Currently viewing the category:
"Poetry and Song"
The grand old month of March
It had so many things–
a church retreat,
ballet exams,
and stuff that each month brings.
But one thing that it lacked
(though I worked just like a dog)–
old March did not
allow the time
to post upon the blog!
So readers, are you there?
I wonder if you quit.
Please come again,
for April’s sake,
and read what I have writ. ten.
Maybe April is my month to get back on track! Subscribe via email or RSS with the buttons above my picture…because you never know when the flaky blogger will strike again!
Recently Andy studied the word “redeem” in scripture, and it became one of his favorite concepts. Redeem can be a marketplace word, as in, redeem your coupons or buy something back. Redeem can also mean “someone near”. When David says in Psalm 103:4, “he redeems my life from the pit,” he is saying, “He is near to me in the pit.”
This hymn about redemption is one of our favorites. Written in 1876, “I Will Sing of My Redeemer” was probably the last hymn ever penned by Philip Bliss. Mr. Bliss was killed while trying to rescue his wife from a train wreck over an Ohio ravine. Such a terrible tragedy, and yet, Philip Bliss knew the Someone “near” who had “bought back” his soul. He trusted that His redeemer “…from death to life hath brought me Son of God with Him to be.”
I will sing of my Redeemer,
And His wondrous love to me;
On the cruel cross He suffered,
From the curse to set me free.
Sing, oh, sing of my Redeemer,
With His blood He purchased me,
On the cross He sealed my pardon,
Paid the debt, and made me free.
I will tell the wondrous story,
How my lost estate to save,
In His boundless love and mercy,
He the ransom freely gave.
I will praise my dear Redeemer,
His triumphant pow’r I’ll tell,
How the victory He giveth
Over sin, and death, and hell.
I will sing of my Redeemer,
And His heav’nly love to me;
He from death to life hath brought me,
Son of God with Him to be.
“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us…” Galatians 3:13
(Thoughts on Exodus 33-34, Psalm 34:5, and 2 Corinthians 3:12-18)
“Moses! Your face!
We can’t bear to look!
God must’ve burned you
Up there in that nook
Here, take this veil–
It’ll cover the shine
We prefer a tad less
Of God’s glory divine.”
But, oh, Lord, not me!
Let me see it all!
And encounter Your glory
And answer Your call
Transformed to Your likeness,
May I shine with Your fame
In You I am radiant,
Not covered with shame
A veil must not hide
The heart within me
By Your glorious Spirit
Make me bold, hopeful, free.
I love a new year…blank calendar, new start, “…always fresh, with no mistakes in it,” as Anne of Green Gables would say. I love to set goals and make plans and dream dreams.
Lately I’ve been praying Kate Miner’s “Dream Before You”. It’s not a new song, but it comes back to my mind often. What a great prayer for 2011–for my kids, my husband, my church. After all, he is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20). Let’s dream before Him!
Dream Before You
by Kate Miner
I hear You calling me
To give You all my desires
I feel You drawing me
Into a place that’s higher
And I believe.
I come to dream before You
And give You the hope of all of my days
I lay my dreams before You
Let them be a sacrifice of praise
What could limit You?
For You are God and not man
And what could keep You
From doing what You’ve got planned?
I believe.
I come to dream before You
And give You the hope of all of my days
I lay my dreams before You
Let them be a sacrifice of praise
Move me and guide me
As I press in
And stand there beside me
In this place I’ve never been
We come to dream before You
And give You the hope of all of our days
We lay our dreams before You
Let them be a sacrifice of praise
What Anne lacks in mechanics and penmanship, she makes up for in a right-brained love of poetry. She keeps a little journal where she records poems–most of them from memory. This one, “Hope” by Emily Dickinson, is one of my favorites.
Hope is hard for me. I’m afraid to get my hopes up. But what if…? What if I had the courage to hope? What if I were so convinced of God’s unfailing love that I believed Him for more than I can ask or imagine? What if, like the little bird in the poem, hope perched and sang within my very soul?
What say you? Is hope difficult for you? Why or why not? And, in your most courageous moments, what do you hope for?
Hope
by Emily Dickinson
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune–without the words,
And never stops at all
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.
I believe in all that has never yet been spoken.
I want to free what waits within me
so that what no one has dared to wish for
may for once spring clear
without my contriving.
If this is arrogant, God, forgive me,
but this is what I need to say.
May what I do flow from me like a river,
no forcing and no holding back,
the way it is with children.
Then in these swelling and ebbing currents,
these deepening tides moving out, returning,
I will sing you as no one ever has,
streaming through widening channels
into the open sea.
-Rainer Maria Rilke, Rilke’s Book of Hours
This month marks the 13th anniversary of Rich Mullins’ death. Mullins could say perfectly in four stanzas what I can’t come close to expressing in four pages. I posted this song two years ago, but a few recent conversations about suffering and doubt brought it to mind again.
“Hard To Get”
by Rich Mullins
You who live in heaven
Hear the prayers of those of us who live on earth
Who are afraid of being left by those we love
And who get hardened in the hurt
Do you remember when you lived down here
Where we all scrape
To find the faith to ask for daily bread?
Did you forget about us after you had flown away?
Well, I memorized every word you said
Still I’m so scared, I’m holding my breath
While you’re up there just playing hard to get
You who live in radiance
Hear the prayers of those of us who live in skin
We have a love that’s not as patient as yours was
Still we do love now and then
Did you ever know loneliness?
Did you ever know need?
Do you remember just how long a night can get
When you are barely holding on
And your friends fall asleep
And don’t see the blood that’s running in your sweat?
Will those who mourn be left uncomforted
While you’re up there just playing hard to get?
I know you bore our sorrows
And I know you feel our pain
And I know that it would not hurt any less
Even if it could be explained
And I know that I am only lashing out
At the One who loves me most
And after I have figured this all out
What I really need to know…
Is if you who live in eternity
Hear the prayers of those of us who live in time
We can’t see what’s ahead
And we cannot get free from what we’ve left behind
I’m reeling from these voices
That keep screaming in my ears
All these words of shame and doubt, blame and regret
I can’t see how you’re leading me
Unless you’ve led me here
To where I’m lost enough to let myself be led
And so you’ve been here all along, I guess
It’s just your ways and you are just plain hard to get
For more about Rich Mullins, read this post, or An Arrow Pointing to Heaven by James Bryan Smith.
Re-posted from August 2008.
When Amy Carmichael struggled with whether or not to serve God on the mission field—leaving behind all she knew—her mother wrote this poem. Today, more than a century later, her words spoke to this Amy, too. A beautiful, simple reminder of our faithful God, and a reminder to moms to always point our children to deeper faith. I hope it encourages you.
He who hath led will lead
All through the wilderness,
He who hath fed will surely feed…
He who hath heard thy cry
Will never close His ear,
He who hath marked thy faintest sigh
Will not forget thy tear.
He loveth always, faileth never,
So rest on Him today – forever.
In honor of our 13th anniversary…
iLove
Andy and Amy
Sittin’ in a tree
S-U-R-F-I-N-G
First came love
Then came kids
Then came twitter
And some youtube vids
We used to go on dates
We used to talk out loud
Now we just IM
Amid the virtual crowd
“I like your status, babe.”
“I read your blog today.”
“You made me LOL!”
And, “R U O K?”
The times, they are a’changin’
But we’re still up in that tree
My dear, iLove you deeply
(And iLove technology!)
My uncle is very gifted musically. Mom recalls that, as a boy, Richard played the guitar and other instruments, and even made a few of his own. She also remembers how he sang the hymns in the little church my grandpa pastored.
One song in particular stands out in her memory.
“Sing them over again to me, wonderful words of life…”
Only, as a boy, my uncle misunderstood. Instead of words, he sang–with gusto–worms.
“Beautiful worms! Wonderful worms! Wonderful worms of life!”
One letter makes a big difference.
That song reminds me of a conversation between Jesus and Peter. (They talked about words, not worms.) The crowds that had been following Jesus were diminishing, and “…many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
‘You do not want to leave too, do you?’ Jesus asked the Twelve.
Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.’”
We look everywhere for lasting joy and fulfillment and life. We try relationships, careers, beauty or money. We try religion and no religion. We try being a good citizen, and we try apathy. But what’s real? What lasts? Indeed, to whom shall we go?
Jesus Christ has the words of eternal life. Not of guilt-ridden reproof or joyless obligation, but of eternal life!
To whom shall we go?
To the Author of life-giving words. One word from Him makes all the difference.
This series on the Book of John recaps women’s Renovate at Real Life Church. Previous posts in the series:
