'Bells Across the Snow' Streams in the Desert 12/24 O Christmas, merry Christmas,Is it really come again,With its memories and greetings,With its joy and with its pain!There’s a minor in the carolAnd a shadow in the light,And a spray of cypress twiningWith the holly wreath tonight.And the hush is never brokenBy laughter light and low,As we …
Continue reading If We Could Hear Them Singing
The Old, Old Story by Lottie Brown Allen Joyfully the hours were speeding,And the children, all unheedingFlitted gaily to and fro,At the farmhouse making merry,Hanging sprays of holly berryAnd the magic mistletoe. Dear old Grandma, meanwhile sittingIn the firelight with her knitting.Sometimes joining in their glee,Spoke at last in gentle measureAnd they came with smiles …
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The Gain of Loss by John Hobart Egbert If wounded hearts were all unknown on earth,How could we know the preciousness of balm?If storms ne'er swept across life's placid sea,What would we know about the peace of calm? If bitter sorrows had no place in life.The sense of joy would have to be revised,Bare roses …
Continue reading The Gain of Loss by John Hobart Egbert
Guide Thou My Steps by William Henry Dawson I do not ask to have revealed todayEach step that in tomorrow's pathway lies;But 'tis for this, O Lord, I humbly pray:Guide Thou my steps aright from day to day.If Thou wilt only let me feel Thy handAt each new step, while traveling toward the skies,Firm as …
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What makes a nation's pillars highAnd its foundations strong?What makes it mighty to defyThe foes that round it throng? It is not gold. Its kingdoms grandGo down in battle shock;Its shafts are laid on sinking sand,Not on abiding rock. Is it the sword? Ask the red dustOf empires passed away;The blood has turned their stones …
Continue reading A Nation’s Strength by William Ralph Emerson
God, Thou Art Love If I forget, yet God remembers.If these hands of mine cease from their clinging,Yet the hands divine hold me so firmly, I cannot fall.And if sometimes I am too tired to call for Him to help me,Then He reads the prayer unspoken in my heart and lifts my care. I dare …
Continue reading ‘God, Thou Art Love’ by Robert Browning
"John Cornelius Stam and Elisabeth Alden 'Betty' Stam were American Christian missionaries to China, with the China Inland Mission (CIM), during the Chinese Civil War. The missionary couple were executed by Communist Chinese soldiers in 1934." -Wikipedia Their story (with photos) can be found at Wheaton College’s archival collection: Remembering John and Betty Stam A …
Continue reading In the Center of the Circle
O Christmas, merry Christmas, ‘Tis not so very long Since other voices blended With the carol and the song! If we could but hear them singing, As they are singing now, If we could but see the radiance Of the crown on each dear brow, There would be no sigh to smother, No hidden tear to flow, As we listen in the starlight To the “bells across the snow.”
Sovereign Ruler of the skies,Ever gracious, ever wise,All my times are in Your hand,All events at Your command! His decree, who formed the earth,Fixed my first and second birth;Parents, native place, and time,All appointed were by Him. He who formed me in the womb,He shall guide me to the tomb.All my times shall ever be,Ordered …
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Memories linger Drift around and settle down In an empty chair Photo: Josef Nolywaika Precious Memories - Lyrics by J.B.F. Wright Precious memories, unseen angels, Sent from somewhere to my soul; How they linger, ever near me, And the sacred past unfold. Chorus: Precious memories, how they linger, How they ever flood my soul; In …
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"When sorrow comes under the power of Divine grace, it works out a manifold ministry in our lives. Sorrow reveals unknown depths in the soul, and unknown capabilities of experience and service. Gay, trifling people are always shallow, and never suspect the little meannesses in their nature. Sorrow is God’s ploughshare that turns up the …
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Sorrow is better than laughter; for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better. Ecclesiastes 7:3 When you are sitting there alone and you are weeping, and the longing for your child is a thick and expanding heaviness in your chest threatening to erupt from your throat in silent, choking grief. When …
Continue reading Walk, Don’t Run.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Psalm 51:17 The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him. Psalm 28:7 George …
Continue reading “The Altar” by George Herbert
Nothing cheery about this rather long poem but I love how the words are put together to describe the depth and complexity of the pain of child loss. "Do not be irritated that I am like this,O my God! this wound bled for so long!The anguish in my heart is still the strongest thing,and my …
Continue reading Inconsolable: “A Villequier” by Victor Hugo
You Can Trust Him 