A Prayer for More Patience

Oh Lord, I pray for more patience,

For I am not a saint,

I find myself, in frustration,

Acting with scant restraint.

I raise my voice when not heeded,

And I can hear the burr

That says I’m losing patience

And might just fuss at her.

But she can’t help it, she is lost,

Her thoughts cannot connect,

And I need to be more patient,

Offering her respect.

For she loved me so patiently

When I was young and wild,

So Lord, please give me more patience

For she is now the child.

2 Corinthians 5:1

Because my home is in the Lord

I will not fear the rain.

I can lie down within the storm

For calm will come again.

I can be still within the winds

For I’ll survive the pain.

Because my home is in the Lord,

Though I may feel the strain,

I will not fear what I may lose

For my home will remain.

2 Corinthians 5:1

¹ For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.

When Things go Wrong

There are those days when everything

That can go wrong just does;

It doesn’t help to think “what if”

Or long for what once was.

Sometimes we just have to take life

And try to see it through.

Those little things that will go wrong

Don’t dictate what we do,

Unless we take them as a curse

To cast us glumly down.

Instead, just shake them off and laugh!

That helps more than a frown.

Whatever life may drop into

Your unsuspecting lap,

Don’t let it change your attitude.

Don’t fall into that trap!!

Job 8:20-22

20 “Surely God does not reject one who is blameless
   or strengthen the hands of evildoers.
21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughter
   and your lips with shouts of joy.
22 Your enemies will be clothed in shame,
   and the tents of the wicked will be no more.”

Finding Color in a Gray Day

All through the gray and chilly day

Bright colors caught my eye,

I saw the brilliant summer blooms

The busy bee passed by,

Although the clouds came bounding in,

I saw a clear blue sky,

And when the rains were pouring down

My world was bright and dry.

I like to think that it’s because

I make “cheerful” an art,

But truth to tell it’s because you

Were with me from the start.

You cleared the path before my feet,

Bade all troubles depart.

You brightened up this dreary day

By coloring my heart.

Aggravation

When I am aggravated by

What life demands of me

I try to take a second look

At things I didn’t see,

Like how you healed the sick and lame

Or calmed the stormy sea.

How you took my form for a while

So you could set me free,

And, worried that my sinful ways

Would sunder you and me,

You bore the weight of all my sins

And died upon a tree.

So when I let aggravation

Get the best of me

I close my eyes and think of you

And drop down on my knee

To thank you that you didn’t stay
Aggravated with me.

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

The Weeds of Bitterness

The weeds were twisted round my heart

So tight I couldn’t feel.

I saw the morning, felt its light,

But doubted it was real.

I stumbled on the rocky road,

The path was choked with weeds

That burst upon the slightest touch

To scatter bitter seeds

Of sorrow and of deep despair.

I knew that I was lost,

For not a flicker of sunlight,

The path before me, crossed.

But then I heard you call my name

And hope answered my needs

For you were there, waiting for me,

The light beyond the weeds.

I tried to step beyond the weeds,

To reach your golden light,

But all the weeds kept pulling me;

I was too weak to fight.

I called to you, with all my heart,

I gave up all my sin,

The anger and the bitterness,

The weeds that held me in.

And there before me broke a path

That would lead straight and true

And suddenly I understood

What I’d needed to do.

It wasn’t that the weeds held me,

Kept me from passing through,

It was me clinging to those weeds

That held me back from you.

Matthew 13:38
The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one,

The Easter People

We are the Easter people, Lord,

We are not born of the cross.

We live in the resurrection

Not in the sorrow and loss.

Yes, we are the Easter people,

Born of redemption not sins.

Death punctuates not our ending,

But marks where true life begins.

Since we are the Easter people,

Though the cross darkens our way,

We will step out of its shadow

Into the light of your day.

We are the Easter people, Lord,

We no longer fear death’s face.

We live in the resurrection,

In Easter’s redeeming grace.

The Sorrow of a Friend

I wept to see the morning mist

And when the day was through.

But all my tears fell unremarked,

For I was without you.

You were right here for all those years,

Now suddenly you’re gone.

God called your name, you turned to him

And I must carry on.

The rain and mist fill up my heart

And wash a dreary sky.

I’m grateful that you were my heart,

I weep at this good-bye.

Oh Lord, please guard my precious heart,

As he rests in your care,

And I will weep within the mist

Until I join him there.

Psalm 31:9
Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and body with grief.

Matthew 22:21

I’m often told to fall in line,

But that’s real hard to do

When falling into line means I

Can’t be in line with you.

The laws of man can do much good

And good men follow through,

But that won’t mitigate the fact

That I belong to you.

So let the whole world fall in line,

It’s hard for me to do,

Especially when it conflicts

With what I owe to you.

Matthew 22:21
“... Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

Seeking the Lord

I seek you, Lord, with all my heart,

Though sometimes I don’t see

That you are in the everyday

And not some mystery.

I tend to look toward the sky

Or out across the sea,

When all I need to do is turn

To find you next to me.

You are the grass that blows in spring,

The chick, fresh from its shell.

You are the bough of evergreen,

The salty ocean’s smell.

You are the tear in a friend’s eye,

 The tiny baby’s smile.

I tried to find you, far and wide;

You were here all the while.

Oh Lord, please know I seek you still,

I love to see your face,

And I am comforted to find

I see you every place.

1 Chronicles 16:10
Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.