Been doing a little surfing around the Xanga world, and am so encouraged to find a growing, vibrant network of Christian believers therein. I am especially gratified to find a “prayer warriors” site developed by one young Xangan Check it out!
more later
Be God’s
jim
Happy New Year,
friends and fellow Xangites!!!
(the following is a work in progress..call it a “progressive revelation”. I’ll be posting up bits and pieces as I get a moment here and there at work today)
New Years
* * * *
The revelers who dance the streets
and crowd the city squares
Are happy ’round the stroke of twelve,
and seem to have no cares.
But happiness is fleeting stuff -
like mist it comes and goes;
The spirit of the moment
only briefly dulls life’s woes.
There is a Spirit, quieter
Who speaks in whispered tones
And bids us comfort and good will;
Who softly calls us home.
To deeper things than
evanescent
happiness and cheer;
To joy that’s found in God alone -
To love which quells our fear.
It’s unbound love which
gives the power
To hope when all’s not fair
And shows the heart
the way to dance-
When darkness says
“Despair”
So hear the quiet call
my friend
Come revel in the Light
Release to Him
your hopes and fears
While dancing in the night.
© copyright 2006 James Smallish
*****
(the sentiment at the end of the above was sparked by a passage written by Breath_Of_Dawn in August, which has run through my mind on and off ever since…)
“Drawn into the silence
Deeper than the night
Darkness only finds me
Dancing in the light”
***
IT’S OVER
****
For better or worse, the most hectic part of this hectic season is pretty much done.
Take a breath; slow down, relax. Take time to …”breathe in; breathe out”.
Treat yourself to a quiet cup of tea, coffee, cocoa…whatever.
Notice small things…like snowflakes, or your own fingers and toes, and see the wonders of God in them.
***************
Thank GOD! Pray to him by name! Tell everyone you meet what he has done!
…. Live a happy life!
Keep your eyes open for GOD, watch for his works;
be alert for signs of his presence.
Remember the world of wonders he has made…
O seed of Abraham, his servant, O child of Jacob, his chosen.
(from Psalm 105:1-6, the Message)
*
(thanks to my daughter’s teacher, Mrs. Falk , for some of the
wonderful images I am able to share with you on my page)
This Season
While wind and snow blow over northern lands
And sun-heat strokes the palms and desert sands
O’er all the world in dry or tropic clime
Now humans mark this season sacred time:
Recount a gift of countless worth;
A priceless treasure held in clay.
Retell a King’s ignoble birth;
The child and man who showed the way
To reach the stars;
To live with Him
Who sent a child
to Bethlehem
To live and love
(and die in pain)
As God in man,
and so to gain
The prize which Adam’s child had lost
To pay in blood unnumbered cost.
******************
Yet now we pause to hold the sight
Of mother, babe, and holy night.
To wonder at this God so small;
So humbly nested in the stall.
‘mid beast and earth and man and straw -
What marvel there the magi saw!
The King they sought; yet not a king,
A child who made the angels sing!
The Infinite in cloth and hay
Who lived, and died, and lives today,
And bids us come with child-wide eyes
And in Him see where heaven lies.
© copyright 2005 James Smallish
– jim
*************
Enjoy this season of wonder
Jim
(Here’s the link to the background music for those of you for whom that file won’t open ; just minimize the screen that opens)
http://boss.streamos.com/wmedia/emicmg/sparrow/shawnmcdonald/o_holy_night.wax
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this.
Isaiah 9:6&7
Contemplating the King born among the beasts
Jim
x x x x x x x x x x x x x
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
I’m thankful for so many things
There seems too little time
To share them all in prose or poem
But here’s my simple rhyme.
I’m thankful for the things I have;
For clothing and for bread,
I’m thankful for my friends and kin
And shelter o’er my head.
I also, Lord, give thanks to you
For what I do NOT own;
For where I’m weak ’tis there, it seems,
My need for You is shown.
So for my plenty, Lord my God
I give you thanks and praise,
And for my weaknesses as well
My hands to You I raise.
I thank you, Father, in my life
For all that you have done,
Yet save my deepest, richest praise
For sending us Your Son.
©copyright 2005 James Smallish
+ + + + +
Happy Thanksgiving, All!
Jim
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
Isaiah 40:28-31
Help me, O Lord, to wait on you; not passively, but
actively, hopefully, expectantly…
with the eagerness of a seven-year-old on Christmas eve,
trusting in the True Giver of “every good and perfect gift”.
Maranatha
SEEING
Now I can see in
darkest night
Or in the breaking
Early light
Or in the smoky
Foggy day;
For it’s not light
Which lights my way.
Not with lens
My path I view.
Nor with eye
Of brown or blue.
A fire without me burns within
And calls my name above the din
Of madding crowd or inner fear;
‘Tho whispered soft, I still can hear.
’tis this same fire which calls to me
Which lights the way that I might see.
The one who’s done it…lit the pyre
a beacon calling “further; higher”
Is himself the holy light
The healer who’s restored my sight.
He Himself will be the day
By which we all will see our way.
And when our way and path is done
The Way and Light will be our home.
© copyright 2005 James A. Smallish
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Revelation 21
“I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, … 22I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
23The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. “
May The Light light your path clearly…Jim
Recent Comments