Tuesday, May 31, 2011

It's a Curse and a Blessing
















Thank you for the lesson in
Putting things in perspective,
The things I call a burden
Are another’s objective.
The rains that drown my landscape
Are craved where the fire’s burn;
Where they have constant sunshine,
We long to just have a turn.

The blessings that fill our lives
We often take for granted,
We fail to treasure the crops
Which earlier we planted.
We need to relish the bliss
That grows right in our back yard
And stop always complaining
That our life is just too hard.

Monday, May 30, 2011

The Men Who Choose to Serve
















There is no wall to demarcate
Between the dark and light.
The line is drawn between the wrong
and all we know that’s right
with courage and with fortitude
and faith that will not swerve
by men who stand upon the line.
The men who choose to serve.

Freedom’s price is dearly paid,
Then paid and paid again,
by children and by lonely wives
and by those loyal men.
They hold, with flesh and blood and steel
and sometimes with raw nerve,
a line of hope against despair.
The men who choose to serve.

We sleep in peace, we pray in faith,
we work without the fear
that those who seek to do us harm
can ever draw too near
because they keep their faith with us,
with strength and calm reserve,
the men who stand upon the line.
The men who choose to serve.

We owe them more than we can pay
And yet no price is asked
Except for someplace safe to rest
When they’ve laid down the task.
For they know other brave young men,
will step up to the mark
and carry on the task for them,
the fight against the dark.
We owe them more than platitudes
for the price they have paid.
We owe them more than gratitude
for sacrifices made.
We long to, but can’t give full due
of all that they deserve,
we owe too much to all of them,
The men who choose to serve.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Isaiah 21:8




Ever watchful for my Lord,
I pray that I will be.
Let me watch for his return
Across the rolling sea.
Let me wait with leaping joy
For that day when I see
My dear Savior ride the wind
As he returns for me.









Isaiah 21:8
And the lookout shouted, “Day after day, my lord, I stand on the watchtower; every night I stay at my post.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Lingering in the Night
















Emptiness fills up my mind,
My heart is barren, too.
I long to laugh, or even cry;
There’s nothing I can do.

I play at laughter through the day,
Count moments through the night.
I know there’s nothing I can do
To make it all feel right.

There is a brooding sense of doom
That lingers in the air;
I try to turn my mind from it
But it’s still everywhere.

I know the light is waiting there,
Beyond the tunnel’s dark,
But I seem hopelessly trapped here
Without a single spark.

Please help me find my way back home,
Beyond the empty night,
Where passions flow like sparkling waves
That glitter with the light.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Psalm 56:8




















You count the tears that I have wept,
And catch them as they land,
Each one is marked as precious as
You hold them in your hand.
It’s true that life will run its course,
And just as you have planned,
But sometimes that course seems too rough.
You always understand
That, though I fall, I’ll find a way
To rise again and stand.
And tears will mark the path sometimes,
Across the bitter land,
But in your love, you catch each one
And hold them in your hand.

Psalm 56:8
Record my misery; list my tears on your scroll — are they not in your record?

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Sea of Sadness












The sorrow patters in my heart
Like rain out on the bay.
I really have no cause for grief,
But it won’t go away.
I seem to be adrift in life,
My anchor has torn free,
And all the tears that I have cried
Could wash me out to sea.
It is a sadness of the heart,
But it will pass away,
And happiness will fill the place
Where there are tears today.

Nehemiah 2:2
so the king asked me, “Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.”

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

When Things Fall Into Place

















Sometimes things just fall into place
You almost hear them click
You call a friend you haven’t seen
To find out they are sick,
 Or need your help or just a chat,
But it is plain to see
That it was by the hand of God
You were where you should be.

Though some may call it fate or chance,
I think of it as grace.
For both are blessed, quite simply, by
Being in the right place.
I thank you for the loving words
And for the friendly face
Thank you for putting me where I
Could share that warm embrace.

It really made my day!

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

1 Peter 3:4
















The beauty of your youth has passed
And time has left its mark
Where once there was the flame of life
There now remains a spark

A spark that still so brightly burns
With beauty that won’t dim
Because such beauty is not born
Of flesh, it is born in Him. 

1 Peter 3:4
Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.

1 Kings 8:54


 
So many things went wrong today,
But many more went right.
All of the things I had to do
Remain undone tonight,
But we had sunshine and not rain,
The inlet burst with light;
There was that fuzzy little bird
Who seemed to dance in flight.

And as I counted all the joys
That seem to fill such days,
I noticed that the old fig tree
Had raised its hands in praise.




1 Kings 8:54
When Solomon had finished all these prayers and supplications to the LORD, he rose from before the altar of the LORD, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven.


more problems with Blogspot last night. Sorry for the delayed post. You can always find the posts at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Each-Day-A-Praise/158386117521398 if this site is down. 

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Luke 12:27



Delicate and beautiful,
The blossoms of the spring,
Clothed in their fragile garments
Have never done a thing
To warrant all their beauty,
The happiness they bring.
Yet their loveliness is real;
True proof of God’s blessing

Luke 12:27
“Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

The Song that Echoes





















The song was simple, her voice sweet;
She sang a song of light.
I carried her sweet melody
With me into the night.

Standing at my window today,
As I watched ceaseless rain,
I realized I still could hear
Her melodic refrain.

It was a gift she gave to me,
A simple gift of song.
A gift I’ll carry in my heart
To light a way that’s long.

I wonder what the song I sing
Leaves in a list’ner’s mind?
Does the lingering melody
Stir angst or something kind?
I must assure that my song leaves
Echoes of joy behind,
That I am touching those I meet
With patience for mankind.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Reflecting the Fire




Lord, let the fire of your love
Reflect itself in me
That I might light a darkened hour
For one who needs to see.

I am not worthy of your light,
But someone may need me;
So shine through me that when they look
It’s you that they will see.


Exodus 24:17
To the Israelites the glory of the LORD
looked like a consuming fire on top of
the mountain.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

2 Samuel 22:11
















I’m the bird with the broken wing
Who still thinks she can fly;
I’m the bird with the heart of stone
Who longs to dance the sky;
I’m the bird who should never soar
But I’m going to try,
Because the sky is calling to me
And I just KNOW I can fly.

2 Samuel 22:11
He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

The Gift of a Peaceful Morning



Sometimes the gift is not the thing
Which we’ve asked to receive,
But is, instead, the quiet place
Where we wait to believe;

The prayers we’ve prayed that rise above
The petty and mundane;
The truth that is reflected from
The heart onto the brain;

The faith that rises on swift wings
To carry us through strife;
The love that offers heaven’s hope
To a once broken life.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Psalm 4:3




I struggled with all the worries,
I suffered with the fears.
You kept saying to just let go,
But I clung to my tears.

I knew that I could never solve
The problems that I face,
While you kept bidding me to trust
In your enduring grace.

When I broke down beneath a strain
I could no longer bear,
I turned my face back to you, Lord,
And you were waiting there.



You heard the prayers I raised to you
And then you answered me.
I offered all my fears and tears
With loving certainty
That you would do what you have done,
And done so easily.
You had the answer all along
And you’ve set my heart free.

Psalm 4:3
Know that the LORD has set apart his faithful servant for himself; the LORD hears when I call to him.

Monday, May 16, 2011

Psalm 84:3




















Oh Lord I sing with all my heart,
Though my voice is so small;
I know that it could well get lost
With all the hearts that call
And yet you still hear my small song
In the midst of them all.
So I will sing for I am loved
And you answer each call.

Psalm 84:3
Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young— a place near your altar, LORD Almighty, my King and my God.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Genesis 7:12



I’ve tried to give voice to a praise,
Though rain clouds fill the sky,
But every time I look up, Lord,
I get rain in my eye.
I know that it replenishes
A dry and weary land,
But if it gets much wetter here
I’ll have no place to stand.
So let me focus on the trees
That flower in this rain,
Thus keeping my eyes focused down
So they’re not splashed again!!






Genesis 7:12
And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

The Broken Fig Tree Buds Anew

The storms of winter tore you down
And shattered half you boughs,
Your branches soon were black with rot
Such winter rain allows.

Your roots were strong, we trimmed you close,
Cut back the damaged wood.
We didn’t think that you’d survive
But we did what we could.

And then we let God take a hand,
To see what he would do,
And just today we saw the proof
That you were pulling through.

So, battered by the storms of life,
With very little chance,
God spilled his grace into your heart
And soon your leaves will dance.

Then all the fruit that you will bear
Will be fruit born of grace
For not by man’s skill were you saved,
But by God’s sweet embrace.

Matthew 24:32
“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near.