7/21/24 Through7/27/24

 7/21/24 Through7/27/24

Sunday

Like sheep without a shepherd

We scatter and are lost.

Then wandering unfettered

The preditors accost.

The leaders of the people

Have lost the common good.

They see no more the steeple

For guiding as they should.

But, lo behold, a Shepherd Good

Has come from high above.

To lead His flock as shepherds should

In sacrificial love.

So, learn to hear Good Shepherd's voice.

Ignore the howling din.

Make love your pure and simple choice,

And turn away from sin.

Monday

A love so pure and undefiled

Was found in this repentant child.

A soul once dead, but made anew,

The first The Risen Christ to view.

This transformation all can find

Within the heart and in the mind.

The zeal to share our risen Lord

And bring to all His love out-poured.

If we but let Him heal our sin

And welcome then His Spirit in,

The stone we'll find is rolled away

And death no longer holds its sway.

So, come and see the empty tomb,

Let light, the darkness, now consume.

The bonds of sin and death released.

With joy and gladness, now we feast.

Tuesday

Just who, like Him, can wonders bring,

And who could be so good a King,

Forgiving sins that beauty lost,

Restoring love without a cost?

Your faithfulness forever known,

Your healing grace to sinner shown.

For You delight in clemency

When e'er a stray returns to Thee.

Wednesday

Before He formed you in the womb

He knew the flower, knew the bloom.

A task appointed for each one

A path of holiness to run.

A greatness planned for every soul,

A path to make them humble, whole.

But freedom's given every man

To follow well, or shun the plan.

A power follows on His way,

The grace that's needed every day

To meet each challenge fair and true

And always more refining you.

So, fear not what the world holds,

For trial's how the the Potter molds.

In fire gold is purified, 

And Love itself they crucified.

But lo, the grave could not confine

The One who died for sins of thine.

And glorified, He rose again

To save the souls of sinful men.

So, humble and quite docile be

Obedient to none but He

And you will find what e'er you face

He always gives sufficient grace.

Thursday

In pots of clay the treasure dwells

That where we go His power swells.

Though pots are cracked, they still contain

His word which death cannot constrain.

Despite the darkest veils around,

The precious gold may still be found.

Untainted by the world's decay

In ever bright and bold array.

Still given up to death each day,

But life it harvests on the way.

In mortal flesh, immortal dwells,

And every fear His love dispels.

Friday

The people long for shepherds wise

Who speak the truth without disguise,

Who guard the flock and gather in

The ones astray in wayward sin.

Who look for soil well-prepared

To spread His word with nothing spared.

Yet still some seed will fall in stone

And wither soon before it's grown.

The birds will eat what's on the way

For trodden well, and hard the clay.

And that where thorn and thistle grow,

A fruited stalk will never know.

But where the soil's soft and deep

A bountied harvest one can reap

At thirty, sixty, hundredfold

The faithful ones will then behold.

Saturday

The weeds will grow among the wheat,

But nay the harvestman defeat.

For weeds be bundled, tied, and burned,

And wheat be claimed as harvest earned.

So too, with men both here below

The sinner and the righteous grow.

But when the harvest sickle wields,

No longer have the sinners shields.

Oh, count this weed among the wheat

And let me yield a harvest sweet.

Transformed by what the Spirit gives

So weed that's changed to wheat now lives.

For soon enough the harvest comes

And weed or wheat each life becomes

Proud weeds, no fruit to offer then

Become no more than pitied men.