10/9/22 Through 10/15/22

 10/9/22 Through 10/15/22

Sunday

In every moment every day

You guide and gently show the way.

You give what's needed for the time

Just like a little word to rhyme.

You ask I simply trust and say

"I'll listen Lord, and do Your way"

Somehow, some way there's all I need,

If I just well receive the seed.

If much or little, this be known

There's naught I've earned that now I own

For all is gift from God alone,

For He's the One the seed has sown

And grateful I must always be

For all the blessings given me.

And eyes must open wide to see

That I am nothing, ALL is He.

Monday

The Ninevites could see their crime

As Jonah prophesied in time,

And Sheba's queen arose to see

A wisdom of such great degree.

Far greater still the words of love

From He who came from up above.

And if ignored, accursed will be

The foolish who refuse to see.

No ordinary man was He

They hung upon the rugged tree.

It's here we see our sin revealed,

And here is where the sinner's healed.

But if we fail to hear One sent

And of our sinfulness repent,

Accursed the obstinate will be

Then ever bound in chain they'll be.

Tuesday

What lies inside the outer shell

The free or slave within will tell

The fruit will grow from that within

And show itself as good or sin

Regardless of the fame observed

Each received what they deserved

A clean and humble heart within,

Or clean facade, but filth within.

Wednesday

I cannot say with confidence

I've given all, and all is whence

I find the crown of vict'ry won

And face to face I meet the Son.

His will I want to clearly see

Without such ambiguity

But that would not require me

To use discernment, or be free.

Thursday

The Lord has made salvation known

Redeeming all with blood His own.

His grace in showers poured on man

So man could learn His holy plan.

His plan for love to rule the day,

Unselfish giving be the way.

Forgiveness ready offered where

Revenge and rancor find despair.

For happiness is in His law

As saints and martyrs clearly saw.

My goal to do as they have done

And find therein the vict'ry won.

Friday

The beauty of the sparrow,

A hummingbird or crow,

While looking very narrow,

At length begin to grow.

So too, with every beauty

We come across today

Each marvel of creation

Amazes in such way.

Smallest of the living things

No man could ere create.

All creation loudly rings,

"It's God who holds our fate."

So, give praise where praise is due

The Maker of us all

For all beauty that is you,

Is valued most of all.

Saturday

Here before the Eyes that see

A blinded beggar waits for Thee

To show the way and steer the ship

To weakly servants, well-equip.

The body be not well today

With factions pulling each their way.

A unity is needed here

Without suspicion, doubt, or fear.

Alone, the Spirit needs to be

The guiding light to help us see

The daily way to do Your will

And so our call to serve, fulfill.

10/2/22 Through 10/8/22

 10/2/22 Through 10/8/22

Sunday

Grant faith among the world today

That we might rise above the fray

And seek Your will above the rest

To of our sinfulness divest

For when my will aligns with You

Great power comes to all I do

No tree or mountain could confine

The power of Your will Divine.

Monday

How easy we forget His love

And all His gifts sent from above

We come to think it's what we've earned

When truth be known, we have not learned.

The very breath that life sustains

Is here because our God remains

A patient, loving, God of peace,

But coming soon each life shall cease.

Then judgment comes and terror reigns

If we neglect to shed the chains

That bind us to the earth below

Amidst the dark and dreadful foe.

For that we cannot sacrifice

Becomes a wicked clamping vice

That keeps us from the mighty King

Who grants us all for everything.

Tuesday

Lord, help me choose the better part

In every choice today

To change my hard and stony heart

And learn to love and pray

Show me the time to sip the wine

And rest within Your word

Please calm the raging thoughts of mine

Till what You've said, I've heard.

I place before You everything,

My time throughout the day

Please show me when to praises sing

And how that I should pray.

More than my toil can complete

The worries of each day

But when I pray I come to meet

The One who makes the way

Wednesday

Not one was lost because of sin,

But lost for what they trusted in.

To trust the world, the flesh, or sin

Will not a place in heaven win.

But trusting in the mercy shown

When on the cross true love was known

Will cover sin with mercy's shade

Restoring what our God has made.

For He forgives the humble heart

While pride but drives itself apart.

So cast aside self-righteous thought

And be the humble one you ought.

Thursday

Why end in the flesh what the Spirit began,

Does grace come from law, or the works of a man?

How stupid to seek after things that are vain

Allowing the love of the Spirit to wane.

Has law been the source of this mercy and love,

Or Christ on the cross who came down from above?

His blessing He showers on those who believe

Great deeds of the Spirit the humble receive.

So turn from the law and receive in the light

The Spirit of power, the source of great might.

The law but a guide, and the Spirit the Way

Don't settle for less than the brightness of day.

Friday

When demons gone are welcomed in

The way is clear to sordid sin.

The void must fill with holy things

Or demons worse, one empty brings.

Be Holy Spirit filled each day

To keep the demons far away.

Be fully armed and guard your home

Or lest you welcome those who roam.

Saturday

The law was meant to guide the soul

Until the Christ had come.

But now that faith does man console,

More free we have become.

We simply listen when He speaks

Then do His holy will.

No more the empty, void, techniques

To just the law fulfill.

A freedom here, but challenge too

When leaving law behind.

Attentive we must be to You

To freedom truly find.

For freedom comes within Your will

Not in concerns of flesh

When trusting You we have our fill

And love is always fresh.

9/25/22 Through 10/1/22

 9/25/22 Through 10/1/22

Sunday

The all of earth here points to more

Yet all on earth engages war

To cling unto the good that's here

Or share with those who live in fear.

For sin includes the good not done

And I am too, a lazy one.

When need appears that we can fill

We must obey His holy will.

Our eyes must see the suff'ring one

And not pass by with good un-done

Or one day roles will be reversed

And we be counted with the cursed.

Give me a seeing, loving eye

To not the poor and sick pass-by,

But offer aid when ere I can

To comfort there my fellow man.

Monday

The child again is exalted on high

As one who is trusting to fully rely

On God's loving care every hour of the day

No matter what's trampled and lost in the fray.

A one who has offered what little he owns

In spite of the trials, in spite of unknowns.

A one who can see all he has is a gift,

Despite many troubles, will not go adrift.

Patient Job was a child in God's perfect eyes

Though losses were many, he stood with the wise.

He trusted, and trust the unlikeliest thing

Is that which the greatest of blessings did bring.

Tuesday

Resolute determination

Be the way we leave our nation.

Willing here to suffer well

To of the Gospel story tell.

Not fire from the heavens called

But love and mercy here installed

As monikers for who we are

And by such standards, lift the bar.

He came not to the soul condemn

But came to rescue wayward men

To show them mercy, love, and peace,

And all the chains of sin release.

Wednesday

Not any meager thing we hold

Not even heaps of purest gold,

Compare to what He offers men

In ages past, and now again.

Each day the offer comes anew

To follow me, or follow You.

Lord, let me see how good You are

And how this gold, below You far.

So let me never look away

But follow only on Your way

Regardless of the trials here,

If You alone, I could be near.

And give me patience lord as You 

Have patient been with all I do.

Allow Your word to work in those

Of whom I love, and whom You chose.

Thursday

Angels of the heavenly host

Gloried, yet devoid of boast

Attend around the throne of He

Who reigns for all eternity.

Their glory lies in whom they serve

Whose pow'r they constantly observe,

Whose splendor none could ere explore,

Whose love but offers more and more.

Friday

In full, and not in partial ways

I've set to live for all my days.

I want no part that darkness plays

But seek for light to clear the haze.

The man with pride but plays the fool,

A blind and stupid, stubborn mule.

For what he knows of things to be

Is like a drop amid the sea.

The humble see the cross their way

To be like Him in every way.

To open vistas far and wide

And break the bonds of foolish pride.

Saturday

What's hidden from the learned wise

Is plain before the simple eyes

That little ways of love can be 

My ticket to eternity.

Mostly Sawdust

 Mostly Sawdust 

So much is waste, so little good

What have I done with all this wood?

The kindling barrel overflows

And mostly here the sawdust grows.

But once awhile a gem appears

From all the labor of these years

A bit akin to life I see

For "Mostly Sawdust", that is me.

A Simple Piece of Bread

 A simple piece of bread some say

Reminds us of that holy day

When sin was conquered on the cross

And earthly gain was seen as loss.

But more than simple bread I see

It's flesh and blood, in truth, to me.

No sign or symbol holds such sway

As Christ before me in this way.

His presence true and rich, profound

Within the Host is truly found

It's He who on the cross was hung

That's placed upon my waiting tongue

9/18/22 Through 9/24/22

 9/18/22 Through 9/24/22

Sunday

Lift holy hands for those who rule

Regardless if they play the fool.

No argument or anger shown

But care for souls and souls alone.

The riches here will pass away

And those that cheat and steal will pay.

The poor they bought and sold for coin

Eternal peace shall one day join.

No master shares a subject bound,

Nor in eternal peace is found

A one with selfish claims of pride

With poor and humble side by side

The chasm deep and oh so wide

To separate the poor and pride.

Those faithful in the little things

To peaceful life with Him He brings.

Monday

Even what we think we own

Will one day fade away,

For something that is yet unknown

But then will rule the day.

Don't hold onto the paltry things

You think will make secure,

But cling unto the wood that brings

A life that will endure.

Freely share when ere you can

And so the light will grow.

Have love like Him for every man

That all the world may know

There's something far beyond the sea

Beyond this tiny globe,

Far more than eye could ever see

Or mortal mind could probe.

So turn unto the One that sees

And offer all you own

Put all your trust in Him who frees

Then ALL is what you'll own.

Tuesday

One chasing for bubbles among deadly snares

The foolish that for the truth never cares.

The soul of the wicked desires for ill

No thought do they give for the one that they kill

The ear that turns deaf at the cry of the poor

Is caught in the trapping of deadly allure,

But simple will see when the reaper has come

How foolish the ways of the arrogant one.

The gift of the truthful, the blessing of wise

Is be seen as a brother in Jesus's eyes.

For He that will listen and act on His word

Will always by Him in distresses be heard.

Wednesday

Apostle or prophet, pastor or teacher

Gifts are quite varied that someone might reach her.

Prostitute or profligate

He welcomes in by Mercy's gate.

The Body of Christ is a band of the cleaned

The gems from the mud and the mire He gleaned,

All sinners of the common kind

That mercy in their weakness find.

Stones from the dead He restores to new life

The souls that were lost, but then rescued from strife.

The living stones of love that build

The Temple that His Spirit filled.

Thursday

To search authentically to see

A one must poor and humble be,

Who recognizes all is Thine

And nothing here is truly mine.

The source of all in time and space

Of every single holy grace

Is God alone, the Holy Vine

Who beckons me to come and dine.

But if one comes to sup with Thee

They must display humility

For truth alone, Your presence stands

And all we have, Your love demands.

Friday

What time is it for me today?

A time to listen what You say,

A time to act and thus obey,

Or just a time to kneel and pray?

The time we're here on earth below

Is time that we must daily grow

It's time to learn the ways of love

That we might find our home above

So, fallen man He came to serve

Though none such treatment did deserve

For love before was barely known

But on the cross was fully shown.

We try, but one cannot ignore

That sacrifice is at love's core.

The emptying of selfish pride

To be like Him who freely died.

But time He spent within the grave

Was time He spent to heal and save

To call man to the time of love

In time eternal high above.

Saturday

All on earth is vanity

For dust becomes all that we see

The flesh must die for life to live

To find the life we all must give.

His Sacred Heart aflame in me

Must be the light that others see

For when my pride is in control

A darkness clouds my inner soul.

Lord, drive that darkness far away

O're all I have please hold Your sway

Till looking through the glass that's me

That all one sees is light from Thee.