From Joseph Addison's pen...

DIVINE ODE.

I.
The spacious firmament on high,
With all the blue æthereal sky,
And spangled heavens, a shining frame,
Their great Original proclaim:
Th' unwearied sun from day to day,
Does his Creator's pow'r display,
And publishes to every land
The work of an Almighty hand.

II.
Soon as the ev'ning shades prevail,
The moon takes up the wond'rous tale,
And nightly to the list'ning earth,
Repeats the story of her birth:
Whilst all the stars that round her burn,
And all the planets in their turn,
Confirm the tidings as they roll,
And spread the truth from pole to pole.

III.
What though in solemn silence, all
Move round the dark terrestrial ball?
What though, nor real voice nor sound
Amid their radiant orbs be found?
In reason's ear they all rejoice,
And utter forth a glorious voice,
For ever singing as they shine,
The hand that made us is divine.


The Works of Joseph Addison. Vol I.
George Washington Greene, ed.
Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co., 1888. 202.

A No-Risk Life

The risks people are prepared to take these days are certainly a different set from what they used to be... Dickens describes a journey into the Scottish Highlands:

When we got safely to the opposite bank, there came riding up a wild highlander, his great plaid streaming in the wind, screeching in Gaelic to the post-boy on the opposite bank, making the most frantic gestures....
The boy, horses and carriage were plunging in the water, which left only the horses' heads and boy's body visible.... The man was perfectly frantic with pantomime.... The carriage went round and round like a great stone, the boy was pale as death, the horses were struggling and plashing and snorting like sea animals, and we were all roaring to the driver to throw himself off and let them and the coach go to the devil, when suddenly it all came right (having got into shallow water) and, all tumbling and dripping and jogging from side to side, they climbed up to the dry land.
....
I'm for civilization. I'm all for certain kinds of progress and I accept quite gladly most of today's means of avoiding the risks that Dickens and Kipling and all of mankind before them had to run, but to imagine that we shall whip off the dishonesty that is characteristic of fallen human nature everywhere as painlessly as we whip off one garment and put on another, to imagine that by simply taking a different view we shall come up with a no-risk brand of honesty, is a piece of self-deception and fatuity to make the mind reel.

Plato, three hundred years before Christ, predicted that if ever the truly good man were to appear, the man who would tell the truth, he would have his eyes gouged out and in the end be crucified.

That risk was once taken, in its fullest measure. The man appeared. He told the world the truth about itself and even made the preposterous claim "I am the Truth." As Plato foresaw, that man was crucified.

He calls us still to follow him, and the conditions are the same: "Let a man deny himself and take up his cross."

_____________________________________
Elisabeth Elliot, "On Asking God Why"

Ritual

C. S. Lewis, that wise man who seems to have thought through almost everything, writes in his Preface to Paradise Lost:

"Those who dislike ritual in general--
ritual in any way and every department of life--
may be asked most earnestly to reconsider the question.
It is a pattern imposed on the mere flux of our feelings by reason and will,
which renders pleasures less fugitive and griefs more endurable,
which hands over to the power of wise custom the task
(to which the individual and his moods are so inadequate)
of being festive or sober, gay or reverent, when we choose to be,
and not at the bidding of chance" Oxford University Press, 1952, p. 21).

No Love Without Grief

Tell us, fool, who knows more of love--the one who has joys from it or the one who has trials and griefs? He answered: There cannot be any knowledge of love without both of them.

(Ramon Lull, The Book of the Lover and the Beloved)

When I imagine that I want to learn to love God--and to love my husband and others whom God has given me to love--let me test the desire of my willingness to accept trial and grief. If I can welcome them--Yes, Lord!--and believe God's purpose in them, I am learning the lesson of love. If I cannot, it's a fair indication that my desire to love is a delusion.


"A Lamp For My Feet", Elisabeth Elliot

The Habit of Your Life: Thanksgiving

...it is always possible to be thankful for what is given rather than to complain about what is not given. One or the other becomes a habit of life. There are, of course, complaints which are legitimate--as, for example, when services have been paid for which have not been rendered--but the gifts of God are in an altogether different category. Ingratitude to him amounts (let us resort to no euphemisms) to rebellion.

Many women have told me that my husband's advice, which I once quoted in a book, has been an eye-opener to them. He said that a wife, if she is very generous, may allow that her husband lives up to perhaps eighty percent of her expectations. There is always the other twenty percent that she would like to change, and she may chip away at it for the whole of their married life without reducing it by very much. She may, on the other hand, simply decide to enjoy the eighty percent, and both of them will be happy. It's a down-to-earth illustration of a principle: Accept, positively and actively, what is given. Let thanksgiving be the habit of your life.

Such acceptance is not possible without a deep and abiding belief in the sovereign love of God. Either he is in charge, or he is not. Either he loves us, or he does not. If he is in charge and loves us, then whatever is given is subject to his control and is meant ultimately for our joy.


Copyright© 1979, by Elisabeth Elliot
all rights reserved.

Holy Father, for our children.

A prayer written by Amy Carmichael:

Father, hear us, we are praying,
Hear the words our hearts are saying,
We are praying for our children.

Keep them from the powers of evil
From the secret, hidden peril,
From the whirlpool that would suck them,
From the treacherous quicksand pluck them,
Holy Father, save our children.

From the worldling's hollow gladness,
From the sting of faithless sadness,
Through life's troubled waters steer them,
Through life's bitter battle cheer them,
Father, Father, be Thou near them.

Read the language of our longing,
Read the wordless pleadings thronging,
Holy Father, for our children.

And wherever they may bide,
Lead them Home at eventide.

One Day at a Time

God, give us grace to accept with serenity
The things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
Which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.
Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as we would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If we surrender to Your will,
So that we may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.
Amen

Reinhold Niebuhr

Come, thou long expected Jesus

It's Christmas!

1. Come, thou long expected Jesus,
born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us,
let us find our rest in thee.
Israel's strength and consolation,
hope of all the earth thou art;
dear desire of every nation,
joy of every longing heart.

2. Born thy people to deliver,
born a child and yet a King,
born to reign in us forever,
now thy gracious kingdom bring.
By thine own eternal spirit
rule in all our hearts alone;
by thine all sufficient merit,
raise us to thy glorious throne.

Text: Charles Wesley, 1707-1788
Music: Rowland H. Pritchard; harm. from The English Hymnal

Baby Boy: Nov 1, 7lbs 4oz, 20 1/4"

Having the time of our life . . .the sleepless, cluttered, no time for yourself time of our life!

Perspective

"Oh that God would
give every mother a vision
of the glory and splendor of the work
that is given to her
when a babe is placed in her bosom
to be nursed and trained!
Could she have but one glimpse
into the future of that life
as it reaches into eternity;
could she look into it's soul
to see it's possibilities;
could she be made to understand
her own personal responsibility
for the training of this child,
for the development of its life,
and for it's destiny,-
she would see that in all God's world
there is no other work
so noble and
so worthy
of her best powers,
and she would commit to no other hands
the sacred and
holy trust
given to her."

- JR Miller

DEPTH

"In all of my years walking with the Lord, I’ve learned to value the basics of the Christian life. We don’t need breadth on a thousand topics as much as we need depth on a critical few.

Prayer ranks at the top of this list. This private dialogue with your Father is the most important conversation you can have—whether it be in the early morning hours, in the mix of a busy day, or in the stillness of night as others sleep. When you call out to Him, He listens.

The Spirit of God working on our volition changes us!...I don't need skills; I need DEPTH."

Chuck Swindoll
Job 23:10-12
Peter, "I glory in my infirmities."
Whether I get a yes or no to my prayers, I walk consistently.

Bread

Beer

Honey

Baking Powder

Self-Rising Flour

Whole Wheat Flour

Toasted Wheat Germ

Protection, Permission - A Deep Mystery

How do we reconcile God's promises for protection with the fact that so many evil things do happen in our lives? Can we believe God for protection?

This question comes up often, and no wonder, since there are many promises in the Bible about protection, including (especially in the Old Testament) physical protection. We must be careful to interpret Scripture with Scripture, and if we examine the record we find that God did not by any means always protect His people from harm. He has absolute power to keep us safe, both physically and spiritually, but His engineering of the universe made room for man's freedom to choose--that is, freedom to will to obey or to disobey Him. This is a deep mystery. Man's disobedience brought evil into the world, and all of us are subject to it. God does not cancel out its effects, even for His choicest servants (John the Baptist, Stephen, those nameless victims of Hebrews 11:35-37, for example).

Nevertheless, we have the promises. Romans 8:35-39 is one of my most reread passages. I believe we can rest assured that we are invulnerable so long as God does not give permission for us to be hurt. If He gives that permission, He will not leave us alone. He goes with us through the valley, the deep water, the furnace. He will never, absolutely never, leave us or forsake us.
___________________________________________________
"How Long is God's Arm?", Keep A Quiet Heart by Elisabeth Elliot

Things temporal and eternal

"O God, the protector of all who trust in you,
without whom nothing is strong,
nothing is holy:
Increase and multiply upon us your mercy,
that, with you as our ruler and guide,
we may so pass through things temporal,
that we lose not the things eternal;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God,
for ever and ever.
Amen."


The Collect for the eighth Sunday after Pentecost

On Failure - J.I. Packer

"The world’s idea that everyone, from childhood up, should be able at all times to succeed in measurable ways, and that it is a great disgrace not to, hangs over the Christian community like a pall of acrid smoke.”

--J.I. Packer, A Passion for Faithfulness: Wisdom From the Book of Nehemiah, p. 206.

Moving and an old Song

1 John 4:7-8

Beloved, let us love one another,
For love is of God
And everyone who loves
Is born of God and knows God.
He who loveth not, (clap! clap! clap!) knoweth not God,
For God is love!
Beloved let us love one another
First John Four Seven and Eight!

Christ is Message and Messenger

Every word spoken by Jesus must be understood by the life of Jesus. The one cannot be separated from the other. If we attempt to understand what He said without reference to what He did, we do violence to God's revelation of Himself. Here are some examples:

"Give up your right to yourself." Can this mean self-destruction, masochism, obliteration of the personality? See the perfect Son of God, exercising his human will in the fullness of its God-given power, as He offers Himself, pours out his soul unto death. What life streams from that giving up. What strength springs from his weakness.

"The truth shall make you free" (Jn 8:32 AV)--words often wrested away from their context ("lf you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free") and also away from the Man who spoke them. His life, his every act, was perfectly free. It was free because He heard the Word of the Father, did what He saw Him do, and knew Him. His freedom was the result of his obedience. There is no shortcut to our freedom. We must live the life Christ lived--a life of faith, a will offered to the Father, daily obedience.
____________________________________________________
"Christ is Message and Messenger", by Elisabeth Elliot, A Lamp For My Feet

True to thee

Guide me,
O Lord,
that I may be
true to thee
and
follow
thy
path.

Psalm 86:11 (NEB)

When you have the King's ear...

Pray for One Another
James 5:16
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

Be encouraged to cheerfully offer intercessory prayer, by remembering that such prayer is the sweetest God ever hears. The prayer of Christ is of this character. In all the incense that our Great High Priest now puts into the golden censer, there is not a single grain for Himself. His intercession must be the most acceptable of all supplications--and the more our prayer like Christ's, the sweeter it will be. Thus while petitions for ourselves will be accepted, our pleadings for others, having in them more of the fruits of the Spirit--more love, more faith, more brotherly kindness--will be, through the precious merits of Jesus, the sweetest sacrifice that we can offer to God. Remember, again, that the intercessory prayer is exceedingly prevalent [powerful]. What wonders it has accomplished! The Word of God teems with its marvelous deeds. Believer, you have a might engine in your hand; use it well, use it constantly, use it with faith, and you will surely be a blessing to others. When you have the King's ear, speak to Him for the suffering members of His body. When you are favored to draw very near to His throne, and the King says to you, "Ask, and it will be given to you," let your petitions be, not for yourself alone, but for the many who need His aid. If you have any grace at all and are not an intercessor, that grace must be as small as a grain of mustard seed. You have just enough grace to float your soul clear from the quicksand, but you have no depth of grace or else you would carry in your vessel a heavy cargo of the wants of others, and you would bring back from your Lord rich blessings for them that apart from you they might not have obtained.

Oh, let my hands forget their skill,
My tongue be silent, cold, and still,
This bounding heart forget to beat,
If I forget the mercy seat!

*I think this is Oswald Chambers, 2/6, "My Utmost for His Highest"

Psalm 103:2
Praise the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits-

My Savior

I am not skilled to understand
What God hath willed, what God hath planned;
I only know that at His right hand
Is One Who is my Savior!

I take Him at His word indeed;
“Christ died for sinners”—this I read;
For in my heart I find a need
Of Him to be my Savior!

That He should leave His place on high
And come for sinful man to die,
You count it strange? So once did I,
Before I knew my Savior

And oh, that He fulfilled may see
The travail of His soul in me,
And with His work contented be,
As I with my dear Savior!

Yea, living, dying, let me bring
My strength, my solace from this Spring;
That He Who lives to be my King
Once died to be my Savior!

- Dora Greenwell (1821-1888)