9/17/23 Through 9/23/23

 9/17/23 Through 9/23/23

Sunday

Holding tight to wrath and fury

Hugging that which brings us pain

They become the judge and jury

Of the fact your sins remain

If you harbor deep resentment

Peace and joy cannot survive

Never shall you find contentment

Nor a sense of peace derive

Mercy and forgiveness only

Can a peaceful heart provide

Otherwise, be sad and lonely

Firmly to your anger tied

See the Cross and know forgiveness

Sinless who became our sin.

Making love the only business

That by which the sinners win.

Monday

Authority we all must know

for in authority, we grow

And One who far exceeds His slave

Is One our every gift that gave.

There's nothing of our own to claim

Not even body, mind, or name

For all has come from God above

And all is given by His love.

The gift of will, His precious grant

To in the souls of mortals plant

The image that was meant to grow

In likeness to the King we know.

Humility comes first of all 

For those who choose to hear His call

They recognize the truth and light

And humbly come to join the fight.

Subjecting all to God above

Whose motive is but purest love

Then healing comes if we but ask

His will in every daily task.

Tuesday

The mouths of wild beasts were closed

When death by mauling was proposed

The sword must sever frame from head

To thus insure this saint was dead.

But those who ordered such are gone

And centuries have rolled along

Still praised is one with severed head

While long ago the others dead.

The faithful are rewarded so

For they, to heaven's glory go

But wicked fade in milky haze

As they descend to Satan's blaze

Wednesday

Within our fickle world today

Some think the truth is what they say.

They think repeating makes it so

But prove how little Truth they know.

The Truth is in His holy word

But far too few on earth have heard.

They stop their ears, should truth assault,

And back to chanting lies default.

Thursday

Thank God He came for sinners' sake

And not the righteous horde.

The trouble is, we must awake

To sin to find reward.

Sobriety in all we do

Must be the path we choose.

For that is what is best for you

For not your soul to lose.

So, thank you Lord, for seeking me

Until it's You I found.

I pray to always seeking see

Your love which has no bound.

Friday

The crown should be the ornament

A delicate apportionment

To add the beauty, form, and grace

To give the piece a higher place.

But how confusing it can be

For simpletons akin to me.

We cut it once, and then again,

Or five or six, or nine or ten.

But revelation comes at last

To put confusion in the past

It's like the ways of worldly fame,

Turn upside down to win the game.

You have to cut it upside down

For in the worldly ways are found

Confusion and befuddlement,

Bewilderment and puzzlement.

But if you turn them upside down,

Some clarity will then be found

For there your measure's firm and true,

And now mistakes are far and few.

Saturday

The brier too, finds fertile ground

But fruit in there is rarely found

For cares and worries of the day

Have choked the chance of fruit away.

So, trim the brier's wild frond

To find the open earth beyond

There's always more to cut away

To keep us moving on our way.

Keep trimming in your life's pursuit

Until at last, you reach the root.

With branches burned and root removed,

Your harvest shall be much improved.