Freedom, a Coffee Table Book
Freedom
A collection of thoughts, verses, songs and prayers, mostly original, some not
by Carolyn Cogswell
And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. John 8:32
Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not; neither knoweth him, but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. John 14:17
· To have definitely escaped from the bondage of earthly pleasure and yet be able to enjoy to the fullest material blessings to an extent never yet imagined – cc
Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; Thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. Acts 2:28
· Going beyond the search for meaning, for peace, for love, for beauty, for truth, to freedoms upon freedoms – cc
I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. John 11:25
· Beauty as seen and experienced with a sense that was dead and is now alive, empowered supernaturally to know what cannot be known without God’s help. – cc
The kindgom of God is within you. Luke 17:21
· To touch eternity, with regions within, which, before the new birth, were mercifully concealed, but which were also decaying the fiber of your being. – cc (Why is that merciful?)
But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me; thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God. Psalm 40:17
· To have broken through all those sad places that wanted to melt at sentimental times, to the peaceful shoreline of his rest. – cc
As the hart panteth after the water broks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. Psalm 42:1
· So good to know that I don’t have to be a “religious” person, and that God desires me to know him even (so much) more than I desired to know him.
· He will not share his glory with anybody; not me, not you, not Bhudda, Mohammed or any other dead prophet. Christ is not dead. Just ask him; He’ll tell you.
· I had very romantic ideas about everything and so naturally life could not measure up.
· God keeps debunking my theories.
· Most of his truth cannot be put into words. It must be put into action.
New Beginning (a poem)
Life is singing
For joy, not bread and butter,
To give of his fullness, at his bidding, according to the measure he apportions, just for that moment.
Singing on the inside, singing to bust with joy, joy so exquisite, it is almost painful. Pain so deep it produces joy (unspeakable and full of glory). See I Peter 1:8
Yes, I am real (a prophecy)
And I speak to my people and through my people. To be my people, all that is required is your desire. I want you; do you want me? (See John 11:25, 26)
Love is my gift to you. Words cannot contain it. Pictures cannot. Song cannot. See Deuteronomy (10:21.)
· God craves your praise. Psalm 22:3
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. Deuteronomy 6:5
The main regret of the spirit-filled life is that the body is always making its demands upon the soul and that time is always working to oppress you. In plain language, that means you can’t stay awake forever, that is not in this world.
In Christ, of course, the body is dying daily, while theSpirit is growing in the ability to commune with the Father.
Past hurts are healed while a new capacity for pain is introduced.
There is no end to excitement, miraculously balanced with routine, to work into the Christian a vivacious Spirit which is irresistible.
Becoming a Christian is a new adventure every day. You can get into Jesus as much as you want to. You will find, though, that a little is never enough and a lot makes you always wanting more. He teaches you to love, to care, to make a difference, to forgive others, to like yourself, to grow in ways you didn’t know you could. He teaches you to pray, knowing God hears you, knowing He authored your prayers.
The Bible:
His Word, which is formed the heavens and the earth,
Which formed you,
Which is the truth and is no lie
For God cannot lie and
God cannot fail. (See John 1:1-11)
Jesus,
I am empty; fill me.
Jesus, I am afflcted; comfort me.
Jesus, I am comforted;
Give me someone who needs you.
Amen.
“This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long.” From “Blessed Assurance,” by Fanny J. Crosby and Phoebe E. Knapp.
Yeah, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. Philippians 3:8
“I would be true, for there are those who trust me;
I would be pure, for there are those who care;
I would be strong for there is much to suffer,
I would be brave, for there is much to dare.” From “I Would Be True” by Harold Arnold Walter and Joseph Yates Peck.
Great is Thy Faithfulness
(1923) by T.O. Chisolm and William M. Runyan (Esther Reinecke’s father)
Great is thy faithfulness, Oh God my Father,
There is no shadow of turning with Thee
Thou changest not Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been Thou forever will be
Great is Thy faithfulness! (2x)
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me!
Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above,
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love
Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thy own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!
Esther Reinecke visited my mother’s mother in the nursing home in Topeka
The first song I wrote after being saved:
Above the din and confusion, God is still the Lord
His love is new, from everlasting to everlasting.
His word is new every morning,
He’s faithful too every night.
I walk where I want to, without fear and dread,
For Jesus lives in me and I will never die.
But if he takes me tonight, I will freely go,
For I have seen enough.
But if He wants me to, I will sing praises to my God
As long as I have my being.
The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow to it. Proverbs. 10:22
On John Lennon’s death:
If anyone is satisfied to accept the worship due only to Jesus Christ, he does not know God, and is dead already and will not be remembered that long.
Souls are going to spend eternity without God every day.
P.S. I loved him too.
God is no respecter of persons. Romans 2:11
It is appointed to men once to die and then the judgment. Hebrews 9:27
Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead? Acts 26:8
Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. II Corinthians 5:17
· Ready to die, therefore ready to live.
· Schooled in many ways, but the one most needed: how to die and how to live. Christ is the teacher, the one who died and is yet alive.
Rough, Tough Creampuff (an essay)
Sometimes life is tough. Sometimes living in the same world with the sin washed away is painful. The sin is our own life crusted up our eyes so we could not see the evil quite so clearly. Oh, we knew it was there, but somehow we just sloughed it off or grew bitter struggling against it.
But now that the covering for our sin is gone and sometimes life is rough on tender nerves, like the fingernail on the blackboard, and it’s hard to meet it with love, and that’s when Jesus really comes through. Yes – Oh, Lord, I want less of me and more of you.
I have set thee to be a light…Acts 13:47
· God fills in all the blank pages.
Yesterday, I got all cinnamon candies, no matter what color they were. Today I got all yellow ones but they were not all lemon. God says don’t trust in appearnces, but trust in me (Proverbs 3:5). Not in what you see or what you think but in who I am. (“Thus saith God.”)
· The only real tragedy: a soul going to spend eternity without Christ.
Learn to worship God; not your ideas about God, not God’s creations, but God himself. In order to worship God, it is necessary to know God.
To know him is not a passive experience but a passive experience, but a relationship with a person, contracted by an act of faith, of believing in and trusting Jesus to save you. Then you can begin to know God.
· Apply life where there is death; apply health where there is sickness; apply joy where there is pain; apply hope where there is despair.
Do not sorrow for the joy of the Lord is your strength. Nehemiah 8:10 (NKVJ)
I don’t see the Lord saying you have to ask forgiveness for every little sin you commit after you come to Christ (I John 3:8, 9; 5:18; Romans 8:1) but rather we are simply to start forgiving others. Matthew 18:33-35.
Second song I wrote after being saved:
What’s that in your hand, give it to me
What’s that holding you down
I’ve set you free
Why do you sit fearfully?
Your ministry is to be you for me.
Hallelujah, praise the Lord
He’s to be loved and adored
How can you say that you’re bored?
Open the door
Give me more
That’s what you’re for.
(Bridge)
Be still and know that I am God
And when you’ve done all that you can
Stand in the knowledge that I know the way
I am your refuge and your strength
A very present help in trouble
And you can cast all your cares on me.
I love you, it’s plain to see
What more could you ask of me?
I’ve given you land and sea joyfully
Come to me confidently.
Third song I wrote since I was saved:
This is my life
This is my life
Jesus, you take it and make it your own,
Just as you like it and when I get home,
We’ll have a nice talk about it.
About the good times
About the trials
How through them all we
weathered the miles together.
It never mattered to you whether I win or lose
Just let me hear from you, I’m satisfied
Just to tie your shoes.
So here’s looking at you, I like what I see
I love you truly, I’m just so glad to belong to you.
Praise the Lord with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings.
Sing unto him a new song: play skillfully with a loud noise. Psalm 33:22,3
But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. . Romans 2:29
Behold he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him. Rev. 1:7
I don’t suppose that’s any more unbelievable than what he’s already done.
Oh, the healing comes so sweetly but at first it sometimes seems to come as affliction: boredom or distress, anger or loneliness.
Then when God makes it better; it stays better.
The peace that passes understanding (Philippians 4:7)
Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Psalms 51:8
God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. Psalms 53:1
Why, Lord?
Why did you let me wander around so long?
To learn so much rebellion, to do me so much harm?
So that when I came to you I would not wander off again?
Oh, Jesus,
I’m so glad you did it that way.
I’m so glad that truth is truth and freedom freedom
And that what I figured all along was so.
It’s so good to be whole, to be well, to be loved.
Jesus Christ, how did you do it?
How did you win those scraggly men?
Was it the sound of your voice? The peacefulness of your countenance that came along at the sound of two words: “Follow me.”
How did you do it, Jesus?
How did you keep them from saying, “I don’t believe that?”
Oh, yes, I know, many of them did, didn’t they?
And many of them do today.
They didn’t believe you, but still they followed you.
Many of them never did believe you were who you said you were.
“Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet believed. John 20:29
The reproach of Christ.
The rejection of the world, the raised eyebrow, the avoidance, the sometimes desolation withn which makes you want to cry out, the knowing he is right there with you
And yet at times he seems so far away (this too is delusion)
The tenderness of union with him, the preciousness of his touch. The intimacy of spirit, soul and body entwined in God.
Jesus, our love for you is embarrassing to them.
How thankful we are that only you are great enough to enfold us in your (welcome) arms.
Oh, God, why don’t they listen? Why don’t they want you? Why do you allow this blindness to continue?
Hush, Child. Peace. Be still.
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all they heart, and with all they soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. Mark 12:30
Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliatin for the sins of the people. Hebrews 2:17
Only Jesus can heal, only Jesus can feel what you’re going through for he has gone ahead of you and has prepared a place for you (John 14:3)
Nowhere that you go has he not gone before you, in your place.
Oh, what could be more sublime than talking to God?
Why doesn’t everyone want to? Thank you, Lord.
To know his voice – words cannot describe it. A speaking that pierces through you, spirit, soul and body with such unfathomable richness of love.
Things you can share with others, things you cannot; sharing it all with him.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me;
And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. John 10:27, 28
Fellowship with Jesus is the desire of my heart – just to know him, just to move in him, through him, the very son of the living God. Not brand-X, no cheap imitation.
I want to be able to say I’ve done my best every moment of every day and yet how will I know how far short I fall? (Can it be true that) He is not interested in your performance? He is interested in your heart.
And speaking of heart, what about heartburn?
Now really, God, why did you invent heartburn?
And whenever I ask him a question like that, he seems to reply, “To make people like you ask questions.”
It is the glory of God to conceal matter, but the glory of kings to search out a matter. Proverbs 25:2
“Just a Closer Walk With Thee,” “Amazing Grace,” I loved those songs before I knew what they were about. And when I found out (and I am still finding out) I’m so thankful I could shout!
Thank you, Lord, for the people who wrote those songs. How many it must have helped draw in, including me (hallelujah).
Even that night in Milwaukee
The Lord says,
Do not be like the horse, or like the mule, which have no understanding, whose must be harnessed with bit and bridle, else they will not come near you. Psalms 32:9 (NKJV)
I don’t believe it says anywhere in the Word that you can read the Bible too much because sooner or later some kind of action will be indicated.
Thy word is very pure; therefore thy servant loveth it. Psalms 119:140
I used to poo-poo the King James version, the old English style of language, but now it seems so melodious, so exquisite, so tender.
The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple. Psalms 119:130
It’s so amazing when you meet Christians from all different backgrounds, levels of education and kinds of experience and yet the born-again soul is lifted to a place of love and wisdom through the Holy Spirit. True lovers of Jesus have an instantaneous relationship.
I want to be “Carolyn the Lionhearted” and there are those times I feel so strong, but he shows me how much I really need him.
The hardest thing in the world for me to do is sit still, to go through a thing that is painful, to let God go to work with his scalpel.
I always said that boredom was just a state of mind and got really angry at myself for getting bored as a Christian. But I have learned that even that, God uses.
In this life we will always be subject to such social afflictions.
Boredom is just rebellion, I suspect, God revealing an area of hardness in us, a defense of some kind; an opportunity for growth, for stretching. And now I can sit longer at a time and I see old men who have never matured because they have never let Jesus in. And I pity them as children who have lost their way, who have become encrusted in their broken dreams, have hardened their necks and braced their hearts and finally give out under the strain, too proud to give in to God.
I almost didn’t call Mark about this job because it seemed “too easy.” I was used to pounding the pavement, wanted to glory in my independence. Oddly, none of the dozen or so jobs I applied for panned out. In desperation, I called Mark and immediately came to work.
It was so easy. It was humbling to be given a job, not to have had to fight for it, politic for it, or otherwise strive.
That’s how it is with salvation, with acceptance of us by God. It is a free gift. It’s too good to be true. Surely we must have to do something. No, just receive him into our hearts.
Once I told somebody who’d asked me how I knew Jesus was God, ‘I can’t tell you; you’ll have to find out for yourself.”
“How can I do that?” he asked.
“Easy,” I said, “Just ask him. He’ll tell you. He’ll show you. He’ll prove it to you. I can’t but he will. He wants to.”
Oh, dear, Lord. Where do I leave off and you come in? I want to shake them. I want to shout it out loud sometimes.
Patience, you must learn.
O.K. Help me.
God has very specific ways of saying, “Look how much you’ve grown.”
For example???
Oh, Jesus, have mercy on them as they come to you. Oh, let me share with you the burden of the Lord. Oh, God, release them.
The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell got hold upon me; I found trouble and sorrow.
Then I called upon the Name of the Lord; Oh, Lord, I beseech thee; deliver my soul.
Gracious is the Lord and righteous; yea, our God is merciful. Psalms 116: 3-5.
And the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them for they are spiritually discerned.
I Corinthians 2:14.
What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me?
I will take the cup of salvation; and call upon the Name of the Lord.
Psalm 116: 12,13
The Lord is my strength and my song; and is become my salvation. Psalm 118:14
I shall not die but live and declare the works of the Lord. Psalm 118: 17.
Three magic words: I love you.
Herein is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. I John 4:1.
To be through crying for myself (bitter heartbreak, broken dreams) and instead to weep with compassion for the lost souls of mankind, not dutiful sentimentality but a lump in the heart; the burden of the Lord.
He is not impressed with our good deeds and religious works or by our plastic comeliness…
Or our attractive package-deal evangelism.
No.
He is looking for hearts, minds and bodies willing to be given wholly; entrusted.
To be changed;
To be opened and seared;
To be bound up and enlarged,
Stretched and empowered by God.
Developing by a flow which is not of ourselves but of Jesus.
And he fills you with himself;
Ah, the freedom of leaving self behind and growing in his image.
Not by works of righteousness that we have done but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. Titus 3:5
Born again.
Wouldn’t you like to start over?
Saved.
From what?
Death and hell, destruction and torment, worry and despair?
Brain in a sling, heart in disrepair, wondering where you’re going, et cetera?
It’s so easy. Just say, “Jesus, come into my heart.” Forgive me of my sins. Because you know, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong. They are weak but he is strong.”
“Oh, how he loves you and me, Oh, how he loves you and me.”
“Because he lives I can face tomorrow. Because he lives all sin is gone. Because I know he holds the future, and life is worth the living just because he lives.”
“Rock of ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee.”
“Oh, how I love Jesus (3x) because He first loved me.”
Oh, how glorious when you find the Book. Then you can stop looking and start cooking. By Carolyn.
No more imitation, no more hocus-pocus, no more nya-nya-nya. No more negation, no more regurgitation, just a growing ever out of the old…mold (picture of an amoeba-like thing)
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but by the word of God which lives and abides forever.
For all fless is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The flower withers and the flower therof falls away (I Peter 1:23, 24) (Picture of a dandelion)
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things have become new. (II Corinthians 5:17)
Hallelujah! I’m a new creature! (Silly smiling cartoon face)
Lord, it’s not the kind of world you want to walk around in that much. I mean you want to because you see the beautiful sunset looming overhead. But then sure as you’ve walked a block or two, something ugly happens, like someone screeching around the corner, yelling some obscenity, or someone almost hits you, and you wish you’d stayed inside.
It’s a shame what man has done to your world, Lord. But I’m so very glad I found you because you’re so interesting and so kind that I don’t ever have to be bored or restless. I can just relax with you. Thank you.
Love, Carolyn
“A merry heart does good like medicine,
But a broken spirit dries the bones.” (Proverbs 17:22)
Obeying the Heavenly Vision
“We can’t choose happiness. We can only choose whether we will indulge ourselves in the present moment or whether we will renounce that for the sake of obeying the divine voice within us – for the sake of being true to all the motives that sanctify our lives. I know this belief is hard but I have felt that if I let it go forever, I should have no light through the darkness of this life.” George Eliot
“Then Jesus said, ‘I am the light of the world; he that follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” (John 8:12).
“You did not chose Me but I chose you and appointed you that you should go out and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.” (John 15: 16)
“Misery is the exception, happiness is the rule. No rational man ever heard a bird sing without feeling the bird was happy, and that if God made that bird He made it to be happy, and he takes pleasure in its happiness, though no human heart could ever share in its joy.” – Charles Kingsley (cartoon bird)
“Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.
But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” (Matthew 10:29-31)
God never intended for there to be divisions between art and life, religion and life. It was meant to be a total process, a joyous fulfillment, all to the glory of God. But man got it all wrong and started glorifying man. That’s when the trouble began. (By Carolyn) (Cartoon of Trouble)
Aside (Old Movies)
They don’t make them like they used to. Anymore, I’ll watch an old one, not even caring what it’s about, just to hear good music and interesting voices.
We’re living in an age where quality is at a premium.
The church is getting ready to offer it to the world.
The age of symptomatic relief is coming to a close.
I am amazed that with these two little eyes I am able to see everything around me (within a certain circumference). It’s as if I’m just a big eyeball – or “I-ball,” I should say.
So here we are again, Lord. We meet again. This is where it’s really happening, isn’t it?
You and me, face to face in the dimlyl-lit time known as dusk, ears ringing from walking home against a cool north wind.
Alone, in my apartment with You and my thoughts, I want to write everything down, but of course that would be impossible. So then comes choosing.
As I was walking home I was talking to You as only we are able to do when I am walking. I was saying out loud, “You know this is so wonderful because with You there is no phoniness, no false front, no self-conscious ness at all, no ‘What will He think? Will this go over, etc., because You know me completely and I just marvel at the changes in me.
When we talk it isn’t, “Oh, Lord, what am I gonna do when I get home? Can I face the four walls without finding something do do?”
Can I just sit? If I do something, will I feel compelled to do it? Does it really matter what I do? And now I see that it really doesn’t. I see that all that really matters is that I am clean, in You. I’m free from me. Every day a little cleaner, a little freer, a little more space to breathe. Ah! A little less guilty, a little less hung up –
I can be as hung up as I choose to be, but let there be no mistake here. I cannot do this without Jesus. He is the one who is doing the work of sweeping out the cobwebs and the dirty straw. It is his fresh air coming in to replace the musty barn of me. All I’m doing is consenting to it, day by day.
When I first came to Him I prayed, “Oh, Jesus, hurry and do your work in me. Make me your minister of fire. I can’t wait.”
But, of course, now I find that waiting is one of the main things about being a Christian.
And waiting is sometimes the most painful part. Because of loneliness, because of stress, because of impatience., because of the flesh wanting action now.
The world is geared for instant reward, instant gratification, as Mick Jagger laments (“I can’t get no satisfaction”), so we groan as we grow into the stature of Christ, learning to be “perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” (James 1:4)
Praise the Lord, because Jesus fills in the blanks. Because Jesus is everything and I am nothing without Him. This was one of the first divine revelations from God when he began to reel me in. Was this what is my life? Without God what Iam I? A body, hamburger, flesh and blood, corruption, decay, unloveliness. Yes, he gave me a good look at what I was, of what good I was, to myself, to others.
Now here, man begins to hem and haw, to draw back a little.
“Now, you speak for yourself, lady. As for me, I’m not such a bad guy.”
Tell it to Jesus, I say, tell Him what a good guy your are. See how you measure up.
Honesty is a rare commodity as well, in our day and age, especially honesty with one’s self.
But Jesus said, “The truth shall make you free.” And what is that truth? It is simply this”
Jesus is the only way to God, and until you find Him, you’re lost and incomplete and condemned. Sad, but true, and nothing any man thinks or says can change that.
Gamaliel, a Pharisee, persecuting the early Christians, was forced to admit,
“If it is of God, you cannot overthrow it – lest you even be found to fight against God.” (Acts 5:39)
And, again, Paul says in Romans 3:3-4, “For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? Certainly not! Indeed,
let God be true, but every man a liar…”
Just meditating on the goodness of the Lord, quality living in a nutshell (drawing of a nutshell, Jesus on top, Christ on bottom), except, of course, you can’t put him in a nutshell.
Classical music.
Beethoven.
Back when people knew that the purpose of life was to glorify God.
Life in a bubble:
Some refer to the Christian life as “transparent.”
Certainly, the light of life should pass through us and be apparent to anyone seeking it. Of course, when one purposely wears blinders, it’s hard to tell what that person sees.
“Carolyn,” a little voice says, “are you getting muddy?”
“It’s just a stiff neck, thank you,” I say.
Just honest living.
No secrets.
Just peace.
Release.
Sitting the dark with a blanket on my knees, listening to Shubert’s piano Sonata in C (with four hands).
It’s almost as if there is a candlelight or even a fireplace.
Now the “critique” I can do without.
Let’s get on with the music. Leave it to men to get their big ideas into everything. He does have a nice English accent, I suppose.
Oh, Praise God.
“I am the way, the truth and the life.” (John 14:6)
Just sitting and being blessed.
Letting Jesus do the rest.
Knowing better is one thing and doing better is another.
Therefore, to him that knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. (James 4:17)
Rottenness of my flesh,
Horrible fear,
Whateaver you are,
Be gone;
The Prince of Peace is here.
Loneliness,
Emptiness,
Gnawing doubt,
Go on out.
Jesus is within, you are without.
Little dark blot upon my heart,
I broke through to the glory of the Lord.
“Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelujah, Praise Ye the Lord.”
(A heart with a Band-aid, an arrow, a light bulb that says, “Amen.”)
My life is so orderly now. Jesus picks up the stray threads that will not hurt anything if I do not run off after them. Jesus? Am I catching on a little better?
How I desire to share this book with some flesh and blood person. Who will it be? How I desire to share this flesh and blood person with some flesh and blood person. Who will it be? Lord?
I love you.
Jesus?
How difficult it is for me to grow up in my own home town; all I ever wanted was to leave it. How painful it is for me to see it as it really is and me, how I really am. That’s a lot of it, isn’t it, Lord?
Today I was thinking how fortunate I was to always know that I wanted God.
Or did I?
Hindsight is…right. But there was a time when I knew that it was God I wanted.
I remember it well and I shared it with David. Often I wonder if he remembers. Oh, the special moments he has for each of us, just especially for us to treasure; how lightly we take them.
And when they had found Him, they said to Him, Everyone is looking for you.” (Mark 1:37)
Oh, God,
You say so much. How can I absorb it?
How many small decisions we are forced to make each day? Never mind the big ones.
And what about all our concerns…How do you do it?
“Make me like You Lord, Make me like You.”
I want to be like you, but I don’t want to hurt like you hurt. I don’t want to cry like you cry, try like you try, I want it to be easy. I want it to just happen, just like that, overnight, everything like I want it. But it doesn’t work that way at all, does it?
Every time I’m plunking diligently about my routine at home or at work it seems a Beatles song comes on the radio reminding me that talent cannot save the soul from death and hell or bring the spirit of man to rest.
Time silently spent with God is time well-spent, better than time well-meant in earnest chores.
No, every well-meaning soul cannot spend eternity with God, only the soul that has found rest in the cleft of the Rock.
“David, you are on my mind so much it’s almost a continual burden, for how can my kindred soul of old continue yet with me until he finds the truth? Yet I am hopeful that He will make it just as wonderful for you.”
Forgive me, Lord, for expecting the worse and defending myself,
For criticism and rejection, for depression and dejection, for indigestion, and ill-repute, for balances that don’t compute.
For thinking too much about myself and not enough about others,
Forgive me, Lord.
Thank you for new shoes and a bag to match, for beans and rice and cheese, for 56 degrees outside and happiness within, for income tax returns and no heartburns, a new bank account and sunshine to walk in.
For nothing to fear, because fear is gone, for peace and release and calm.
For choir and charisma, California
For what’s happening and what has and what will, because He lives.
For friends that visit you from out of town,
for faces that smile instead of frown,
For sunrise and sunset,
For streets that get wet,
For the dead that will yet rise,
For sugar cookies and apple pies.
For people who care and who are there and for
Forgiveness
For calories and homilies, similies, anamolies,
Hallelujah and bless the Lord, for never having to be bored.
Vain man
Tries to put life under glass
For others to see
And pay for dearly,
When, all the time
It’s free
And inside,
Just waiting to be lived
(sketch of a butterfly)
Need more time?
Try getting up a half-hour earlier.
Need a new song?
Hear the birds at 5:30 a.m.
Is it dark?
No need to invent electricity; it’s already been done.
Just turn on the light.
Every instant
I am getting less like me and more like Him, yet
At the same time
More myself than ever
Because God created me in His image.
Sometimes it hurts
Sometimes it’s scary
But deep down it’s
Wonderful
And awesome
And brilliant
“Because He lives I can face tomorrow
Because He lives,
All fear
Is gone.”
Something within me wants to fly.
I was yours even when
I was lost and didn’t know it,
Yours even when I loved you but didn’t show it.
Knowing that even in sleep you were with me in a special way, my spirit, soul and body yielded and attuned to you in repose; awakening at intervals to the blessed assurance that you were there, that you were always there, working, waiting.
Losing interest in the attractions, distractions of the earth, amusements (bemusements) that fill our empty hours, empty hearts, empty lives, when there You are, Author of life, Author of love, Author of my soul, just longing for a free moment with my aching person.
It may be awkward attempting to express deity in twenty-first century vernacular, without sounding corny or commercial and yet describing excellence. Sometimes you hit a
few bumps. How do you think God feels, trying to express himself through us?
few bumps. How do you think God feels, trying to express himself through us?
What do you give to a God who has everything?
I have:
1) life
2) the meaning of life
3) eternity
4) today
I will spend it with You, any way You want to spend it.
And thank you.
The birds’ singing is simply astounding. I can’t get over it. Such variety, such dynamics, chirping, tweeting. How inadequately human words describe God’s wonders.
Man generally tries to obliterate them completely, unable to either enjoy or understand them, or if he can enjoy them, then proceeds to deify them and worship them, which is really to worship and deify self. How unworthy of God to bow down before a tree, or a T.V. set, or an automobile or a stereo, a baseball game, or an elk’s head.
“Blows that hurt cleanse away evil: as do stripes the inner depths of the heart. (Proverbs 20:30)
Blows that wound cleanse away evil, and strokes (for correction) reach to the innermost parts (Amplified Bible).
Just like the birds, you hear them in the morning so clearly. Then the noises of the day drown them out. But if you listen carefully you can still hear them and you know they’re still there. So it is with God’s voice.
I’m not a clown sitting in a chair,
or a rag doll with yarn for hair.
But I am just a person, flesh and blood and ready for bed.
I wrote all of the above when I had been saved for less than a year. I thought this poem was important to include:
Woman
Was created from the rib of man
Not from the head to top him
Neither from his feet to be walked upon.
She was made from his side to be his equal:
From beneath his arm—to be protected by him:
From very near
His heart
To be loved by him.
Comments
Post a Comment