The Shining Pathway

While cataloging my library, I came across a rare book that I had not read in several years. "The Shining Pathway" is a privately published book of poems by The Reverend Lawrence Keister, D. D. of Scottdale, PA, formerly President Lebanon Valley College. It was printed in 1930.

From the introduction:

"The poems in this little book are the expression of a faith, an attitude of mind and heart which is the outgrowth of a long life filled with rich and varied Christian experience. . ."

The poems in this little book reveal a man who loved God and rejoiced in His creation. He was a man who lived Coram Deo, before the presence of God.

I will be posting some of his poems here under the subject line "The Shining Pathway" because I'd like for his work to have a broader audience. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

The Leaves of Autumn
by Rev. Lawrence Keister

Once more the leaves of Autumn
Present their grand appeal;
Once more with art and ardor
Their spirit they reveal.

Their robes are quite becoming,
As on their way to rest
They wave adieus politely
To those who love them best.

Insistent reds and yellows,
Replace the useful greens
With resolute intention,--
We know just what it means.

In unison they tell us
Of mission now complete;
Of final transformation,
And tread of snowy feet.

Library Thing

I've just started cataloging my library at LibraryThing.com

You can check out some random books from my library in the side bar. For a while it may look as though I am not very well-read--I only have one shelf cataloged so far. I promise you--I do read more widely than Tolkien and Harry Potter!

Contentment

Contentment is a divine thing: It becomes ours, not by acquisition, but infusion; it is a slip taken off from the tree of life, and planted by the spirit of God in the soul; it is a fruit that grows not in the garden of philosophy, but is of a heavenly birth: it is therefore very observable that contentment is joined with godliness, and is profitable: "godliness with contentment is great gain" (1 Tim.6:6).

Contentment is an intrinsical thing: Contentment hath both fountain and stream in the soul…Thieves may plunder us of our money and plate, but not of this pearl of contentment, unless we are willing to part with it, for it is locked up in the cabinet of the heart; the soul which is possessed of this rich treasure of contentment, is like Noah in the ark, that can sing in the midst of a deluge"

Contentment is a habitual thing: It shines with a fixed light in the firmament of the soul. Contentment does not appear only now and then, as some stars which are seen but seldom; it is a settled attitude of the heart.

Thomas Watson, the Art of Divine Contentment (1855)

The Water Cooler

From the Water Cooler: Odd headlines from around the globe

A daily section in my local newspaper, The Northwest Herald. You'll see it here from time to time.

"God is gr8"

ADELAIDE, Australia -- "in da Bginnin God cre8d da heavens & da earth."

That's according to a new version of the Bible translated into the text-message language of cell-phone users.

The Bible Society in Australia on Thursday launched its translation of all 31, 173 verses of the Bilbe in the modern, abbreviated language of text messages.

The verses can be accessed over the internet for free so that they can be spread by cell phone to family and friends, society spokesman Michael Chant said.

The society used the International Contemporary English Version of the Bible and remained faithful to the grammar, changinig just the spelling of words, Chant said.

Sending the entire Bible by text message would take more than 30,000 dispatches, he said.

--The Associated Press

Monday, oh boy, Monday!

Monday our new digital camera arrives! Not in time for a picture of the finished pesto, but definitely in time for a picture of autumn color in Chicagoland.