We realize that the Lord is our strength and shield. Our hearts can fully trust Him.
From Psalm 28:7: “The Lord is my strength and my shield; in Him my heart trusts; so I am helped, and my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to Him.”
Time’s ever-changing river
Hours flowing day after day
Navigating change, life’s song
Destiny travels our way
Tomorrow’s adventure calls
River flows with rapid pace
Navigating change, be safe
Ambition now giving chase
Facing Niagara Falls
Calling out new direction
Navigating change, new route
River journey’s correction
River experience counts
Night’s campsite, overcrowded
Navigating change, next choice
New site empty, not crowded
Life shadows shifting river
Requires flexibility
Navigating change, time calls
Now teaching humility
From the words of American business pioneer and founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics, Mary Kay Ash: “When you come to a roadblock, take a detour.
The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image, but giving them the opportunity to create themselves.
You never really know how good of a leader you are until there is something there to lead us to, toward or through or to overcome.
Remember
God’s promise
Grace delivers goodness
Eternal life through Jesus
Love
Follow
Heaven’s light
Love’s shining grace
Eternity’s ticket fully paid
Jesus
Accept
God’s love
Promises eternal life
Savior pays our debts
Christ
Don’t dig up in doubt what you planted in faith.
From Luke 17:6: “The Lord replied, ‘If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.'”
Vanishing prairie hangs on
Isolated town foregone
Time long ago, grand premiere
History fading each year
Showing up on highway map
Road’s wide spot, taking a nap
Middle of farming country
Seldom find even one tree
Boarded-up wood-frame schoolhouse
Empty, forgotten courthouse
No longer town’s pride and joy
Critters, varmints now employ
Railroad track hides in tall grass
Recalling past trains, first-class
Grain elevator hanging on
Memories live, town’s swan song
Single street light standing guard
Night’s shadows, lasting vanguard
Yesteryear’s grandest of homes
Mystery for Sherlock Holmes
Faded sign for Ruth’s Café
Long absent dinner entrees
Movie theater shuttered
Smelling fresh popcorn, buttered
Few remember town’s past times
Hearing nature’s windy chimes
Past glory days, now long gone
Dim sunset, well past its dawn
During my teaching career, I taught 25 years in the eastern prairie country of Montana. Today, many small farming communities struggle for survival while others such as the one in this poem live on only as memories.
Are you carrying a heavy load? God wants to hold it–and you–in His hand.
From 1 Peter 5:6-7: “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.”
From 1 John 1:6-7: “If we say that we have fellowship with Him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
Traveling earthly journey
Living alongside our Lord
Following His path with trust
Feeling love, grace brings accord
Pursuing God’s righteousness
Confessing sins, big and small
Obeying Holy commands
Hanging up when evil calls
Trading former self for love
Abandoning temptation
Accepting Jesus’ new light
His way, life’s blessed station
Teaching life from Father’s Word
Steering lives in righteous ways
Walking in light, blessing faith
Rejoicing with lasting praise
From the words of American pastor and Christian teacher, Charles Stanley: “Are you trying to carry old baggage into your walk with the Lord? The attitudes, habits, and conduct that were yours before Christ must be abandoned in order for you to walk with God.”
Receive every day as a resurrection from death, as a new enjoyment of life, meet every rising sun with such sentiments of God’s goodness, as if you had seen it, and all things new–created upon your account.
From Ezekiel 36:24-27: “I will take you from the nations, and gather you from all the countries, and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you, and make you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances.”
Sounding like Eeyore
Winnie-the-Pooh listens in—
Stop this gloomy talk
Negative self-talk
Pessimistic attitude—
Life needs makeover
Look into life’s lens
Allow bright sunshine inside—
Turning a new page
