Eternity

I stood at the time-beaten portals,
Where many a pilgrim had passed
Out into the infinite future,
To be with the pure and the blest;
And, musing in silent devotion,
Eternity seemed to draw near;
And strains from the choir of the faithful
I seemed in my fancy to hear.

Refrain:
Oh, eternity! Long eternity!
Hear the solemn footsteps of eternity.

I lingered, and silently listened
To the dull, heavy tread of the years,
And thought of the fate of the guilty,
When Christ in His glory appears;
A shudder came over my spirit,
As I thought what a moment might cost,
For eternity’s stillness was broken
By the groans and the sighs of the lost.

I saw then the Judge in His splendor,
As He stepped to His great judgment seat,
And thought of the crashing of ages,
When time and eternity meet;
For Time, who has laid many millions,
To slumber in death’s silent shade,
Shall reel at eternity’s presence,
And sleep in the tomb he has made.

Let us work while ’tis day, brother, sister,
For soon shall the Master return,
To garner the wheat that we harvest,
The chaff in His fury to burn;
Then in haste let us rush to the rescue,
But few can we save at the most:
Soon millions shall be at the judgment,
Forever, eternally lost.

Christ the swordless

I saw the Conquerors riding by
With cruel lip and face wan:
Musing on kingdoms sacked and burned
There rode the Mongol Genghis Khan;

And Alexander, like a God,
Who sought to weld the world in one:
And Caesar with his laurel wreath;
And like a thing from hell, the Hun;

And leading, like a star the van,
Heedless of upstretched arm and groan,
Inscrutable Napoleon went
Dreaming of Empire and alone…

Then all perished from the earth
As fleeting shadows from a glass,
And, conquering down the centuries,
Came Christ, the Swordless, on an ass.

— Harry Kemp

I received this in my email this morning. I thought it was beautiful

Today . . .

I did not come this far, nor to this place alone, but in the presence and power of my God.

The circumstances of this moment are not greater than my God. He knows them better than I do, yet He permits them.
And He will overcome them within me if I will allow Him. Mine is not to fret as though He does not know, or care, or cannot overcome.

Mine is to walk on knowing that He is here.
I am His by His creation, and His new birth. I am His to do with as He chooses . . . to bless or to use up, to serve or to simply endure.

The day belongs to my Lord, and it is the only day I have to serve and glorify Him.
And so I shall give all that I have and am that for this one day He shall be honored.

For I am not promised tomorrow.
. . .choose you this day whom ye will serve; . . .but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. Joshua 24:15

Security

The Savior’s Hands

As a Mother’s hands hover over her child’s first toddling steps,
As a woman cradles an exquisite and beautiful flower,
As a potter touches a most fragile and delicate vessel,
As a father’s hands reach protectively toward the wonder of his first born,
So do the Hands of God enfold His Own.

Thus we walk through all manner of trial,
Stand through bodily discomfort and pain,
Rest in the midst of the most dismal and foreboding physical surroundings,
Face uncertainties and fears,
Secure in the knowledge that our inner most vital being
Is protected in
The Loving Hands of the Savior.

Vondi Howe
For Marilyn just before Tim was born, 1979

cat haiku

paws tucked under
snoozing daintily
peaceful catnap

flu haiku

head aches, sore throat, too
tired body, I’ve got the flu
oh groan, let me sleep

haiku

Steel gray skies above
Frozen ground, white drifts underfoot
Winter’s cold patterns