In the Cold of Our Soul’s Winter
We stand here encompassed by winter: the barren trees with their fallen leaves, the silent riverbed. Nothing is more certain in life or in nature than death. We accept it as the way of things. Perhaps we are able because we have faith in spring. Yet somehow it seems different to us when death comes early. Much as we might bemoan an early winter, we feel robbed of something due. We feel cheated. Sometimes we rage. And sometimes we blame. And, in doing so, we say to God, “My will be done, not Thine,” and we forget about the promise of spring.
In the cold of our soul’s winter, we bury our hearts, and then we wonder why it is dark and why we feel so alone. And we risk spending so much of our lives occupied with our loss and what we have not, that we forget the beauty of what is and what we have still. And this is sometimes the greater loss.
Richard Paul Evans — The Looking Glass
I Have Nothing: Broken As an Offering of Love
Take these hands and lift them up
For I have not the strength to praise You near enough
For I have nothing, I have nothing without You
Take my voice and pour it out
Let it sing the songs of mercy I have found
For I have nothing, I have nothing without You
All my soul needs
Is all Your love to cover me
So all the world will see
That I have nothing without You
Take my body and build it up
May it be broken as an offering of love
For I have nothing, I have nothing without You
But I love You…
With all my heart
With all my soul
With all my mind
And all the strength I can find
Take my time here on earth
And let it glorify all that You are worth
For I am nothing, I am nothing, I am nothing without You
Bebo Norman - Nothing Without You
When the Lamp is Shattered
When the lamp is shattered
The light in the dust lies dead—
When the cloud is scattered,
The rainbow’s glory is shed.
When the lute is broken,
Sweet tones are remembered not;
When the lips have spoken,
Loved accents are soon forgot.
As music and splendour
Survive not the lamp and the lute,
The heart’s echoes render
No song when the spirit is mute—
No song but sad dirges,
Like the wind through a ruined cell,
Or the mournful surges
That ring the dead seaman’s knell.
When hearts have once mingled,
Love first leaves the well-built nest;
The weak one is singled
To endure what it once possessed.
O Love! who bewailest
The frailty of all things here,
Why choose you the frailest
For your cradle, your home, and your bier?
Its passions will rock thee,
As the storms rock the ravens on high;
Bright reason will mock thee,
Like the sun from a wintry sky.
From thy nest every rafter
Will rot, and thine eagle home
Leave thee naked to laughter,
When leaves fall and cold winds come.
-
By Percy Bysshe Shelley (1803-1882)
Welcome to the Silence
Hi. Welcome to the silence.
Life is so loud sometimes and just being still even for a few minutes can powerfully rearrange everything that’s assaulting our minds and our hearts. Especially when God is in view. After all he’s the one who said “be still and know that I am God.”
So we’ve turned the volume down as we start what we hope will be a beautiful and raucous night in the hopes that the things we need to hear most will become really, really loud.
God knows who you are. Where you are. And he knows what you need in this moment. He is not looking at a massive crowd but the eyes of the one who so easily spoke galaxies into their places are looking right at you. Amazingly he knows your name and the color he painted your eyes. And he knows what makes you laugh and what makes you cry. He is not distracted by what you think about him. Or what you want him to think about you. He knows what he thinks about you and how he feels. And he wants to say something to you in the silence.
“I love you.”
Let that sink into the silence and the stillness and the soil of your heart.
God loves you. Oh don’t believe the words on the screen or the words of somebody. You don’t have to take it from a third party. No. The Father has spoken directly to you. The God of all creation is engaging you in a pretty stunning conversation. And as is always the case God is speaking first. Not waiting for your proposal or assessment of where you feel you are. Or if you’ll ever be as amazing as something deep inside tells you that you were meant to be. He isn’t waiting to hear about all your screw ups or your great deeds to make it up. No God is eager to share his take on you. (more…)
So I Will Praise Him in the Night
I recently sent this to a friend in Toronto, so I thought I might share this with y’all here. May the God-centered words be a blessing to you, especially in your times of “night”.
The plans of God bring ebb and flow –
His wisdom thus ordains it.
Prosperity to want may go,
As His good hands arrange it.
Both day and night dispense His grace;
Both work to serve His pleasure.
By day we know the glorious Face
At night we learn to treasure.We err to think the darkness bad,
When shadows mask our knowing,
For there refreshing dew is had
That keeps the flowers growing.
The waxing and the waning moon
Both work to mark the season.
The winter dawn and dusk of June
Alike display His reason.Should we then seek that He explain
The circle of His blessing?
Our daily rhythms here maintain
Great patterns there expressing.
For sorrows come until the Day
When Night itself will vanish,
While Wisdom works its perfect way,
And Light, will darkness, banish.The happy soul is then content
To know that He is faithful,
And through each difficult event
Remembers to be grateful.
For God commands each circumstance
To serve those of His calling.
His loving Hand of providence
Will keep the faint from falling.So I will praise Him in the night,
This globe of sorrows surely turns.
See there His stars of promise bright;
Behold, the light of dawn returns.
–Kevin Hartnett, August 2007
You
You find me when I’m hiding behind all my disguises. You see me. It takes you to keep me breathing. You are heart. Passion. Vision. Word Incision. You send me and you bring me close. Close close closer. Until when you look at me you see you. You are heavenly. My present and future destiny. You are Father. Creator. Sustainer. Life changer. Pride breaker. You are yesterday today and forever. You are pleasure. You are worth. Reason. Present in every season. You are worship. Devotion. You are the reason for all my commotion. You are the one that I pray to. You can tell that I’m nothing without you. So awesome that I can pray to you about you. To know you. To sense you. To believe you more. To love you more. To obey you more. To give you more of my heart
Oh God search me. Know me. See me. Examine me. Test me. Love me. Watch me. Protect me. Show me. Investigate me. Be pleased with me. Question me. Keep me. Change me. Have me. Correct me. Take me. Help me. Create in me. Break in on me. Be my reality. Sustain me. Decrease me. Decrease me. Decrease me. Decrease me. Until there is no me left. Only you. Only you. Only you
You are light. Are true. Are you. Are hope. Are love. Are strength. Are escape rescue safe. You are peace. You are belief. You are advance and retreat. Of what, to what, to whom can I compare you?. You are my all things new. You are my place of refuge. You are my fortress. My rest. My creativity in the strength of your words to me. You are my ability to see hear feel move live breathe be. You are life and death all at the same time. You are friend. You are believer savior redeemer. You are today tomorrow and the next day. And the next day and the next day and the next day. You are truth. You transcend old age and youth. You are timeless. priceless. lightness in darkness. greatness. goodness. sinless.
And in a mess like my life you see righteousness. In fact, You leave me speechless. You alone are God.
And Love Ever Echoes
Oh where might the voice of God be heard,
And truth in fullness displayed?
Was there such a place in all the earth
His message was so conveyed?
It was there on a hill beside the lake,
He proclaimed what would set men free;
And love echoed out across the land
From Jesus of Galilee.
~
And where might the prayer of God be known,
Immortal conflict portrayed?
Was e’re such a place in all the earth
A battle for spirits raged?
It was there on a hill of olive groves
He looked death in the face for me;
And love echoed loudly in the night
From Christ at Gethsemane.
~
Oh where might the love of God be shown,
In all its riches displayed?
Was there such a place in all the earth
Divine love should be surveyed?
It was there on a hill outside the gate,
It was there, meant for all to see,
And love ever echoes in the earth
From Jesus at Calvary.
Beauty is truth, truth beauty
What is it about “beauty is truth”?
Is it true — or is is just poetry?
It’s from a poem titled “Ode On A Grecian Urn” written by John Keats in May, 1819, when he was about 24. Keats was one of the principal poets in the English Romantic movement. The urn is apparently decorated with a picture of a youth playing a flute in a pastoral setting and a young man chasing a young woman around the urn. She may well wish him to catch her–but the important thing is that on the urn, the music is silent and the chase, perpetual.
And of course, it’s worth remembering here that the function of an urn is to hold for eternity the ashes of the dead.
The poem begins with some questions about the figures pictured on the urn, then moves to this statement: “Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard / Are sweeter. . . . / Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss. . . . / Forever wilt thou love and she be fair!”
The poem ends with these lines, apparently addressed to the urn itself:
When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say’st,
“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,”–that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.
The words in question — “beauty is truth” — appear to be uttered by the urn, as if it were some sort of oracle–or maybe in the way a shell speaks for the sea when you hold it to your ear.
Unfortunately, the quotation marks appeared in the first published edition, in 1820, but not in any of five other reproductions of the poem made in that year. So no one seems to know now whether the quoted words are spoken by the urn and the rest by Keats or a persona, or whether the persona speaks all of the words. Nor is there much agreement as to whether the lines express a universal truth — or are just poetic blather.
Keats himself apparently never explained his intentions. He died of tuberculosis in 1821, only about eight years after beginning his career as a poet.
Ode on a Grecian Urn
John Keats, 1795–1821
The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost (1874–1963)
I Need You: Like Water, Breath, and Rain
I don’t need a lot of things, I can get by with nothing
With all the blessings life can bring, I’ve always needed something
But I’ve got all I want when it comes to loving You
You’re my only reason, You’re my only Truth
You’re the hope that moves me to courage again
You’re the love that rescues me when the cold winds rage
And it’s so amazing cause that’s just how You are
And I can’t turn back now cause you’ve brought me too far
For I need You like water, like breath, like rain
I need You like mercy from Heaven’s gate
There’s a freedom in Your arms that carries me through
I need You
The Circle of Friendship
We look to one another when
we have the need to share,
And find the joy of friendship grows
each time we show our care.
Drawing near to God
Trust in His timing
Rely on His promises
Wait for His answers
Believe in His miracles
Rejoice in His goodness
Relax in His presence
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.
Sovereign King and Caring Lord
He reigns in distant realms of space, Psalm 103:19; Isa. 40:25, 26
Where whirling galaxies abound; Psalm 104:2He governs every molecule Isaiah 45:12, 18
That quivers whispered words to sound;He calls in place the bravest waves Job 38:8-11
Who hurl themselves to land from sea; Psalm 104:9His seal impressed the continents; Job 38:14
He orders all majestically. Psalm 8:1, 9; Psalm 95:3-5He hears the kidling on the crag, Job 39:1
Directing sunlight warm its way; Deut. 33:13-15He sends the spring and autumn showers Deut. 11:14; Psalm 65: 9-13
For which the flowered valleys pray; Joel 2:21-23; Matt. 6:28-30He satisfies each varied kind Psalm 145:15,16
Of all creation, great and small. Psalm 104:10-18His word sustains the sum of them; Heb. 1:3, Psalm 100:5
In faithfulness He rules them all. Psalm 104:24, 1Thess 5:24Oh give Him praise with full accord, Psalm 96:7-9
This Sovereign King, and Caring Lord; Psalm 62:11Who caused in time the worlds that be, Gen. 1:1, Psalm 33:6-9
Yet calls man to eternity.His grace shall ever be explored, Eph. 2:4-7
His glory fills both earth and sky; Psalm 19:1, Hab. 2:14To Him your worship rightly bring; Psalm 35:28
Your tongue, His Name, to magnify. Psalm 34:1-3
by Kevin Hartnett, 1/99
3:16
A twenty-six-word parade of hope: beginning with God, ending with life, and urging us to do the same. Brief enough to write on a napkin or memorize in a moment, yet solid enough to weather two thousand years of storms and questions. If you know nothing of the Bible, start here. If you know everything in the Bible, return here. We all need the reminder. The heart of the human problem is the heart of the human. And God’s treatment is prescribed in John 3:16.
He loves.
He gave.
We believe.
We live.
He loves.
God loves you because he chooses to do so. “God wasn’t attracted to you and didn’t choose you because you were big and important… He did it out of sheer love…” (Deut. 7:7-8, MSG). God’s love for you depends on his goodness, not yours. And since he is totally good, you are absolutely loved. You don’t need to win his love, you already have it. And since you can’t win it, you can’t lose it. He will love you forever. You may step outside of his will, but never his love. Mark it down. He loves you. So much, in fact, that…
(more…)
You are a Great God
You are a great God.
Your character is holy.
Your truth is absolute.
Your strength is unending.
Your discipline is fair.
You are a great God.
The mountain of your knowledge has no peak.
The ocean of your love has no shore.
The fabric of your fidelity has no tear.
The rock of your word has no crack.
(more…)
All the way
When somebody loves you
It’s no good unless he loves you - all the way
Happy to be near you
When you need someone to cheer you - all the wayTaller than the tallest tree is
That’s how it’s got to feel
Deeper than the deep blue see is
That’s how deep it goes - if it’s realWhen somebody needs you
Its no good unless he needs you - all the way
Through the good or lean years
And for all the in between years - come what mayWho knows where the road will lead us
Only a fool would say
But if youll let me love you
It’s for sure I’m gonna love you - all the way, all the way
(All The Way, by Frank Sinatra)
I am a Disciple of Jesus Christ
The die has been cast. I’m a disciple of Jesus Christ.
I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still.
My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, my future is secure. I’m finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, cheap living and dwarfed goals. I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits or popularity. I don’t have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean on His presence, love by patience, lift by prayer, and labor by power.
By Moonlight
By moonlight many years ago,
my true love did I know.
And by that moon I begged her wait,
But that night did she go.So, young lovers, heed my words,
Don’t squander love away.
The moon is changing ever still,
so comes the light of day.
Music Monday
For today’s Music Monday, I’d like to share with you one of my favorite songs from back in the day! I first heard it during an episode of Dawson’s Creek–during one of the early pre-university years when Dawson & Joey were dating and had a fight. It was quite a powerful episode, and the song fits very well with the scene, as it was raining at the time also. I can’t believe this song is 10 years old!
Here is Kiss The Rain, by Billie Myers (Album: Growing Pains, 1997)
Lyrics here: (more…)
Phriday Photos
Snow Storm photos from last week:
Check out all the photos available from: March 1, March 2.
(more…)
Be a man: do the next thing!
Many a questioning, many a fear,
Many a doubt, hath its quieting here.
Moment by moment, let down from Heaven,
Time, opportunity, and guidance are given.
Fear not tomorrows, child of the King,
Thrust them with Jesus, doe the nexte thynge.
Do it immediately, do it with prayer;
Do it reliantly, casting all care;
Do it with reverence, tracing His hand
Who placed it before thee with earnest command.
Stayed on Omnipotence, safe ‘neath His wing,
Leave all results, doe the nexte thynge
Looking for Jesus, ever serener,
Working or suffering, be thy demeanor;
In His dear presence, the rest of His calm,
The light of His countenance be thy psalm,
Strong in His faithfulness, praise and sing.
Then, as He beckons thee, doe the nexte thynge.
-Anonymous (found in Elisabeth Elliot’s The Shaping of a Christian Family (pg.178-179).
(HT: Justin Taylor)
Phriday Photos
Happy Friday!
Yellow in the fall
3 trees, 2 benches, 1 foggy day
The following are apt words, for a certain someone, to whome it may concern:-) (more…)
Only to be with you
This just came to mind: a classic U2 song. The lyrics says everything… my sentiments exactly. In that sense, and in that sense.
I have climbed highest mountain
I have run through the fields
Only to be with you
Only to be with you
I have run
I have crawled
I have scaled these city walls
These city walls
Only to be with you
I just want to explode
An open letter to whomever this may concern.
I first want want to apologize for keeping this in all this time. It has been building up for a long time: this passion and zeal in my heart and running through my veins. There is this massively great degree of difficulty that I have to go through in order to achieve the goal–and I want to suffer, I want to endure it… or at least, I know I want to try. I want to aim for the stars, knowing that even if I miss, I will still be among the heavens.
I feel like there’s this huge thing inside of my soul that just yearns so much to just be let out and let loose. It is hard to specifically put a finger on it, but there’s this part of me that simply wants to explode. Like a supernova bursting into light, I remember the flames of fire that came upon me when I first accepted Christ and was filled with the Holy Spirit… but it wasn’t until now that I yearned and longed to be truly set ablaze by the Holy Fire from Heaven. There’s a fire within that nothing has been able to quench or smolder, and everyday as the wind of the Spirit blows as it wills, this fire that is consuming me is fanned into a great flame.
As the whole earth is filled with the glory of God, so I too am filled. But being a sinful man, it was, is, and always will be the greatness of the glory of God’s grace that is transforming my mind to know what is the will of God, what is good, acceptable, and perfect. This glorious grace doesn’t just fill me up in the mind, but moreover, in the heart as well–changing me from glory to glory. And because of this unmerited, undeserved infilling of glorious grace and gracious glory in my life, my cup runneth over. Where can it go, this overflow of oil that I have been anointed with? Who can I give it to? Who would accept it?
May I be free to speak frankly? I mean, all this… it could be said of all Christians who bear the fruit of the Spirit in their lives. However, I dare not, and right now care not, to speak of or for others–becauseI only know a few intimately, personally. In this, I can and will only speak for myself. And herein, is where I feel different… and succinctly unique, special if you will. I have been made by God, and been crafted and molded in a way that is in many ways dissimilar to most I know. Often, I feel awkward and restrained walking in these shoes of mine; but more often though, I feel like I’ve been marked with a unique branding by God that designates me as a distinct one-of-a-kind.
I hope that above and beyond all this, you can see that there is a genuine humility that undergirds. I never want to be a hypocrite, though I know I have failed in meekness and have been at times arrogant and haughty. In repentance, I surrender to Christ all hostility and anger aimed at those who are unlike me, those who lean left instead of right. I have been forgiven, and the blood of Christ covers me; and thus you too are forgiven.
I submit to you, if I may, brotherly affection–geunine agápé . If ever I could desire to give unselfishly–it is now. Despite this 23yrd old body being so tired and frail, I feel like there is so much charis that I want to give somebody. Like somehow, the Divine has poured into me all the love in the world to give to one and one alone–my whole, my all, anything and everything. I surrender all efforts to know what is going on, or to understand, or to define what anything is; I put up a white flag signaling that I surrender all efforts to control my life.
I have often wonder if love is an illusion–my imagination simply stealing my mind’s attention and heart’s from keeping afoot in reality. I don’t want to criticize anybody’s dreaming or escapting, for I myself have done so many times in the past. In many times gone by, I have had no hesistations to drown myself in the fictional stories of others–they often get me through the loneliest days.
However, even as real as those stories may be, they are not reality. This is–right here, right now. Me, one man standing before a holy God, following Him wherever He calls me to go, doing whatever He commands me to do. Sacrifices will have to be made, for I am soldier in the army of Lord of Hosts, fighting a battle that the naked eye cannot see, in war that is beyond the earthly realms. There is much to give up, to surrender, and I dare not–cannot–ask that you do. As much of a Calvinist I may be, you have the free will to do whatever it is that you wish–I will not hold you to it.
I only pray, that if it is in God’s will of decree and command, you will lovingly obey and obediently love Him. And indeed, if God so desires, may He soften your heart to embrace the overflow of this exploding heart.
Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.(Prayer of St. Francis)
