The musings of an old woman,a wife, a mother of two sons, a lover of dogs and all God's creatures, a reader of books, a child of the King.
A pilgrim with many rivers yet to cross, on a journey home to Him.
I have had this one song stuck in my head for days now, my heart sings it over and over, and unlike those silly commercial jingles that sometimes get stuck in there, this one does not bother me. I love having it in there. On Saturday I was in my kitchen, cooking breakfast and this song started playing. I was singing along and just as I begin to sing "Your righteousness is like the might mountain", I glanced out my patio window at the beautiful Sandia Mountains, and there was a hawk up in the sky, what a beautiful sight, mighty mountains and a majestic hawk.
(This is not a photo of the hawk I saw, nor even the mountain I was looking at, but it gives an idea)
Your Love, Oh Lord
Reaches to the heavens
Your faithfulness
Stretches to the skies
Your righteousness
Is like the mighty mountain
Your justice flows like the ocean's tide
I will lift my voice
To worship You my King
And I will find my strength
In the shadow of Your wings
Your Love, Oh Lord
Reaches to the heavens
Your faithfulness
Stretches to the skies
Your righteousness
Is like the mighty mountain
Your justice flows like the ocean's tide
I will lift my voice
To worship You my King
And I will find my strength
In the shadow of Your wings
Your Love, Oh Lord
Reaches to the heavens
Your faithfulness
Stretches to the skies
Where there is hatred let me bring
Your love
Where there is injury
Your pardon, Lord
And where there's doubt
true faith in You
Make me a channel of Your peace
Where there's despair in life
let me bring hope
Where there is darkness, only light
And where there's sadness, ever joy
Oh, Master grant that I
may never seek
So much to be consoled
as to console
To be understood
as to understand
To be loved as to love
with all my soul
Make me a channel of Your peace
It is in pardoning that we are
pardoned
In giving to all men that we receive
And in dying that we're born to
eternal life
Oh, Master grant that I
may never seek
So much to be consoled as to console
To be understood as to understand
To be loved as to love with all my soul
Make me a channel of Your peace
Where there's despair in life
let me bring hope
Where there is darkness, only light
And where there's sadness, ever joy
A beautiful prayer, a beautiful song, a beautiful voice. The voice of Franciscan monk Friar Alessandro brings alive this ancient prayer, often attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi.
It is a beautiful way to start the day and it is the prayer of my heart. A heart that without Christ, has no hope of living out this prayer for any length of time.
Our natural tendency is to hate, hating is easy, when someone hurts us, or hurts the ones we love, hate springs to the heart fueled by anger, fueled by a sense of injustice......hate is easy, but to love the one who has hurt you? To love the one who has hurt the one you love? This my friends is difficult, of our own strength we simply cannot do it.
Our natural tendency to injury is to strike back, to repay, blow for blow, eye for eye and tooth for tooth, in truth that law was given by God to prevent our true tendency, which was to take life for eye, to take arms and legs for tooth. We tend to desire to take far more than was taken. But pardon? That is totally unnatural to us. Pardon the one who took from me? In my own strength I simply cannot achieve this.
Our natural heart seeks to be consoled, to be understood, to be loved, we seek these things often above all others, but to cast these things aside and seek only to console, to understand and to love is once again beyond out own strength.
To bring hope to those in despair, to bring light to those in darkness, to bring joy to those overwhelmed by sadness is a worthy way to spend ones life. Were I to be able to do this always, to pour out my life in this manner, and never have anything else, to die in my bed, destitute, alone without any creature comfort, it would be well worth it, and a life well lived.
It is ever a work in progress, for each act of kindness there are ten that were not so kind. It is very possible that on my way to work this morning, this song on my lips and in my heart, that I will commit murder in my heart against some poor soul who simply is not driving in the manner that I think they should. For each act of compassion done this day at my work, it is probable that I will tilt the scales in the other direction by ten things I miss, ten opportunities to display compassion ignored, and ten more where I deem the person unworthy of compassion.
It is easy to love the lovable, and to love the unlovable when they are family and dear to you, but to love strangers, unlovable strangers, this, this is the true task of living out this prayer. This is the true struggle and one that I am more often than not a failure at.
So today, this Monday, this 4th of November, I arise, this prayer on my lips, this song in my heart, and I ask the Lord most high, to open my eyes to the things going on around me, to open my hear that His love and mercy might pour forth upon all that I encounter, that each judgement I make will be His and not mine, that each life I come in contact with might be the better for having seen Him in me, than the worse for having seen me in me.
Bless this day Lord, this coming week, this month, this year, this very life of mine, take it Lord and make it that which You would have it be, kill all that is within me that is not of You. Remind me always of my failures, never allow me to justify them, do not cease Lord, from the work that You began, do not cease Lord, for apart from You I am nothing.
The wisdom of Francis of Assisi
“All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.”
“Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words.”
“The deeds you do may be the only sermon some persons will hear today”
“Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take with you nothing that have received--only what you have given.”
“No one is to be called an enemy, all are your benefactors, and no one does you harm. You have no enemy except yourselves.”
“If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the
shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise
with their fellow men.”
“Nor did demons crucify Him; it is you who have crucified Him and crucify Him still, when you delight in your vices and sins. ”
A truly beautiful song.....one to really listen to, over and over again, hear the words, take in the words.....
His great grace!
It’s there in the newborn cry
There in the light of every sunrise
There in the shadows of this life
Your great grace
It’s there on the mountain top
There in the everyday and the mundane
There in the sorrow and the dancing
Your great grace
Oh such grace
From the creation to the cross
There from the cross into eternity
Your grace finds me, yes your grace finds me
It’s there on a wedding day
There in the weeping by the graveside
There in the very breath we breathe
Your great grace
The same for the rich and poor
The same for the saint and for the sinner
Enough for this whole wide world
Your great grace
Oh such grace
There in the darkest night of the soul
There in the sweetest songs of victory
Your grace finds me
Yes your grace finds me
Your great grace
Oh such grace
Your great grace
Oh such grace
So I’m breathing in Your grace
And breathing out Your praise
I’m breathing in Your grace
Forever I’ll be
Your grace finds me
Yes Your grace finds me
