Don't Tell Me
Don't tell me what you will do when you have time to spare;
Tell me what you did today to ease a load of care.
Don't tell me what you will give when your ship comes in from sea;
Tell me what you did today a fettered soul to free.
Don't tell me the dreams you have of conquest still afar;
Don't say what you hope to be, but tell me what you are.
-- Selected
The Few
The easy roads are crowded and the level roads are jammed;
The pleasant little rivers with the drifting folk are crammed.
But off yonder where it's rocky, where you get a better view;
You will find the ranks are thinning and the travelers are few.
But the steps that call for courage and the task that's hard to do;
In the end result in glory for the never-wavering few.
-- Selected
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Just Thinkin' 'bout Love...
Love is a friendship that has caught fire.
It is a quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving.
It is loyalty through good and bad.
It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weakness.
Love is content with the present.
It hopes for the future and it doesn't brood over the past.
It's the day-in and day-out chronicle of irritations, problems, compromises, small disappointments, big victories, and working toward common goals.
If you have love in your life, it can make up for a great many things you lack.
If you don't have it, no matter what else there is, it is not enough.
So search for it, ask God for it, and share it!
I John 4:7-11
7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
It is a quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving.
It is loyalty through good and bad.
It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weakness.
Love is content with the present.
It hopes for the future and it doesn't brood over the past.
It's the day-in and day-out chronicle of irritations, problems, compromises, small disappointments, big victories, and working toward common goals.
If you have love in your life, it can make up for a great many things you lack.
If you don't have it, no matter what else there is, it is not enough.
So search for it, ask God for it, and share it!
I John 4:7-11
7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Like a Sail
Earlier this summer, I was privileged to take a short sail on a tall ship. With it's high mast and miscellaneous ropes and rigging, it looked quite majestic even moored there in the harbor. All the wood was waxed, all the brass was buffed, yet the sail just hung limply in folds.
As we sailed around the harbor, I began to talk to the captain, a young man who obviously loved his job. He described different aspects of the boat, and demonstrated for us how the sails are raised and lowered.
As I looked at the sail, I was reminded of a something that I had read several months ago. In describing a character who had died, the person talking had done so in these terms. "He was like a sail: only slack until it caught the wind. Then it had all the power of the wind."
If there is ever an excuse to be slack, it is this: I have not caught the wind yet. But once I have caught the wind, which we recognize quickly as the Spirit if we read John 3, I should no longer be slack, but run with all the power of the wind.
We do not function on our own power, folks. No... we function with the power of the wind. Lift up your sail and let the wind drive you today!
As we sailed around the harbor, I began to talk to the captain, a young man who obviously loved his job. He described different aspects of the boat, and demonstrated for us how the sails are raised and lowered.
As I looked at the sail, I was reminded of a something that I had read several months ago. In describing a character who had died, the person talking had done so in these terms. "He was like a sail: only slack until it caught the wind. Then it had all the power of the wind."
If there is ever an excuse to be slack, it is this: I have not caught the wind yet. But once I have caught the wind, which we recognize quickly as the Spirit if we read John 3, I should no longer be slack, but run with all the power of the wind.
We do not function on our own power, folks. No... we function with the power of the wind. Lift up your sail and let the wind drive you today!
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