Glory-Honor-Wisdom from above:
Imbue my every need with Your enough.
Eradicate ideals which take Your place,
Which tempt my heart in gaudy masquerade.
–
My mind is wander-prone;
You offer changeless grace.
My faith shifts like the waves;
You teach me to be calm.
–
I see the good in what You give.
I feel the all in what You are.
This is the beauty of Your peace.
Son-rise, Lord, upon my day
And guide my heart till my eyes close–
That all I choose to do and say
–
Would show Your good, reflect Your love:
Until those placed around me know
The great things You alone have done.
–
Amen.
When I have trusted and been cleansed–
My way to God made clear by Christ–
What then shall block my prayers to Him
Except my pride and worry-vice?
O Lord of clarity and light,
Diffuse the fog that skews my thoughts.
Lift all distractions from my mind;
Help me address You as I ought.
Amen.
Hail, Light of the World and King,
Of every heart that humbly sees
The ray of sun piercing their gloom,
The hand of God op’ning their tomb
And calling them out, calling forth–
The old man to be cast down, no more–
The new man to breathe afresh, again.
The glory of God has worked this plan.
Stone souls made flesh
To reflect Him for eternity.
ACTS Prayer in Four Haiku
1.
Eyes up, jaw hanging
At grandeur of You, My King,
Before I kiss the earth,
2.
For my thoughts are low,
My habits bent opposite–
Compared to Your ways.
3.
So I cry my thanks,
That You would make covering
And draw me so near.
4.
Now open my eyes
And uplift my face to taste
Your divine beauty.
Only in the Name of Christ may I come
Under His blood, His mercy enough–
Removing the stain of all wrongs I’ve done–
*
Freely to approach, then, Heaven’s throne.
Awe stills my tongue, gives my heart true pause.
Thanks, thus, must flow next, and praise, for Grace shown.
Help me, Spirit, to divine and speak, honestly, my wants.
Encourage me to seek His glory be more widely known:
Refined, I pray, will be my heart in relation to my God.
To the Maker of all,
I make all my pleas
And give back all praise
To the One who made me.
And when I have seen
How all I can bring
Is only a mite’s worth,
I will recognize
How You have supplied–
Already–
Every good thing.
Amen.
In Christ, we are whole.
Thinking about this, I reviewed the biblical accounts of the crucifixion and sketched out the simple art pictured above. And the result of what poured out from brain to fingers to pen to paper carried a double meaning when I gazed at the final product.
Through the crown of thorns (in the infinite circle shape), the wholeness of Christ is imposed on those of us who are sinfully fallen but who trust in His sacrifice.
And the stylized thorn lines also represent the cracks where He fuses our broken life pieces back together when He redeems us, heart and soul.
And then I was inspired to write the following short, untitled poem:
“Whole — the garment gambled on
Below His feet as He bled out,
His blood: His life; my heart: His prize,
The broken thing that He’d risk all
To heal. Oh, let me not forget
Nor fail to feel the wholeness
Of His pain, His goodness, and
My gain, when fused again,
Together, all my pieces hold a
Soul restored to praise His name.
Now let me wholly live for Him,
That I may one day share His crown.”
My brothers and sisters, be who you are.
Be whole.
My final hymn written for this year is finished, and I am eager to share it with all of you as a Christmas gift.
I have long appreciated the beautiful melody of the song called The Coventry Carol. I also think it is fitting to remember the massacre of the innocents, as ordered by King Herod — poignantly described in those lyrics.
But I wanted to use the hopeful resolve at the tune’s end to lead us to focus on the bigger picture. Everything that was before and everything that came after: Christmas as we think of it was only one heartbeat in the span of the greater story.
Below is a video recording of my reworking, new words to a very old tune. Special thanks to brother Joshua Ku for playing and to my husband Paul Sasse for recording.
A blessed Christmas to every reader.
