Thankful Heart

Is Your All On The Altar?

You have longed for sweet peace,
And for faith to increase,
And have earnestly, fervently prayed;
But you cannot have rest,
Or be perfectly blest,
Until all on the altar is laid.

• Refrain:
  Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid?
  Your heart does the Spirit control?
  You can only be blest,
  And have peace and sweet rest,
  As you yield Him your body and soul.

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 Parts of Psalm 9

I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.
² I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High.

⁹ The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.
¹⁰ And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.
¹¹ Sing praises to the Lord, which dwelleth in Zion: declare among the people his doings.

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 A Psalm about Self

by Joseph Bayley (one of my favorite poets-more on him later)

Lord save me

from myself

my settled self

unsettle me

bring to end of rope

but only

if you

are at the end.

My procrastinating self

that can so easy find

side roads

that are more interesting

even ones where

errands can be run.

Send me back

to

my comfort loving self

uncomfort me

pull the covers from me

 on cold night

that I may 

wake. Starve my body

that my soul may feast.

My proud self.

Give me grace to bend myself

And keep me bent

lest you should

one day

bend me to the breaking point.

My righteous self

show me sin

that lurks beneath

my conscious thought

motivating

that pushes me

to settling

comfort pride

and self

rationalizing self

that finds excuse

for what I do

and don't.

Save me from myself

Save me so that

self may die

and save me

from pride

that self is dead.

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A Psalm of Praise

by Joseph Bayley

Thank You God

that You see

armies march

a sparrow fall

hear

atom's blast

a baby's cry

smell

volcano's flow

a man's sweat

 feel

contour of mountains

a little lump

taste

ocean's salt

my tears.

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This fall has been an interesting time. I know "He's still working on me to make me what I otta be."

Thankful for a loving, patient, holy, merciful God who works on me while loving me. 

He has blessed me and given me salvation.

The Gods of the Copybook Headings--Rudyard Kipling

This is a poem I am having the kids memorize right now. Babe brought it to my attention and wanted the kids to put it to memory. The more I read it the more I like it. I am  going through line by line and  explaining the meaning and then having Gabriel and Annalina repeat back to me the meaning and they are definitely understanding it better now. How true is this poem of today's culture all over the world!! AMAZING!! Truly "every age and race" listen to those Gods of the Market Place promising glitter and gold & fanciful things. . . . . hmmm, or maybe listening to campaign slogans like "hope and change"!!! Unfortunately, we don't even have a candidate that truly focuses on Biblical truth. What society should be concentrating on are those that follow the wisdom of the centuries . . . like God's Word . . . those that make Biblical wisdom a part of their study and see it important to mark down in their copy books of wisdom from the past . . . the TRUTH that we know. We need to return to Truth and not the morally bankrupt feelgoodism. The Gods of the Copybook Headings by Rudyard Kipling

AS I PASS through my incarnations in every age and race, I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place. Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall, And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all. We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn: But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind, So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind. We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace, Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place, But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome. With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch, They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch; They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings; So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things. When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace. They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease. But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe, And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know." On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life (Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife) Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith, And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death." In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all, By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul; But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy, And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die." Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more. As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man There are only four things certain since Social Progress began. That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire, And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire; And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins, As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn, The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!