A Christmas Wish for Little Bit

Within timbered walls and boughs of pine,
Where Christmas fires burn bright;
Friends that gather embrace the shrine,
Of love and peace tonight.

On hallowed eve their hopes are raised,
As they settle 'round the hearth;
To Him give thanks and holy praise,
For His precious gift impart.

The crystal is filled with holiday cheer,
Dreams fairly christen the Kinder;
The promise in eyes that sparkle so clear,
As winter's warmth blankets the timber.

To have family and friends within our embrace,
Is a gift we ought never take lightly;
To share laughter and joy with them face to face,
Your countenance fires so brightly.

Miles may curse us a circle complete,
For loved ones far from us part;
But no distance can hinder an evening replete,
When we remember them in our hearts.

Merry Christmas Little Bit....

Micah 6:8 ..to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.

Micah 6:8. He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.

Lord, do I scream for justice or do I temper myself to act justly toward others? Am I less likely to seek justice if for some reason I benefit from the injustice? Father, do I put limits on my decisions to act justly? If justice is determined by how I feel about a situation, is it really justice? Do I have the right to demand that others act justly toward me? Lord, will you teach me what it means to be truly just?

I wonder, as a Christian, do I really love mercy for all mankind or just those that I choose to have mercy on? Do I love mercy for mercy's sake because that is what my Father teaches me, or do I feel differently about some people because they don't look like me, or are richer or poorer than me, or because they were born someplace else, or are not as educated, etc.? Jesus, I cannot count the number of times you have had mercy on me. Can you teach my heart to love mercy like you love mercy?

My Lord and God, you have set aside your justice to embrace me with your mercy and grace and you even soothed my shame. What pride should (I) have in that? Father, take my pride that I might instead have a thankful heart. Lord, take my prideful spirit that I might never consider speaking or acting in a way that places me above another. Teach me humility.

Father, there are times that I marvel not quite so much at the things you have done for me as at the amount of love you put into it, and I marvel because I cannot even begin to fathom the sort of boundless love it takes to continue to save me from myself. I am truly amazed that You, Emanuel (God with us), came and died on a cross to save me from my sin, but I marvel in awe that you did it out of love. Jesus, teach me what "boundless love" means to you.

One Name Above All

Like a long winters sleep that renders no rest,
Like limbs that are bound in despair,
I slip 'neath the waves cold and bereft,
with eyes that are lost in a stare.

No vestige of hope seems within reach,
the destroyer to lay claim is now here;
but one name has God given that will stand in the breach,
for Him heaven and earth shall fear.

Tis Jesus the Christ that conquered the grave,
and laid waste to the captors of hell.
Tis Jesus the Christ come now to save,
mankind who stumbled and fell.

With eyes that discern a man's innermost plea,
He commands these chains to be loose;
from God's own fury satan must flea,
making clear my path now to choose.

But to believe in and follow as Christ offers all,
is the penance and burden to life,
or to don once again the chains from the fall,
and to sink into bondage and strife.

By His own able hands am I lift from my plight,
by His blood my salvation is clear;
by His word, by His spirit, by His promise and light,
by His tender loving mercy am I here.

The Glory of Morning

I wake to the edge of the canyon so deep,
In the eve of the morn' stirring from sleep.
Refreshed and revived my Lord beckons to haste,
To join Him this day and kneel at this place.

Though eyes in this world are blinded to sight,
His gaze is cut through us to look for the light.
The depth of my soul where darkness once reigned,
He quenches my spirit and fans at the flame.

Once sinner now servant and paid for a price,
Emanual came, died and rose for our plight;
And bids me now come, and open mine eyes
To the glory of morning cast in the skies.

Now the sun sets it's crown on the dawn of the day,
Now humble I'll walk in the path of God's way.

Creation's Song

I stand and listen to creations song,
Oft cleft and crevice it rises a throng
Of voices and chimmers a crescendo on high,
To silence my thoughts, a soul's breathless sigh.

It quickens and grows as the sun crests the hill.
The day's harmony fall in swirls then stills,
Marking our time through this symphony chord,
Giving us peace from the Savior our Lord.

Field of the fawn wanders it meek;
Cry of the hawk splits the sky so bleak.
Strength of the bear ruling meadows of heather;
Grace of the swan so light on the feather.

O'er white crested mountains and valleys of plush,
And rivers through canyons and gorges that rush.
The deeps of the blue and the crush of the waves,
All witness the miricle played from the stave.

This life grand and great, this gift from God;
Gives us the will of reverenece to nod,
Submissive and loving we to creation belong,
To Author, Creator, and Word of the song.

JAG 2008