God's Minute

January 14

For Thy Name's sake, lead me, and guide me.--Psalm 31:3

LORD, hear our prayer in the morning. We need Thee all the day, through all the days. W have our call to prayer at any hour, but particularly when the night is spent, and Thou hast kindled the dawn as if Thou hadst made the day for us and only f0r us. Then we have a strange need that Thou shouldst take our hand inThine and our heart in Thine and our brain in Thine, and that our feet walk the road where Thy footprints should show the way though Thou shouldst need to leave us for a moment. We pray our morning prayer; we lift our singing hearts to Thee and praise Thee that all the ways we take we shall surely have the good companionship which on a day long since made hearts to burn, and turned a funeral day into one of laughter and great dreams. Blessed be the Lord, Who has guided our going all these years, and Who will continue to be our help and our rejoicing. We will make melody all day; we will walk modestly all day; we will work helpfully all day; we will do things which shall not need to be undone all day; and since these matters are too large for our accomplishment, we ask Thy mighty aid. Fail us not, our God. Smile on our many activities and bid them Godspeed to the end, that at the set of sun all may be well with our hearts, and we may be bidden by Thyself into a kindly good night.

Amen.

Bishop William A. Quayle,
St. Paul, Minnesota

His poems

Resolved to Confess

After nearly a month’s break from the Resolutions and several sporatic attempts to get Resolution 7 up on the blog, something just didn’t seem to be right. So I’d put it on the back burner and let it simmer and go back to the sections of his memoirs and some readings from his works for inspiration. If my goal in this series was simply to share what I saw in the resolution and my thoughts about it, then this would be a fairly straight forward resolution and it wouldn’t have been too difficult to get something up quickly.

But that is not what I set out to do. I set out to examine the resolutions in the context of the life and writings of Jonathan Edwards with a view toward understanding the man and, hopefully to apply what I learned in my own life for the purpose of developing a heart after God like his. I saw in his writings a depth of character that came through his own self examination and I thought, “it would be good for me to know myself like this—I am too adept at rationalizing and defending myself.”

I have come to see that I have bitten off a good deal more than I can chew, and yet I will endeavor to persevere because it does me good. And if it takes me much longer than I thought and if I lose the interest of others or if I find I am never able to sensibly share this on the blog, then so be it. Protecting my own pride and not wanting to look like a quitter is not sufficient reason to carry a project on to (public) completion, and so in all this I will say along with Edwards:

Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God’s help, I do humbly entreat Him by His grace to enable me to continue with this project, so far as it is agreeable to His will, for Christ’s sake.

God's Minute

January 13

Let not your heart be troubled.--John 14:1

ETERNAL GOD our Heavenly Father, we bow in gratitude before Thee this morning. We have been kept by Thy power during the darkness of the night. We are refreshed and strengthened for the duties of the new day. Thou hast made every provision for our physical needs. Accept this offering of sincere hearts. We would begin the day aright, so we tarry at Thy feet and implore the Divine blessing. We thank Thee for the message of Jesus Christ. Write His Word upon our hearts and help us to remember that Thou art the source of help for men in the critical experiences of life. We cannot see into the future so we know not what things shall come to pass this day. The spirit of future discernment is not with us. Things of great mystery may surge around us. We may be thrust into some dire temptation. We may be testd almost to the limit of endurance. Help us at all times to "believe in God" and to "believe in Jesus Christ." May the near personality of Jesus and the preciousness of His Word protect our hearts from trouble. Keep us this day from evil and help us to "hold steady" for the sake of One whose face "was set" toward Calvary. Bring us in Thine own good time to the place where the "mansions are" and give us the consciousness of a saving and keeping faith. In the Master's name we ask it.

Amen.

Rev. Benjamin Young,
Kansas City, Missouri

I'm having a senior moment

I can't remember the name of a book that I've read several times to the boys when they were younger. Last time was about 10 years ago when Sam was in Kindergarten or first grade. It's about a well educated, civilized mouse who takes his young wife on a picnic and ends up getting swept away in a storm and is marooned on an island. It's a wonderful book and it really bugs me that I can't remember the title or the author or even the mouse's name. Might have had island in the title.

SOMEBODY has to remember the name of this book! Please! I don't want to have to go up to the cold attic tomorrow and rummage around in the boxes to find it!

[update]

Nevermind, *grin*, it was the first thing that popped into my head this morning. Abel's Island. by William Steig. (Although I did have to go to Amazon to come up with the author) You can get it new or used, hardback or paperback for a song at Amazon so if you have young children and you've never read it to them, or if your kids are ready to read a "real book" on their own, I highly recommend it.

From the back cover: "With inimitable style, Steig tells the story of a mouse, Abelard Hassam di Chirico Flint, who gets swept away in a driving rainstorm while rescuing his wife's scarf and winds up stranded on a river island for a year. Abel isn't just any mouse. He is a fastidious Edwardian dandy who's inherited wealth ensures the leisurely comforts he takes such pleasure in. But Abel's high toned life of leisure conceals a soul full of true grit: once faced with the necessity of survival, Abel rises to the challenge."--Starred/Booklist

Sunshine

I've been waiting for that bright sunshine to show up and shine in my back door someday.

Luther Allison

Today the sun is shining! It is amazing to me how much one can overlook during extended days of gloom and cloudcover! This morning, I saw doggy noseprints on my doors and windows, dust bunnies on my hardwood floors. I saw how desperately my car needs to be washed! I saw how sluggish I had become.

Today the sun is shining! It is amazing to me how much one can see when the sun shines! I saw latent energy in the grass and shrubs--growth and brilliant color just bursting to return to life. I saw neighbors walking without hats, smiles on their faces and springs in their steps. I saw my garden as it will be in just a few, short months. I saw the hope of tomorrow and the Hand of the Almighty One Who gives us good gifts in season.

Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.

Hans Christian Andersen

Sunshine is a welcome thing. It brings a lot of brightness.

Jimmie Davis

I always feel sorry for people who think more about a rainy day ahead than sunshine today.

Rae Foley

He that will enjoy the brightness of sunshine, must quit the coolness of the shade.

Samuel Johnson

Nobody needs a smile so much as the one who has none to give. So get used to smiling heart-warming smiles, and you will spread sunshine in a sometimes dreary world.

Lawrence G. Lovasik

Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.

John Ruskin