploma**

Commencement, like the word implies,
suggests an open door
through which you walk in cap and gown to find
a new beginning to what’s next,
new friends, new jobs and more
and ways to test and stretch your growing mind.

Commencing is an active verb
inviting you to go
and reach for what is yet to be attained.
When you commence you look ahead
(while mindful of the past)
and focus on a future still to gain.

To graduate suggests you’re done.
Commencing says, “Let’s go!
And get to work based on all you have learned.”
So go for broke. Spend all you have
to make your dreams come true
investing in the trust you still must earn.