Come, Thou Fount

This is, hands down, one of my favorite hymns.  It speaks to my heart and my soul.

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Words: Robert Robinson (1735-1790), alt.

Come, thou fount of every blessing,

tune my heart to sing thy grace!

Streams of mercy never ceasing,

call for songs of loudest praise.

Teach me some melodious sonnet,

sung by flaming tongues above.

Praise the mount! Oh, fix me on it,

mount of God’s unchanging love.

Here I find my greatest treasure;

hither, by thy help, I’ve come;

and I hope, by thy good pleasure,

safely to arrive at home.

Jesus sought me when a stranger

wandering from the fold of God;

he, to rescue me from danger,

interposed his precious blood.

Oh, to grace how great a debtor

daily I’m constrained to be!

Let thy goodness, like a fetter,

bind my wandering heart to thee:

prone to wander, Lord I feel it,

prone to leave the God I love;

here’s my heart, oh, take and seal it

seal it for thy courts above.

The Beatitudes: Message Style

Matthew 5:1-12 (MSG)


You're Blessed


1-2   When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions. This is what he said:
3   "You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.
4   "You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.
5   "You're blessed when you're content with just who you are—no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.
6   "You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat.
7   "You're blessed when you care. At the moment of being 'care-full,' you find yourselves cared for.
8   "You're blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.
9   "You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That's when you discover who you really are, and your place in God's family.
10   "You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom.
11-12   "Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don't like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.

God Woot: Patience, Not Worry!

So, I wrote this morning's entry, Somewhere Between Planting and Harvest, last night.  This morning, I open up Joyce Meyer's New Day New You to read the title of today's devotion: "Producing Patience, Character, and Hope."

Could God be telling me to be patient?  Naaahhhh....  

...Yeeeaaaahhh.

Reinforcing my sentiments of how it is hard not to worry in this newness of totally trusting God, Joyce writes, "It is easy to say, "Don't worry."  But to actually do that requires experience with God.  I don't think there is any way a person can fully overcome the habit of worry, anxiety, and fear and develop the habit of peace, rest, and hope without years of experience."

A good amen wouldn't hurt anything right about now!  :)

Get Together

The Youngbloods – Get Together

Love is but the song we sing,
And fear's the way we die
You can make the mountains ring
Or make the angels cry
Know the dove is on the wing
And you need not know why
C'mon people now,
Smile on your brother
Ev'rybody get together
Try and love one another right now
Some will come and some will go
We shall surely pass
When the one that left us here
Returns for us at last
We are but a moments sunlight
Fading in the grass
C'mon people now,
Smile on your brother
Ev'rybody get together
Try and love one another right now
If you hear the song I sing,
You must understand
You hold the key to love and fear
All in your trembling hand
Just one key unlocks them both
It's there at your command
C'mon people now,
Smile on your brother
Ev'rybody get together
Try and love one another right now
Right now
Right now!

Words of Wisdom

"This is the first teaching of the knights: You will erase everything you had written in the book of your life up until now: restlessness, uncertainty, lies.  And in the place of all of this you will write the word courage.  By beginning the journey with that word and continuing with faith in God, you will arrive wherever you need to arrive."

From Warrior of the Light by Paulo Coelho, author of The Alchemist.