Green December hills
So eager when you should be sleeping
Stop your striving and let your pigment sink into the earth
I will cover you with a downy blanket
And sing you the Snow Queen’s lullaby
You will find your peace hidden beneath
~lg
The first candle
As the darkest night approaches, we look for the single candle in the dark. Hope.
We see it faintly on the horizon, beckoning winter weary hearts. We draw near to its bright flame, and though we hobble on frostbitten toes, fingers numb from wrestling in the cold, hope’s warmth begins to thaw us. Hope’s light reminds us the dark night of the soul will not last forever.
And unlike so many vain promises, this hope will not disappoint, because it is lit with an everlasting love, the blessed assurance of One who has descended into the depths of sin’s chilling darkness and has emerged in radiant dawn.
“A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices, for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn . . .”
~lg
don’t clear the table
My first impulse is to clear the table. Things should be a little tidier, don’t you think? Last night’s dishes, this morning’s now cold coffee, the rice cereal splattered all over the table and floor, the camera from taking pictures of Arden’s 6 month milestone. But no. I push aside the oven mitts, the paperwork I haven’t filed, and I open my Bible. This is where it fits. Because if it doesn’t fit in the middle of my messy life, it’s not worth opening at all.
~lg
Solomon’s echo
Yahweh be with me,
Uncontainable God, dwell with me.
Let these words rise to open ears,
let them be near to You.
Open Your eyes toward me,
for You have placed Your name within.
Incline my heart to You,
this heart that You alone know,
till it be wholly devoted to You.
Let your eyes and your heart be perpetually here.
~lg
I remember
Today I remember…
That we cannot pretend there is no such thing as sin,
that it does not grip and destroy hearts and nations.
That the capacity for evil exists within all our hearts,
warring against all that is good and from God.
That war is hell, not glory,
that war will never save us.
Today I remember ….
Only peace will save
Only goodness will deliver
Only Love will look war in the eye and conquer death
~lg