Taking Flight

I wasn’t quite prepared for dawn

But dawn came anyway;

I wasn’t ready for the task

That I would face today.

But with the dawn I rose from bed

To pray with all my might,

Then stood and turned to face the day,

Spread my wings and took flight.

Beneath my wings I felt your hand

As I rose in the sun;

I knew you’d hold me through the day,

Until my task was done.

Sisters By Birth or Love

My sisters, born of blood and love,

Who’ve shared all that life brings

Have stood with me when life was rich

And when I’ve felt its stings.

No matter how we came to meet,

By birth or by your hand,

We hold together when we need

To laugh or make a stand.

We’ve helped each other over hills

And danced when life was sweet;

We’ve shared the joys that fill a life

And tasted harsh defeat.

But every time we’ve faced the dark

We’ve reached out for a friend

And found a sister standing there

To help us heal and mend.

I thank you for the friends you’ve sent

To share the rugged road,

But even more, I thank you for

Sisters who share the load.

Proverbs 17:17
A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.

Hebrews 12: 11-12

You told me once, do it your way,

And I did… for a while,

But then I thought I’d try my way,

Do it in my own style.

So you gave me a gentle nudge

And I fell on my face.

You picked me up, set me on track

And then gave me my space.

Once again, I stayed on track…

Until I wandered off.

Your next nudge had a bit more force,

That time I failed to scoff.

It seemed right then that discipline

Would be the point you made,

That things work much more smoothly when

Your discipline’s obeyed.

Though I can take the hard way round,

By doing things my way,

I’ve found that life makes much more sense

When I do as you say.

So don’t make smooth the path I walk,

Just give me stronger knees;

Don’t spare the discipline I need,

Just make me tougher please!

Hebrews 12: 11-12

¹¹ No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. ¹² Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.

Destiny

Snuggled deep within their leaves,

Absorbing rain and sun,

They drowse, not knowing what’s in store

Before their time is done.

They doze in comfort on the vine,

In summer’s lazy rest,

Before the autumn when they’re plucked  

And into wine then pressed.

A wine, deep red and bitter sweet,

Poured in a simple cup

And shared by friends who gathered round,

A final meal to sup.

A meal that ends with pledges of

Promise and sacrifice;

The sacrifice of mortal flesh,

The promise of new life.

They cannot know what lies ahead

As they drowse in the sun

And yet they’ll come to represent

The love of God’s own son.

Matthew 26: 27-28

27 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the[b] covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Lost in the mist

The path was not meant to be clear,

The way not straight and smooth,

Yet when I stumble to my knees

You’re there to heal and soothe.

Your covenant is one of grace,

Yet still I need to fight.

But, when I’m feeling overwhelmed

You help me set things right.

You walk me through the broken trails,

And hold me when I call.

Sometimes I run wild on the way,

But you’re there when I fall.

Oh Lord, last night I lost my way,

The road turned dark and fell,

But you reached out and took my hand

And drew me back from hell.

You held me close and dried my tears,

Easing my worried soul.

You assured me that all I feared

Was under your control.

Then I finally understood

That, though your way is long,

It’s still the path I want to take

Since I want you along.

Psalm 94: 18-19

18 When I said, “My foot is slipping,” your unfailing love, LORD, supported me.
19 When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy.

A Prayer For Healing

I lift a prayer up from my heart,

Please bless this little one.

She has a spirit filled with joy

And love for everyone.

She never barked an unkind bark

Or left a shoe unchewed.

She turned my weary, crabby heart

To one light and renewed

But now she needs your tender grace,

She’s fighting for her life,

For she may even find herself

Beneath the surgeon’s knife.

So, Lord, with all that’s on your plate,

With all that’s asked of you,

I know it’s selfishness to ask,

But please tend to her, too.

Mark 10:16
And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.

Isaiah 40:31

We have always shared a signal

That showed me you were there,

Even when the world gets tough

It tells me you still care.

I call to you, ask if you hear

My worries and my cries

And you send me a message back,

An eagle sweeps the skies

Or settles in a nearby tree

When I am passing by.

That tells me that you’re listening

And I don’t need to cry.

So when today went down the tubes,

And it sure went down fast,

I dropped my head, vowed not to weep,

But knew that wouldn’t last.

I cursed myself, a stupid fool,

The names flew fast and wild,

But then I heard you say to me,

“Don’t speak so of my child.”

I knew that I should raise my eyes

To seek an eagle there,

But I was so despondent that

I didn’t even dare.

I kept my eyes fixed on the grass,

I would not look around,

But you were not deterred, you just

Laid your love on the ground.

Isaiah 40:31
but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Psalm 90:17

When I was feeling useless, Lord,

You shared with me this thought,

My place in your plan may be small,

But doing what I ought

Will allow, eventually,

Some great works to be wrought.

So I will relish my small role
And give it all I’ve got.

It takes a million little bees

To fill a honey pot.

Psalm 90:17
May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us— yes, establish the work of our hands.

A Sadness of the Heart

The day sped past and in its haste

It failed to see the fears

Pooling behind the worried eyes

And held back with the tears.

There really was no reason why

She longed to weep a while,

But some days it’s just hard to find

A cause to really smile;

The sun still rose to splash the sky

With colors born of light;

The moon still led the twinkling stars

To dance across the night.

There really wasn’t anything

That she could point right to.

It’s just some days you need to cry,

But that’s what she can’t do,

And so the tears well up behind

The eyes that she keeps dry.

Tomorrow life will be the same,

But she won’t need to cry.

Nehemiah 2: 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.”

Job 6:11

I offer pretty turns of phrase

A silken view of life,

But nothing I can do or say

Can turn misfortune’s knife.

I cannot heal a broken heart

Or give back the job lost,

My words can’t help the soldiers’ wife

Whose loved one paid the cost.

My words won’t hold back the wild tide

Or lift despair’s grim shade

And nothing I can say or write

Can change the choice that’s made,

But still I raise my songs of praise

And share the sights I see,

For he, who can do all these things,

Has asked that much of me.

So while he works to heal a world,

Where hope is often scant,

I’ll work at those things I can do

And leave him what I can’t.

Job 6:11
“What strength do I have, that I should still hope? What prospects, that I should be patient?

Each Day A Praise

I feared the task might be too much,

Drive me to my knees;

Before I even took it up

I paused to ask you please…

Please help me to take up this task

With calm aplomb and grace

And help me to call out your name

If I should lose my place,

Please help me find, each day, the words

To make your message live

And help me find a photograph

That shapes the words you give.

Please let each praise reflect to all

The glory of your love

And let it not cast light on me

That should shine far above

But most of all please help me to

Keep Gideon in mind

For it is only by your grace

Each daily praise I find!

Judges 7: 2

2 The LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’

A Vast Array of Color

The artistry born of your love

Spills out across the land,

Clothing autumn in grand display

As befits your command,

And stirring awe in mortal hearts

That barely understand

How you can hold that vast array

Of colors in your hand.

Even as the frost approaches,

When days turn dark and gray,

You bring forth your finest splendor

And place it on display

As a bright and rich reminder

That spring’s not far away;

There, beneath the snow’s stark blandness,

Still bides that vast array.

Genesis 2:1
Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.

John 11:25-26

Before the grace of God walked I

In places lost in tears;

I lingered in the darkest night

Wrapped up in pain and fears.

Before the grace of God stood I

Alone against the night;

I raised my fists and screamed in rage,

But all I did was fight.

Before the grace of God faced I

Foes fiercer than I’d known

And I had each of  them to face

All by myself, alone.

Before the grace of God lived I

A beast without a home;

I scrounged for love and hope and warmth

Wherever I would roam.

Before the grace of God died I,

A wasted memory,

But by the grace of God I live

And his grace lives in me.

John 11:25-26
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Psalm 51:12

I’m waiting at the edge of grace,

But just above the tide.

I dare not wander closer in

Where your blessings abide,

For I have sinned so deeply, Lord,

I long to run and hide.

You have forgiven me my sins,

But I hold them inside

Where I recall them constantly.

No matter how I’ve tried

I can’t forget that they and I

Are why you lived and died.

Lord, please remind me once again

The water’s fine, I can come in.

Psalm 51:12
Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

To Everything There Is a Season

They sprang forth in abundant joy,
Washed in life’s newborn hue.
Though time will deepen each leaf’s shade
And burnish quite a few,
They still reach out to cup each breeze
That joyfully bounds through,
For life’s not lived by fearing fall
But making summer do!

Ecclesiates 3: 1-2
¹ To everything there is a season,
      A time for every purpose under heaven:
² A time to be born,
And a time to die;
A time to plant,
And a time to pluck what is planted;

Job 37:16

Often we look for a break in the clouds

Where the bright sun comes shining through

That moment when it all falls into place,

We know why you do what you do.

But that moment, so often, never comes

And we’re left feeling lost in doubt.

Sometimes we just have to understand that

We’re not meant to figure it out.

We may never get a break in the clouds,

But sometimes the clouds will grow thin,

And we can get a small glimpse of the plan

Before the clouds close in again;

A glimpse that won’t truly light up the world,

But if you stop doubting and look,

There is enough light to show you the way

And thinning clouds is all it took.

Job 37:16
Do you know how the clouds hang poised, those wonders of him who has perfect knowledge?

Psalm 119:28

Tears tumble through her weary mind

To pool within her heart.

They cannot spill from eyes that burn,

She dare not let them start,

For if they once broke through the dam

Their flow would run in spate

Until they drowned her in a flood

That nothing could abate.

So she will shore up all the tears

That her heart yearns to spill

And she will tell the troubled rush

To settle and be still.

Someday there may be time enough

For her to sit and cry,

But until then the tears must pool

Behind each burning eye.

Psalm 119:28
My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word.

On All Occasions Give Praise

Even as the storm winds arise

Lift up your voice in praise

Don’t be beguiled by clearing skies

Praise God in all your days

When darkness presses on your heart

Lift up your voice in praise

Even when darkness breaks apart

Praise God in all your days

Though broken down with pain and hurt

Lift up your voice in praise

And when he lifts you from the dirt

Praise God in all your days

As all life’s burdens scar your soul

Lift up your voice in praise

For grace will make you clean and whole

Praise God in all your days

Whatever life’s gift or travail

Lift up your voice in praise

Through good and bad his love won’t fail

Praise God in all your days

Ephesians 6: 18

 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

Repeating Patterns

Why do I have to learn again

Things I’ve already learned?

Why must you show me one more time

What I have once discerned?

Could it be, not that you repeat,

But I the lesson spurned,

Thus to the topic where I’ve failed

You’re compelled to return?

Again, once more, you offer me

The lessons I forget

Until, one day, I will retain…

But I’m not quite there yet!

Ecclesiastes 3:8

A darkness skulks within the light,

It creeps about the earth.

Its root are long and stretch back to

The time before man’s birth.

It rose one time, upon this day ,

To strike upon our heel;

We fought to crush its poisoned head

And help the injured heal.

Now peace stirs softly in the dawn

And whispers of the lost,

But that foul darkness festers still

And we still pay the cost

To hold it back, deny it strength

To spread its hate and fear,

While guarding that sweet, sacred peace

That God bids us hold dear.

Psalm 120:6
Too long have I lived among those who hate peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:8
a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

Psalm 139: 8-10

Though I might fly beyond the sun

And dwell on earth no more,

You will not give up on me, Lord,

I’m yours forever more.

Though I might slip beneath the sea

To sing within its weeds,

You will not abandon me, Lord,

Nor fail to meet my needs.

Though I am lost among the clouds

And scattered cross the land,

You will not deny me, Lord,

Or withhold your strong hand.

For, by your word, both sky and earth

Were shaped to suit your will,

But I was formed in your image.

Though flawed, you love me still.

Psalm 139: 8-10 

8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
   if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
   if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
   your right hand will hold me fast.