Giving Thanks

His Steadfast Love Endures Forever

A Psalm for giving thanks.

Psalm 100 

 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!

2   Serve the Lord with gladness!

  Come into His presence with singing!

3  Know that the Lord, He is God!

It is He who made us, and we are His;

we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.

4  Enter His gates with thanksgiving,

and His courts with praise!

Give thanks to Him; bless His name!

5  For the Lord is good;

  His steadfast love endures forever,

and His faithfulness to all generations.

 

Rejoice, serve, come, know, enter, give thanks, and bless - the seven commands of Psalm 100.

 

Make a joyful noise

     Serve

          Come

                 KNOW

           Enter

     Give Thanks

Bless

 

Whom do we know?

What does He tell us about Himself?

 

Know that the Lord, He is God!

 

For the Lord is good;

  His steadfast love endures forever,

and His faithfulness to all generations.

 

 

There is so much to be thankful for...

but before that -

HE is God; there is no other.

 

Thanks be to God.  Today is a good day to give thanks.

Son of God, hear us, and since Thou
By taking our blood, owest it us again,
Gain to Thyself, or us allow ;
And let not both us and Thyself be slain ;
O Lamb of God, which took'st our sin,
Which could not stick to Thee,
O let it not return to us again ;
But Patient and Physician being free,
As sin is nothing, let it nowhere be.                

- J. Donne

Life is full of ends and beginnings-and in the middle it is mostly- a mess of full stops, muck, and restarts. 

This is the end of John Donne's "Litany". 

It's a shadow of life's True End.

• Sin the once- "here Now"-- is at once - "no Where"
• That's a flip.

Shadows are finders, they remind us that there is... a really real.
Shadows also whisper that this little slice of time and space is not it; it is not the one true thing.  It's just a sloshy, little step on the really real roadmap.


Was it the end God had in mind, or was it the road- when He began..."In the beginning..."?  
Is that a false dichotomy?

And in the end, isn't the real end,  just the Beginning anyway?
 

Happy Birthday, Christa!

The Writer

In her room at the prow of the house
Where light breaks, and the windows are tossed with linden,
My daughter is writing a story.

I pause in the stairwell, hearing
From her shut door a commotion of typewriter-keys
Like a chain hauled over a gunwale.

Young as she is, the stuff
Of her life is a great cargo, and some of it heavy:
I wish her a lucky passage.

But now it is she who pauses,
As if to reject my thought and its easy figure.
A stillness greatens, in which

The whole house seems to be thinking,
And then she is at it again with a bunched clamor
Of strokes, and again is silent.

I remember the dazed starling
Which was trapped in that very room, two years ago;
How we stole in, lifted a sash

And retreated, not to affright it;
And how for a helpless hour, through the crack of the door,
We watched the sleek, wild, dark

And iridescent creature
Batter against the brilliance, drop like a glove
To the hard floor, or the desk-top,

And wait then, humped and bloody,
For the wits to try it again; and how our spirits
Rose when, suddenly sure,

It lifted off from a chair-back,
Beating a smooth course for the right window
And clearing the sill of the world.

It is always a matter, my darling,
Of life or death, as I had forgotten. I wish
What I wished you before, but harder.

-Richard Wilbur

In your book were written every one of them;
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there were none of them.
How precious are your thoughts, O God!
How vast the sum of them!
...They speak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies take your name in vain.
Search me, O God, know my heart.
Lead me in the way everlasting.
-Psalm 139

Another year, a big one, 21 today!  Dinner at Chili's ,a picnic at the cliffs, reading, and listened to one of Dr. Grant's Rome lectures together. A great day, and great week and another year under the sun.

Twenty one things to remember from your 21st year-

1. Lists - were there more than 21? ahhh...yeah. You can bank on that.
2. A pre-LSAT score of 164. Amazing.
3. Aquinas College - Summa Cum Laude
4. Lunch with Dr. Smith
5. National Golden Gloves Championship Fight
6. The week by Nana's side
7. Chats with your cousins
8. Moving back home to California
9. Son tres amigos meet again over pints
10. Route 66 - what happens in the car stays in the car
11. The Grand Canyon
12. The Big Texan
13. A Real Grown-Up Job
14. Rodizo Grill
15. A plane ride with Roro
16. Standing on the Edge of the Santa Cruz Cliffs
17. Suit shopping for the Capitol
18. Rodizo Grill (Yes. it's listed twice foodie!)
19. the work that went into your dissertation -and publication
20. Saying goodbye to friends
21. Hanging out with old friends again

All these days were written - what a joy it is to be a part of playing them out with you.




 

From My Favorite Poet

It tolls for thee, the leaden pall
Cathedral-bound today.
I-Fichten-I, your tomb you wall,
By your own hand bury.

She tolls for Thee, the brazen belle
Cathedral-bound today.
Three-Personed God her groom, she will
Soon take your hand, marry.

It rings for Thee, the golden bell-
Cathedral crown etern'.
Three Personed Love, your children fell
But by your hand returned.
KCN 3/26/15 Hartford Home

My daughter Kelsey wrote this, we had an hour and a half discussion on it. I am philosophy challenged so she tutored me on Fichten.
Some things worth noting:

• The verses sound the same but have vastly different meaning. The progression is from self (humanism) to the Church in the world, to the Music of the Spheres and Eternal truth.
• The path from lead to bronze to gold
• Trinity personage - self - Fichten was the predecessor to Freud; seeing ourself in Christ as we are in the World; The Holy Trinity sovereign and acting in love over Creation for all time.
• Hand - self, giving ourselves to God, The Divine Hand of Sovereignty and Love. Depending on the volition of the hand it brings death, or unity and salvation.

This is not a feely, flowy kind of poem. It is all bones and structure.  I like that. A young woman of few words and deep thought, her poetry is reflective of her personality and gifting.  It is always amazing to me how God has made her. We are very different. In the space between I find respect and joy and thanksgiving to Our Lord who creates spance for navigating this poor, fallen world in a muddle. The mess is part of the joy, it is where HE reveals himself, and grants us hope in what we, all too often are blind to see.

 

Great is the Lord

God is our refuge and strength,
 a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear though
the earth gives away,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at
its swelling.

Selah

 There is a river whose streams make glad
the City of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her; she shall not
be moved;
God will help her when morning
 dawns.
The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
He utters His voice, the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Selah

Come, behold the works of the Lord,
how He is brought desolations on
 the earth.
 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
He breaks the bow and shatters
the spear,
He burns the chariots with fire.
"Be still, and know that I am God.
 I will be exalted among the nations,
 I will be exalted in the earth!"
 The LORD of hosts is with us;
 the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Selah

I love this song! I love how it says to be still. And the use of the word Selah. It's a musical term that means "to stop and pause and think about it".  Some translation, I think it's amplified, uses "cease striving" instead of "be still'. This stands out to me. Also. I thought the three parts between the Selah are reminiscent of the functions of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father he sets everything in motion;the Son-,who is the true water- as streams of living water; and the Holy Sypirit who is it work in the world propeling us towards the Kingdom.

T

Oh My...

My Rock and My Fortress

Blessed be the LORD, my rock,
who trains my hands for war;
and my fingers for battle;
He is my steadfast love and my fortress,
my stronghold and my deliverer, 
my shield and He in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me.

O LORD, what is man and that 
you regard him?
or the son of man that you think of him? Man is like a breath;
 his days are like a passing shadow.

Bow your heavens, O LORD,
and come down!
Touch the mountains so that they smoke!
Flash forth the lightning and scatter them;
send out your arrows and rout them!
stretch out your hand from on high;
rescue me and deliver me from 
the many waters,
from the hand of foreigners,
whose mouths speak lies
 and whose right hand is a right 
hand of falsehood.

I will sing a new song to you, O God;
upon a ten-stringed harp I will play to you,
who gives victory to kings,
who rescues David his servant 
from the sword.
Rescue me and deliver me 
from the hand of foreigners, 
whose mouths speak lies 
and whose right hand is a right 
hand of falsehood.

May our sons in their youth 
be like plants full grown,
our daughters like corner pillars 
cut for the structure of a palace;
may our granaries be full,
providing all kinds of produce;
may our sheep bring forth thousands
and ten thousands in our fields;
may our cattle be heavy with young,
suffering no mishap or failure in bearing, may there be no cry of distress 
on our streets! 
Blessed are the people to whom such blessings fall! 
Blessed are the people whose
God is the Lord!


The steadfast love of the Lord is all over the Psalms, OT and NT. There are at least five Psalms that are titled with the Steadfast Love of the Lord. Psalms 136 - is refrained with His Steadfast love endures forever. Psalm 100 - Is a Truth Statement that solicits action - an Ode to His Steadfast Love. David sings of and declares great the steadfast love of the Lord in Psalm 89 and 86. Psalm 52 is kind of a flip, and puts the fool in a place which matches his untrust in God - and reminds His people to to wait in the presence of the godly. In Psalm 33, the steadfast love of the Lord is the hope of His people; actually He is steadfast love and we hope in Him. 
Now that reminds me of  Psalm 144 - HE IS MY STEADFAST LOVE. This is not an indicative but a declarative.  David is speaking, declaring the Truth that has been stated everywhere.  But here, he doesn't just talk about it, David owns it. 
Maybe, I'm making too much, of this - but there is a solidity to faith that when it comes to the place that calls God my steadfast love. It the turn that turns promises into personhood as a heart that had all too often doubted, gets grace to see Jesus a little more clearly.

Come, thou Holy Spirit bright;
        come with thy celestial light;
               pour on us thy love divine.

Come, protector of the poor;
        come, thou source of blessings sure;
                    come within our hearts to shine.

                       Thou, of comforters the best,
                   thou the soul's most welcome guest,
                       of our peace thou art the sign.

In our labor, be our aid;
         in our summer, cooling shade.
                      Every bitter tear refine.

Brighter than the noonday sun,
        fill our lives which Christ has won;

                    fill our hearts and make them thine.

                             Where thou art not, we have nought:

           all our world and deed and thought twisted from thy true design.

Bend the stubborn heart and will;

         melt the frozen, warm the chill;

               rule us by thy judgment's line.

Cleanse us with thy healing power;

            what is barren bring to flower;

                    to thy love our sins consign.

To thy people who adore and confess thee evermore,

               thy blest seven-fold gift assign.

Grant us thy salvation, Lord,

         boundless mercy our reward,

                 which earth and heaven entwine.
                                 - 12 Century Latin hymn.

A Prayer for Pentecost.

"What is barren bring to flower."
Thy Kingdom come.
Even so come quickly Lord Jesus.

Enduring Love

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good,
for His steadfast love endures forever.
Give thanks to the God of gods,
for His steadfast love endures forever.
Give thanks to the LORD of lords,
for His steadfast love endures forever.

to Him who alone does great wonders,
for His steadfast love endures forever.
to Him who by His understanding made the heavens,
for His steadfast love endures forever.
to Him who spread out the earth above the waters,
for His steadfast love endures forever.
to Him who made the great lights,
for His steadfast love endures forever.
the sun to rule over the day,
for His steadfast love endures forever.
the moon and stars to rule over the night,
for His steadfast love endures forever.

to Him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt,
for His steadfast love endures forever,
and brought Israel out from among them,
for His steadfast love endures forever;
with a strong hand and an outstretched arm,
for His steadfast love endures forever;
to Him who divided the Red Sea in two,
for His steadfast love endures forever;
and who made Israel pass through the midst of it,
His steadfast love endures forever;
but overthrew Pharaoh and His host in the Red Sea,
for His steadfast love endures forever;
to Him who lead His people through the wilderness,
for His steadfast love endures forever;

to Him who struck down great kings,
for His steadfast love endures forever;
and killed mighty kings,
for His steadfast love endures forever;
Sihon, king of the Amorites,
for His steadfast love endures forever;
and Og, king of Bashon,
for His steadfast love endures forever;
and gave their land as an inheritance,
for His steadfast love endures forever;
a heritage to Israel His servant,
for His steadfast love endures forever.

It is He who remembers us in our low estate.
for His steadfast love endures forever;
And rescues us from our foes,
for His steadfast love endures forever;
He who gives food to all flesh,
for His steadfast love endures forever.

Give thanks to the God of heaven,
for His steadfast love endures forever.

Love in five part harmony - Sovereign, Creator, Defender, Redeemer, Eternal One

Jot 'em down, pass 'em on

"Maturation is messy."

"Perfection, like going north, is a general direction, you can never actually get there."
-Katherine Koonge


BTW- These are encouragements :O)   As in-you're going the right way - just had to add the sidebar to stave off the seep of cynic  - that can totally miss the desired point.

 

Book Favs of 2013

This year I have been intentional about reading stories. I'm not a fiction reader and 2 books is an accomplishment for a normal year.  My fiction count went up to 18.  This year was different. I gave myself a fool-proof jump start - C S Lewis was my writer of focus.  I love Narnia, I just didn't remember how much.  I read Flannery O'Connor for the first time. Intense and redemptive in the mind-mulling kind of way. Mojo and the Pickle Jar was fun, ridiculous fluff and Peace Like a River left me trusting in God's Sovereignty more.

Top Five Fiction  Moment Favs of 2013

1.  The Horse and His Boy; C S Lewis - Facing  the Lion barehanded. Growing up into who you are named to be...a lesson for the young of any age. This is also Kel's favorite Narnia story- I had that bias going in, it probably stuck.
2.  Prince Caspian; C S Lewis - "'Aslan,' said Lucy, 'You're bigger.' 'That is because you re older, little one.'  answered he."  I hear those words in my head - the tip of my nose tingles and I feel water rushing towards my eyes. I want Him to say that to me.
3.  Peace Like a River; L. Enger - Lying in the snow, Rueben is hovelled against a dying horse, care taking a broken up man.  Choosing love without integrity always has unforeseen yet, predictable consequences.
4.  The Last Battle; C S Lewis - Heaven - Narnia but better. What if this world is just a shadow of heaven. Maybe. I want to go to all the places I'll never see on this side - only better.
5.  The Secret Life of Walter Mitty; J. Thurber - A cautionary tale. Disjunct, topsy-turvy, sad.  The movie was much more redemptive although (Spoiler) I'd rewrite the ending where the family ends up together and the father actually becomes a man. I listened to the story because I'd seen the movie. The best scene in the movie was the first skateboard scene.  That's heroism, as is the scene in the story where Walter rushes to get to the hotel with the items he's purchased for his wife and waits  in a chair in the lobby (I assume to be easily spied).

Top Five Non-Fiction Picks and Why They Come to Mind Often

1. Bound Together: How We are Tied to Others in Good and Bad Choices; C. Brauns - The truth that we are bound to Christ, and that through His resurrection He pulls us and the rest of creation up with Him is the antidote to all of lives bad choices, whether ours or those we love.  Shortly after reading this, I heard or read this(maybe a few words paraphrased?) from Pastor Wilson and I posted it inside one of my kitchen cabinets.  "When a man resurrects THAT way...an irrevocable principle is established.  He's pulling the world to life." It's true, we're tied, in Him, to Him, through Him, by Him. Give Him Praise. He is come and we are saved. 
2. A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers; D A Carson - I love this book.  I bought it for my sister, because I loved it so much. Praying like Paul prayed, praying His Word, praying His will with His words. I love it because I am learning the passages that I pray over different people and when I think of them the Word comes to my mind amid the worries and the inclination to work out in my mind what I think should happen. It helps me to have Words to pray to learn to leave it to God and trust Him in obedience.
3. For the Life of the World: Sacraments and Orthodoxy; A. Schmenmann - Best place in the book; He is giving a eulogy and he directs to the grieving wife, that in heaven she'll know him even better than she did on earth. What a jewel at the loss of a long and loving marriage. But it got me thinking, my husband knows me at least fifty times better, deeper, richer than anyone else. In heaven I'm going to know not only him, but all the saints better than I know my husband now. That's just cool.
4. Pilgrim's Progress; J. Bunyan - The Dungeon of Despair, giving up, having the key hanging at your heart, a trusted sidekick that helps you remember it when "all is lost"...not only is this universal, this is part of the journey to the Celestial City.
5. Luther and His Katie; D. MacCuish - It made me laugh and cry.  I saw Luther as a brother, husband, father, refugee- not just a hero of the faith. That got me thinking - who else have I archived like that. 

So there's the story on my favorite stories and the story on my favorite books. And about 2014... my gray matter's still percolating.

 

Type and Time with Dr. Suess

This man of mine,

This man of mine;

I do so love this man of mine.

With spine of godly steel and mirth,

What greater treasure have I on earth?

And I can trust him in a slump,

And he abides through life bump

No manied hand, or daisy word

The precepts of God's truth, thought ward-

In times like these, of nilly tide,

The chasm grows now ever wide-

Between the men with chests

And them, that have no Godward heart within,

This man of mine,

This man of mine;

I do so need this man of mine.

With chasten'n word or purpose stout,

A refuge from the world without.

No mammon agenda, tho' dusty he be,

With stalwart heart he leadth me.

Unto the Well of Life, and then

Asks me to spill it forth again.

Not woman of a runway - me,

But grounded, lovely, gracious, free,

To follow as he follows Christ.

Against the self identified-

It is not him, or me, or them,

That made that evil lie therein.

If we do live for "I" alone,

We find this world a paltry  home.

In dying first; first him, then me

We 'flect a type of Christ and see

It is redemption's plan set forth

The gain is freedom and much more

So less than that, no bargain be-

As is the wage of living "me".

This man of mine,

This man of mine:

A gift of God, this man of mine.

To set a pace, toward heaven we go.

Yet, ancient rival still a foe.

He,  crushed fully in the cross,

Amid blood stains, his power lost.

Tho', frail he is - this man I see,

Yet, he is but a type for me-

Of One True Man came down in time,

That binds us to Kingdom Divine.

-JN

 

Life in Paradox

A paradox to us is told,

In blood, split scarlet through-

The center of Story old

For us, nary is left to do.

 

Of binds that tie and hold

us fast, in Love, abides and will

recoil the curse, bring to the fold

all earth, and His' as well.

 

We hope in what we cannot see,

Hold fast to Whom we know

He dawned this dust, in Him we be

Our paradoxical abode.

-JN

 

Paradox fascinates me.  Light and darkness, death and life, joy and sadness - they ask the question that begs for an answer or least a stop in day to day subsistence.

 

My daughter is a gentle and true critic.  Her comments, "You've improved your rhyme and diction, that's really great, Mom. Poetry is about painting a picture not preaching a sermon."  She then pulled out one of Flannery O'Connor's essays.  She chose a few excerpts.  I leafed through and chose one of mine own.

 

The idea of being a writer attracts a good many shiftless people, those who are merely burdened with poetic feelings or afflicted with sensibility. - F.  O'Conner, Mystery and Manners, p.85

This is one of Kel's excerpts that was in short followed up with this sentence, "When you write a poem are you starting with the grand idea that you want to tell people about or are you starting with an object you want to describe to them?"

The longer you look at one object, the more of the world you see in it; - ibid p.77

My thoughts on that mirror in thankfulness one of O'Conner's comments at the end of "The Nature and Aim of Fiction"-

I believe the teacher's work is largely negative, that it is largely a matter of saying "This doesn't work because..." or "This does work because...."  The because is very important.  The teacher can help you understand the nature of your medium, he can guide you in your reading. ibid, p.86

 Diction - getting better- check.  Rhyme - improving- yeah! Studying the spider on my front porch - homework!

Chasm

There is a great chasm,
And sacred it be,
That separates kin and
friendship, from knowledge of Thee.

For it is by Your Spirit
Translating me near,
And no one, save You
Dwells with me there.

The Fortress of Psalter,
The Rock of the Age,
The Foundation of all Good-
And Stripper of assuage.

I realized through tears,
When I'd nothing dust left,
That heaven is better -
So broken, bereft

"Twas there in the silence,
Your Spirit did swell;
And filled with new glories
Of Presence and well -

"This world is a fetter,
All vanity be."
When resting by Spirit,
Past chasm, I'm free.
-J.N. Early July, Early Morn, Back Patio, Nampa, Id.


Funny word, chasm- so close to chiasm - that's a favorite of mine.  In my wit, I wanted to whip out a chiasm on chasm, but maybe the joy of chasm is best told through paradox.
And isn't all of life a paradox? In that very paradox is the widening of the chasm - it screams the truth, that it does, in fact, exist. Mulling in the paradox you find the chasm ever growing wider.

The death you die, dyes the life you live.
  Joy holds you, but don't hold joy.


Just kindercare attempts at understanding a truth that has been wiggling around my noggin.  The idea of death and resurrection - what does that look like?  We die to ourselves, to live in Him.  We do this a thousand times a day, and we don't do this a thousand times a day. To the extent by His grace towards obedience we die, we see glimmers of glory in letting go and actually tasting the goodness of all this vanity the temporal has to offer- in obedience it goes through Him first. - letting Joy hold us  vs. trying to hold the joy.
 But then the moments pass, the thoughts in my grown girl's head discussed and she is off  to work, my grandone goes home and in the wake of ringing of laughter - a silent din, the ministrations of my husband is shuffled into the necessary schedule for subsistence.
It passes - everything passes; yet He,   only   He    remains.
Therein is the great chasm that grows  bigger and bigger as we enjoy life more and more.  He holds on to us, we hold onto nothing, we are dust, and anything we try to hold is dust, too.
That premonition of Joy that reminds of a grain of Truth, that percolates into a pebbles of HIS promises, is cemented as our Rock of Salvation and our Refuge- that is the only, real, lasting, sustainable thing.  But the sustenance in from Him and His will and Word, He alone is solid - everlasting, unwithered. We act only as we are acted upon.  Everything, a passing flutter, just a little shadow that points to Jesus, our Joy, as Paul would intimate to those at Philipi..






So

On Any Given Lord's Day

The Lord's Day

The secret of the Bride come near,
And happy the faces gathered here.
We are many, we are one,
Bound in Him - Eternal Son.

So whether tired or sorrow filled,
That we come, this is His will.
Beckoned here by His own call,
And by His grace do we enter all,

In chapel small or cathedral grand,
'Tis  round God's throne bared we stand.
In mercies sweet, and forgiveness full,
Eminent Anthem of Life - You rule.
-J.N. 7/7/13 Messiah Lutheran, Nampa ID

I jotted this down a few weeks ago as I watched the people mill and listened to the preceding music to the Introit.  Precious families with cherub faced babies and ones with teens sitting next to their Moms and Dads.  There was a baptism of three daughters, 4,6, &12 and their first communion later in service.
I'd been at my Mom's for almost three months and had visited three churches - where I went depended on times and health constraints.  This was a later, "contemporary service" I had chaffed at going to, but with circumstances it was my only safe choice as it was just an hour long and two minutes away. 
During the Table, I watched as these precious families went forward and received the table. The Lord again put His sword on my pride and I sat there in complete admonishment and complete joy concurrently. As the Holy Spirit knocked my noggin at each blessing, my heart swelled with thanksgiving and a knowing I was right where He wanted me.
I'm am thankful to be home. Sitting with my husband and our great-nephew yesterday as we took the elements, I remembered.  The Bride sits on rows, and on benches, on floors, in houses, in chapels, in great buildings, and He is there, He is the Center, He rules.  Blessed be His name.



Hope Springs in Every Breast

The old days, the old days, how oft the poets sing,

The days of hope at dewy morn, the days of early spring,

The days when every mead was fair, and every heart was true,

And every maiden wore a smile, and every sky was blue

The days when dreams were golden and every night brought rest,

The old, old days of youth and love, the days they say were best

But I--I sing the new days, the days that lie before,

The days of hope and fancy, the days that I adore.

The new days, the new days, the selfsame days they are;

The selfsame sunshine heralds them, the selfsame evening star

Shines out to light them on their way unto the Bygone Land,

And with the selfsame arch of blue the world to-day is spanned.

The new days, the new days, when friends are just as true,

And maidens smile upon us all, the way they used to do,

Dreams we know are golden dreams, hope springs in every breast;

It cheers us in the dewy morn and soothes us when we rest.

The new days, the new days, of them I want to sing,

The new days with the fancies and the golden dreams they bring;

The old days had their pleasures, but likewise have the new

The gardens with their roses and the meadows bright with dew;

We love to-day the selfsame way they loved in days of old;

The world is bathed in beauty and it isn't growing cold;

There's joy for us a-plenty, there are tasks for us to do,

And life is worth the living, for the friends we know are true.

-Edgar Guest "The New Days" from Just Folks

I, like many, are concerned, or rather mulling, over the our nation's decisions of the last few days. But I was reminded as I sat on the back patio and looked out over the field, with horses wagging the trees to itch a scratch and the beautiful blackbird adorned in bright orange and yellow shoulder pads, how lovely is the world and all her passing vanities.

The days are dark, but haven't they always been? But then again, on that one truly dark day, our Lover pushed back and it -  the insemination of all light, of all hope,and the very end of all story. 

I remind myself, He's got this, His birds are chirping away at the wonder of His Glory. 

Numerberless Fathers are True

You think that the failures are many,

    You think the successes are few,

But you judge by the rule of the penny,

    And not by the good that men do.

You judge men by standards of treasure

    That merely obtain upon earth,

When the brother you're snubbing may measure

    Full-length to God's standard of worth.

The failures are not in the ditches,

    The failures are not in the ranks,

They have missed the acquirement of riches,

    Their fortunes are not in the banks.

Their virtues are never paraded,

    Their worth is not always in view,

But they're fighting their battles unaided,

    And fighting them honestly, too.

There are failures to-day in high places

    The failures aren't all in the low;

There are rich men with scorn in their faces

    Whose homes are but castles of woe.

The homes that are happy are many,

    And numberless fathers are true;

And this is the standard, if any,

    By which we must judge what men do.

Wherever loved ones are awaiting

    The toiler to kiss and caress,

Though in Bradstreet's he hasn't a rating,

    He still is a splendid success.

If the dear ones who gather about him

    And know what he's striving to do

Have never a reason to doubt him,

    Is he less successful than you?

You think that the failures are many,

    You judge by men's profits in gold;

You judge by the rule of the penny--

    In this true success isn't told.

This falsely man's story is telling,

    For wealth often brings on distress,

But wherever love brightens a dwelling,

    There lives; rich or poor, a success.

-Edgar Guest, "Just Folks" 

Their virtues are never paraded,

    Their worth is not always in view,...

The homes that are happy are many,

    And numberless fathers are true;

But wherever love brightens a dwelling,

    There lives; rich or poor, a success.

I am going out to pluck rose for Daddy's grave off one of the bushes he and Momma planted when they moved here. This poem is in honor of him, but even more so for my daughter's father.

Giving thanks for fathers who earnestly seek to walk in the gargantuan footsteps of the Father of All. Blessed be His Name.

Written, the Days, When as Yet There Were None of Them

In her room at the prow of the house
Where light breaks, and the windows are tossed with linden,
My daughter is writing a story.

I pause in the stairwell, hearing
From her shut door a commotion of typewriter-keys
Like a chain hauled over a gunwale.

Young as she is, the stuff
Of her life is a great cargo, and some of it heavy:
I wish her a lucky passage.

But now it is she who pauses,
As if to reject my thought and its easy figure.
A stillness greatens, in which

The whole house seems to be thinking,
And then she is at it again with a bunched clamor
Of strokes, and again is silent.

I remember the dazed starling
Which was trapped in that very room, two years ago;
How we stole in, lifted a sash

And retreated, not to affright it;
And how for a helpless hour, through the crack of the door,
We watched the sleek, wild, dark

And iridescent creature
Batter against the brilliance, drop like a glove
To the hard floor, or the desk-top,

And wait then, humped and bloody,
For the wits to try it again; and how our spirits
Rose when, suddenly sure,

It lifted off from a chair-back, 
Beating a smooth course for the right window
And clearing the sill of the world.

It is always a matter, my darling,
Of life or death, as I had forgotten.  I wish
What I wished you before, but harder.

"The Writer" - Richard Wilbur

My darlin daughter,Kelsey, is 19 today. I called and she, her Dad and a friend were out out a Waffle House having breakfast - one of her favs.  

 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer with joy, ...And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it completion at the day of Jesus Christ.  ... And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the the day of Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

Toddler's Creed

My biblestudy friend has a little 2 year old grandson she watches every morning, and a few weeks ago she mentioned this to me and we laughed.   It still makes me laugh... I love two year olds... they are just so, well, two, no sophistication to their want-sies. 

Toddler's Creed

 

If I want it, it's mine.

If I give it to you and change my mind later, it's mine.

If I can take it away from you, it's mine.

If I had it a little while ago, it's mine.

If it's mine it will never belong to anyone else... no matter what.

If we are building something together, all the pieces are mine.

If it looks like mine, it is mine.

It makes me laugh, and it makes my forehead crinkle -- ahhh, so ...when the last time I had a two's moment?

I saw this last night, and it made me think, ahh.. yup!
 

Cinnamon Roll Liturgy

Cinnamon Roll Liturgy

Q: Why do we eat cinnamon rolls for breakfast on this day, when all other days we eat toast, cereal, or eggs?

A: We eat them to remind us this is Resurrection Sunday, the day we celebrate our Lord Jesus Christ rising from the dead.

Q: Why are the cinnamon rolls made with sweet bread?

A: The sweetness of the bread reminds us that Jesus is the bread of life and our one and only true source of sustenance and sweetness.

Q: Why is cinnamon used in the rolls instead of another spice?

A: The cinnamon reminds us of the bitterness of the cross, and its shame – our Lord Jesus endured it- to pay the penalty of our sin, to bring us life everlasting.

Q: Why are the cinnamon rolls made with so much sugar and fat?

A: The sugar and fat reminds us that in Christ’s obedience we are imparted His goodness, and in following our covenant God we are free to enjoy His good and pleasant gifts and thereby escape the pain and death of hell.

Leader: The gifts of God for the people of God.  He is Risen.

Response: He is Risen, indeed.

Blessed be His name.

We eat homemade cinnamon rolls on Christmas and Easter... always.  The last 3 or 4 years we have done this liturgy or a form of it before eating the rolls. 

Caiden, my little grandnephew and I were elbow deep in cinnamon and brown sugar as we prepared the rolls for this afternoon - I reminded him about the liturgy and he said, "I will forget what to say."
I told him I had a page with the liturgy, just like church, (he's four - he can't even write his name yet).  But he's quite sure the paper will help.  I just had to smile.

It's coming.  He is risen, He is Lord.  And it is almost time to CELEBRATE!

Five Things I like about Pilgrim's Progress

Five Things I love about Pilgrim's Progress

1. I can be am dense- names that clearly label actions and intentions help me see myseslf. ahh..yikes.
2. Adversity happens. A lot. Often. It's normal.  Go figure...
3. Brothers have different strengths, and pull eachother out of near calamity.
4. God plants the weight of adventure in the soul- waiting is usually where we're planted admid soul growing adventure.
5. You need a hall pass to get into the celestial city.  Period. No exception, no part sies, no nothin - Just Jesus... everything drops at the cross and is given at the cross.