Unfurl Your Gifts - Re-posted

You gave us each our special gifts
To share with all the earth,
Blessings that we are meant to share,
Given to us at birth.
And yet we often hold them tight,
Secret from the whole world,
When we are meant to live each day
With those blessings unfurled.
 
Whether through fear or just through pride,
We hoard what we should share.
So help me to open my heart
And loose the blessings there!
 
Matthew 18:18
Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

Peace, On the Edge - Re-posted

She stands within the rushing stream
Upon the falls steep edge,
And yet she feels no fear at all,
Teetering on the ledge.
 
For there is peace in solitude,
And few will join her there.
That leaves her free to face her fears
And challenge her despair.
 
There’s so much that she has to face,
So much to still get through,
That sometimes she doubts “getting through”
Is something she can do.
 
Yet she has faith in God’s great plan,
So she’ll get up and try.
Who knows, she might just take a chance,
Leap off the edge and fly.
 
Isaiah 66:12
For this is what the Lord says: “I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream; you will nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees.

Seasons of Grace - Re-posted

How hard and cold the winter world,

Sheathed in its robes of ice,
The trees line up on rocky slopes
In rows, cold and precise.
 
And yet beneath the winter’s cold,
Just one warm breath away,
Are joyful blossoms of the spring
Waiting for a new day.
 
Thus are there seasons in each life
Where joy’s trapped out of sight,
But with the breath of God’s sweet grace
It bursts forth in delight.
 
So do not fear the winter’s cold,
For seasons come and go.
Remember that the Grace of God,
Can thaw the coldest snow
And bring forth blossoms born of joy
Which flourish as they grow.

Pause, and Make a Joyful Noise - Re-posted

The crazy pace I always run

Seems to keep me from You,

And yet You keep your eye on me;

I’m grateful that You do.

 

And there, amid the crazy whirl,

I stop to regain poise,

And realize the peace You bring;

I make a joyful noise.

 

Oh sing with me, all of mankind,

Thank God for each day's joys.

Step back from chaos for a while

And make a joyful noise.

 

Psalm 98:4

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music;

I Consider and Meditate - Re-posted

I contemplate the vast cosmos

That wheels across the sky,
The microscopic creatures
I can’t see with my eye
The song the wind sings in the trees,
A robin’s plaintive cry.
How mighty and how varied are
Your works, Oh Lord on High.
 
How is it that You hear each voice
That’s lifted up in prayer
Or see tomorrow’s bright promise
Though night still chills the air.
Oh Lord, I cannot understand,
My mind cannot conceive,
How You can do all of these things,
And yet, Lord, I believe.
 
Psalm 77:12
I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds.”

Building My House - Re-posted

I’ll build my house upon the Lord

And He will make it strong.
I’ll set the footings in His Word
And fill them with bright song!

But God has built another house,
Stronger than twigs and stone,
And one day I will join Him there
To sing before His Throne!

2 Corinthians 5:1
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.

Patient in Affliction - Revised and Re-posted

Joyful in hope, faithful in prayer,

Those things come easily,
But patience is much harder, Lord,
Faced with adversity.
 
I ask that You show me, again,
How patience ought to look.
Though You have taught me that before,
The lessons never took.
 
Oh Lord, I’ll work on faithful prayer,
And hope most joyfully
That someday I will grow enough
To suffer patiently.
 
Romans 12:12
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

On The Rock - Re-posted

When all my world is at the edge

And there’s no place to go,
Then I will stand upon The Rock
Until I feel faith grow.

When there is no place in my world
That offers solid ground,
Then I will walk upon The Rock
Until faith can be found. 

When I am tossed by every wind
That tears at heart and soul,
Then I will cling fast to The Rock
Until my faith is whole.

You are The Rock that is my strength,
You’ve held me up through worse.
I’ll trust my life within the hand
That shaped the universe. 

Psalm 40:2
He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.

Near the Brambles - Re-posted

The brambles aren’t that far away

On any given day,
But if we keep our eyes on them
We give them too much say.
For we will walk where our eyes look
And mine are turned away
From all the brambles that grow up
Along my daily way.
That doesn’t mean they are not there
To be dealt with someday,
It just means they won’t change my path,
They can’t turn me astray.
For I keep my eyes fixed on Him
Who answers when I pray.

Through His Grace- Re-posted

It is not by my hand alone

That anything gets done,
Nor is it through my special strength
That any battle’s won.
 
No song that I may choose to sing
Comes from my heart alone,
And nothing springs forth from the earth
That isn’t, by Grace, sown.
 
For it is only through His Grace
That blossoms robe the earth,
And it is through His Grace alone
Our words and deeds find worth.
 
Thus it’s not through our words and deeds
That we may see God’s face,
But only through His sacrifice.
And that’s a gift of Grace.
 
Romans 11:6
And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.