1 Peter 4:12 -13

The fire that burns us to our soul

Can set our hearts ablaze,

For fire can break a lost spirit

Or force it on pathways

That lead it to a rendezvous

With more important days.

The pain that breaks your heart today

Might heal another’s woe,

If you allow the lessons learned

To help your spirit grow

And follow faithfully the path

Where God would have you go.

No, God does not offer you pain

Just to make you wise,

But wisdom may come, none-the-less,

And touch our weeping eyes

With compassion for another

Whose pain we recognize.

So, Lord I face the flames ahead

With my heart open wide

And pray that all the pain to come

Will touch me where I hide,

Then turn me where you need me most

To follow, and to guide.

1 Peter 4:12 - 13
Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.

Isaiah 30:15

The storm may rise around me, Lord,

The winds blow fierce and cold,

But I will seek the quiet place

Where your strength can take hold

I trust you when the skies grow dark

For your strength does not fail

And though I’m caught within the storm

That peace withstands the gale.

It isn’t through my own efforts,

For they are weak and frail,

But in salvation I am shown

How your strength will prevail.

And through repentance and in trust

Salvation’s mine to hold,

For though I’m tossed in bitters storms,

Your strength will make me bold.

Isaiah 30:15
This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength...

The Days are Getting Longer

The days are getting brighter now

And the dark nights are not as long;

Where darkness once lingered a while

I hear the morning bird’s sweet song.

The dark half of the year will pass

And joy will burst across the land.

The dark may rule our lives a while

But we are safe in God’s strong hand.

Setting Out To Drive on an Icy Night

Thank you for the icy cold,

Thank you for the snow,

Thank you for the warming trend

That soon will make it go.

This small crisis helps disguise

The bigger ones, I know,

But everything’s more difficult

When we have ice and snow.

I know you have this well in hand,

Cause you can handle snow,

You’ll get me there and home again

When I set out to go.

Flying in the Storm

I’m all alone and I’m afraid,

I cannot see my way.

Each time I think I’ve found it, Lord,

I find I’ve gone astray.

I’m terrified that I’ll get lost

And that I won’t be found.

Oh Lord, please help me learn to fly

Before I hit the ground.

God's Sense of Humor

You’ve a quirky sense of humor

To shuffle things this way;

New leaves budding feel the summer,

Then winter comes to play.

And in life I’ve seen that humor,

When things just go my way,

Then problems suddenly pile on

To cloak joy in dismay.

I’ll try to learn from winter’s buds

“What comes, will go away”

And wait patiently for summer,

Shivering while I pray!

Beyond the Morning Sun

What lies beyond the morning sun,

Beyond tomorrows night?

What lies a hundred years or more

Further out of sight?

What will the world, when looking back,

Declare of us today?

Will they take note of all we’ve done

The words we chose to say?

Will all the lessons we have learned

Still matter in those years,

Will children born to those who come

Still have to know our fears?

And will they still seek out those joys

Which guide our daily life,

The love of God and freedom’s grace,

Free of terror’s strife?

Or will the darkness that we fight

Then hold a greater sway

And all that we hold precious now

Will have been washed away?

Oh Lord, I lift my heart in praise

For days beyond this dawn

And for those children, yet unborn,

Who’ll have to carry on.

Psalm 23: 2-3

My thoughts are all a tangle, Lord,

There’s much I need to do;

So many things I should have said,

So much to still get through.

I keep believing there are truths

Tangled in these weeds,

Yet all I seem to find here are

Old dreams and wasted deeds.

And as I struggle with my thoughts

The weeds more thickly grow.

I’m scared that I’ll get lost in here,

I won’t know where to go.

Oh, call to me that I may know

Which way will lead me out,

For I am lost in tangled thoughts

And mired in my doubt.

I know that sunlight waits for me,

And fertile gardens grow,

Somewhere outside these tangled thoughts,

Where quiet waters flow.

Psalm 23: 2-3

He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,
He refreshes my soul.  He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.

Luke 21: 29-31

There is a sweetness in the air,

A hint of coming spring,

And each new leaf bud dreams of all

The life summer will bring.

The days of darkness are not past,

More rain and snow will fall,

But, like the newly budding leaves,

I hear the springtime call.

Sometimes the messenger is bold,

The message loud and clear,

But more often it is quite small

And difficult to hear.

Though life is harsh and hard to bear,

Lift up your heart and sing,

For God still watches over us

And there’s a hint of spring.

Luke 21: 29-31

He told them this parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees. When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.

Reflections

I see my tears reflected in  

The tears that she now cries.

I see my anguish peering back

From her despairing eyes.

I understand the sorrow that

Now tears her world apart.

I too can count the tattered shards

That shape her broken heart.

My sorrow is a hard year past

And hers searingly new.

My grief is fainter than it was,

Hers rips her world in two.

But when she weeps, I wipe my tears

And when she mourns, I grieve.

The pain may dim, its edges fade,

But it will never leave.

Lapses in Memory

How many times must He remind
Me of the simple fact
That I have been forgiven by
That one, unselfish act?

How many times must I be shown
His love is rich and true
Before I get it in my head
That He will see me through?

How many ways, how many times
Must He show me the way
Before I figure out that I
Should walk it every day?

And sitting down beside the path
Or veering left and right
Isn’t going to get me there
Though I may wish it might.

And yet I seem to fall a lot
And miss the path marked clear
And take the shortcuts now and then
From laziness or fear

And when I find that I am lost
And recognize my sin
I’m terrified He won’t forgive
My foolishness again

And then He takes time to remind
Me of the simple fact
That I am still forgiven by
That one, unselfish act?

Please Point Out Whose Responsible

I asked the Lord whose place it was

To lend a helping hand,

To try to lift my brother up

Or help my sister stand.

I asked him who should be the one

To do his work on earth.

Who should hold the dying hand or

The one that‘s giving birth?

I asked him who should lead the way

In trying to do more

To help the lonely when they weep,

Those cast on a lost shore,

Those who fear the way before them

Or dare not look behind.

Who should stand for those who fall?

Whose cause is all mankind?  

I asked the lord to answer me,

To give me a clear sign.

And when I turned to my window

He showed me…  it is mine.

Return To Your Place of Worship

Return to your place of worship
Far from the busy throng
Return to your place of worship
Oh, sing a joyful song

Lift up your heart at the altar
Bask in His loving grace
Return to your place of worship
Dance in the holy place

Return to your place of worship
Go where you hear His voice
Return to your place of worship
And let your heart rejoice

Return to your place of worship

Raise up your voice on high
Rejoice in your place of worship
For God is ever nigh

From the sermon for Women's Praise Night at Trinity Church

Those Who Watch Over Us

There is always one who watches

While everyone’s asleep

Or doing all the little things

Our daily lives to keep.

There’s one who watches through the night

And pays a price that’s steep

That you and I might live our lives

Where danger cannot creep.

I thank you, God, for those who watch

While I’m about my life;

Who guard my world so I can sleep

And live free of the strife

That torments so much of the world

With hate and gun and knife.

Watch over those who watch, dear Lord,

To give me this safe life.

Learning to Fly

The wind can lift the soaring wing

Into the sweeping sky

To dance upon the sun sweet plains

Where clouds and dreams should fly.

For birds can dance the laughing winds

With fragile wings unfurled;

They are the dreams, made flesh and wind,

Of us, the earthbound world.

We stand upon the rocky shores,

Our fists clenched with dismay.

We long to soar among the winds,

But know there is no way.

We raise a cry to Him who rules

The winds that sweep the sky;

Our arms clasped tight around our hearts

We bow our heads and cry.

We turn away from wind and shore,

Our dreams the weight of rock;

Why teach our hearts to dream of flight

When we’re of earthbound stock.

Though we are born of love and faith

We’re still afraid to fly,

 But we must unclench all our fears,

Spread our wings and try!

We too can soar beyond the shore,

We earthbound flightless things,

But God can’t teach us how to fly

If we won’t spread our wings.

The Ceaseless Fight

Within my heart there’s dark and light,

The thorny brush, the water bright,

And though the two, within, may fight

I strive to focus on the right.

Thus as I face each coming night

I practice a familiar rite

And pray to God with all my might,

“Restrain the dark, increase the light.”

Where Life Passes By

Where are we bound, my life and I,

Somewhere I still can’t see?

So much of life just flies right past

While I stand like a tree

And watch a world that I can’t join

Go flying right past me.

Sometimes life stops to bide a while

On my sedentary bough,

But soon it’s off to something more

And I’m alone, like now.

I’d shake the dirt off my deep roots,

But I just don’t know how.

So I must watch the sweeping world

Flash by on fleeting wings

While my roots bind me in one place,

Aside from all life brings.

Yet, since I can see life from here,

My weeping heart still sings!

Learning to Shine Through the Mist

Much like the sun this dreary day,

I never really shone;

I started out the day in mist

Sad and a bit alone.

The day I’d planned went all awry

And yet I carried on,

But by the time the sun had set

My best laid plans were gone.

And yet I know, that like the sun,

The struggle will be won,

For very soon, I too will shine,

Like the returning sun.

Psalm 113:3

The golden light of dawn is nigh,

The quick birds all on wing

Are brushing just above the waves

Where wispy mists still cling.

As morning wakes to greet the dawn

The murmur of the gull

Ripples softly across the breeze

While sleepy waters lull.

And there, below the rising sun,

Where peaceful waters flow,

The morning sings its praise to God

Within the golden glow.

 Psalm 113:3
From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the LORD is to be praised.

Romans 12:12

You lifted me from my despair

And taught my heart to sing;

You listen to my anxious prayer

And all the hopes I bring;

You wrap me in your tender care

And shield me ‘neath your wing;

You wash from me, the sins I bear,

In your redeeming spring.

Romans 12:12
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

Psalm 105:4

Rise up and sing his glory
Rise up and sing his praise,
For he is like our morning sun
And we're his summer days!

Turn your face unto the Lord

And fill your heart with praise,

For he is like our morning sun
And we're His summer days!

Psalm 105:4 Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.