tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44107988304542251362024-03-13T13:52:52.786-07:00525,600 PrayersHow Do You Measure A Life of Faith?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4410798830454225136.post-64013952469250006632014-01-06T21:18:00.002-08:002014-01-06T22:23:09.643-08:00<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Pacing the Cage</span></b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">"Sometimes the best map will not guide you </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">You can't see what's round the bend</span><br />
<br style="font-family: Verdana;" />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Sometimes the road leads through dark places </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Sometimes the darkness is your friend</span><br />
<br style="font-family: Verdana;" />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Today these eyes scan bleached-out land </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">For the coming of the outbound stage</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(you find yourself)<br />Pacing the cage"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;">Bruce Cockburn</span></span><br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpz-pn-G77E">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpz-pn-G77E</a><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Bruce Cockburn often distills in song</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">what my soul feels </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">poetically</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And, for that, I am thankful</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(and can't get enough)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">There's something about my life that often finds me </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Pacing the Cage</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">once again</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Pacing the Cage</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">like an animal hemmed in</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Bound</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">yet fierce and strong</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">aching to race and to pounce</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Today my mind raced</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">and last night, all night, too</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Where will I be?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">What is my life to be?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Who will take me in?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I offer up this pacing, Lord, as prayer.....</span><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4410798830454225136.post-47838027874516082592013-08-10T11:02:00.001-07:002013-08-10T11:02:18.017-07:00Pain, glory and graceThis thought recently occurred to me.<br />
<br />
Can failure lead to success? (This is an easy question.)<br />
Is pain the path to glory? (If Christ is our example, obviously.)<br />
<br />
We hold our pain close<br />
like a shield<br />
protecting us from more,<br />
and, yet, in doing so we deflect grace<br />
<br />
More pain<br />
More grace<br />
Bring it on!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4410798830454225136.post-63738001897164558422012-11-09T08:02:00.000-08:002012-11-09T08:02:26.896-08:00On the need to write...<br />
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This week I have written two professional development feedback reports for my job. I'd been putting off doing them, but, since money is involved in their completion, I decided to go ahead and get them done. And I really enjoyed the process. And remembered how much I love word-crafting. And realized that I ought to write more often. So here I am again at the blog.<br />
<br />
The world is full of lonely people. I am one of them. This surprises me and makes me often sad. However, I have discovered that when I write, I connect. Even if no one is reading my words, the fact that I am using words and putting them out into the world somehow makes me feel less alone. <br />
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C. S. Lewis has said, "We read to know we are not alone." I think I write for the same reason. And, honestly, writing is more fun for me than reading these days. Which proves I need to write, right?<br />
<br />
I am living with two teenagers alone in a two bedroom apartment. And I am blessed. This makes me want to shout "Victory!" I write of victory, of struggle, of insight and confusion. I write to know I'm not alone. Thanks for reading along. Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4410798830454225136.post-68564329792757868172010-10-06T08:24:00.000-07:002010-10-06T08:24:03.547-07:00We must remember to pray without ceasing....And as we do, we find that God is with us, that He is for us, that the things which seek to distract us and cause us to want to fret are nothing. Nothing. No Big Thing in light of His goodness and mercy. Lord help me to remember to continue to watch and to pray, that I might live as though you are Lord, for you are. And this is enough.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4410798830454225136.post-64439121282787867732010-07-30T20:25:00.000-07:002010-07-30T20:25:56.734-07:00On Regretting Things Done and Not Done in The PastFor so long I have felt that much of my life has been not well spent, but, rather, wasted. The reasons do not matter now; I could fill a book with sad stories. What matters is that God has helped me to see and realize <em>just today</em> that what I have lived through in the past has prepared me for today. And tomorrow. And this brings me great joy. <br />
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"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purposes" Romans 8:28<br />
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All things past, all things present, all things future. God is causing them to work together for my good (which, of course, means that he is making them work for His good since I am His child, but that is another post). <br />
I needn't worry that my past has somehow kept me from being able to accomplish God's will in my life. My God is a magician....He uses what I have done and what I have failed to do, and makes of it something worthwhile. This makes me want to sing and shout! My life made fruitful, despite myself! <br />
What a privilege it is to know the Living God, to be known by Him and to be "called according to His purposes".Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4410798830454225136.post-27526929192989314402010-07-26T12:59:00.000-07:002010-07-26T12:59:03.647-07:00Why write when one can simply pray?Why, indeed. Why not? Well, God wrote. That is reason enough for me. So here we go again, this time just the four of us: Jesus, the kids and me.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com