A question to ponder
Of joy or of strife
What are the words
That have shaped your life
Words that cut deep
That make the way rough
Wounds of the heart
You’re not good enough
Or of performance
Of things you must do
If you’re a good person
I’ll be proud of you
Let us take control
To let the soul, grow
For it is time now
To let those words go
Found in the scriptures
One Word to show
Let it shape our life
Its Jesus to know
When the sun sets
And light disappears
God reveals to us
There millions more out there
If sun always shown
We’d never see
The shining stars
Of universe be
Silence sets in
Such comforting sounds
Easy of resting
In peace that abounds
In the night sky
A palette to wonder
A time set aside
To practice to ponder
View of consuming
Of infinity
A being of
Eternity
Last thought of the day
Of my greater to see
That there is much more
Than just about me
To be grateful is to recognize
God’s love in everything
For indeed He has
Given us everything
Every breath is love
Every moment, grace
For it brings in Him
Immense grace to embrace
Take nothing for granted
Unresponsive, never
To wonder of awakening
To praise our God forever
For the grateful person
Knows God is good, above
Not only by hearsay
But experience of love
Thomas Merton ~ To be grateful is to recognize the Love of God in everything He has given us – and He has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from Him. Gratitude therefore takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder and to praise of the goodness of God. For the grateful person knows that God is good, not by hearsay but by experience. And that is what makes all the difference.
I am so grumpy
It didn’t go my way
Thought of consuming
That I had a bad day
Pause now to ponder
A thought to concede
Oh, to be happy
What do I need?
To have a good job
My body healthy
A wonderful home
And great family
Or maybe much simpler
A walk of outside
The sun on my face
A friend by my side
Could we go deeper
A prayer to embrace
Just God loving me
Blessed by His grace
Under a blue sky
Of clouds rolling by
A prayer of the field
In green grass we lie
Under the warm light
In autumns fresh air
Easy the finding
Of Spirit appear
Peace is prevailing
Soul of the freeing
Man and divine
So Easy of being
A moment of molding
In your grace to spread
Seeds of the planting
In the days ahead
We are the broken
The sinners and lost
Saved by the passion
Born of the cross
In seeking and finding
Devoted to prayer
In sharing and binding
Shining love here
Faith is our treasure
Souls of believing
Your Spirit of giving
We’re blessed in receiving
We stumble and fall
In mercy of yearning
A story of grace
Found in our returning
The chosen united
Our life a journey
One of declaring
Love’s our destiny
Inspired from… “Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone – we find it with another.” ~Thomas Merton
Please bless them Lord
This day to be
Your gifts outpour
From grace of Thee
Let Spirit flow
With joy and love
Your heaven share
They take part of
Let Your light shine
With praise and song
With one heart join
We all belong
Let gratitude
Rein in their heart
With waves of love
From this day, start
I read a quote
It took me aback
I read it again
Stopped me in my tracks
“How busy we become
When we lose sight
Of how much God loves us”
What a gift of insight
Treasure of our doing
Importance found in me
Filling of the void
Of busyness, you see
Let us turn the focus
To being of a prayer
To know that all is grace
And see God everywhere
My, how busy we become when we lose sight of how God loves us.
~Julian of Norwich
Let us recognize
To this day we bring
Through our thoughts and actions
That we share something
If we are frazzled
Our stress that we share
And at the root
A message of fear
Perhaps of frustration
Or anger we show
Our voice to the world
One of my ego
With a new direction
Let’s start with a prayer
Changing our heart
Of God’s love, be aware
Of blessings received
Gratefulness know
Gifts of the Spirit
This day to bestow
What is a libation?
In Roman times found
Taking your last drink
And pouring into the ground
As an offering
To their Gods as a gift
Paul turned this tradition
As a new prayer to lift
As his life was ending
Offered an invitation
To pour out our life
Like a libation
When difficult
And we stumble and fall
Be filled with the love
Of our Jesus recall
Of our Lord on the cross
In reversal of view
Poured every last drop
Of His blood out for you
DarylMadden 