Thursday, December 21, 2017

God's Unspeakable Gift

                                                         John Robert Howell






The muezzin of the infinite and light-enthroned firmament
marked the nightly vigils' silent and meditative hours
of those wakeful, watchful shepherds, Scientific avatars,
who pondered not dusty constellations of earth's deceptions
but the higher lessons witnessed in God's effulgence,
thus to behold the glow of that eldritch eastern star,
herald of Jesus' nativity, Light in the flesh.


That event was once and not to be repeated,
yet for those whose receptive hearts wander wearily
among the darkly lighted trails and travails of mortality
the promise of that holy dawn blesses all eternally.



Sunday, December 3, 2017

Is Your Life Complete?

        Some months ago we saw a documentary about Mahatma Gandhi when something the narrator said jumped out at me:  Gandhi, he said, would tell his fellow Hindus, "Unless you study reverentially all the teachings of Jesus, your life will be incomplete."


        So powerful are these teachings, I couldn't  help thinking about the lives of those Indians who were transformed as something Jesus said took roots in their thought.


        My life would certainly not be complete without God's Word.  Life would be lacking joy and peace, and a sense of divine power with which to overcome difficulties that arise.  How have these heavenly sayings impacted my life for good?  How have they not been an influence for good?


        If you have not done so, get a Bible with Christ's words marked in red and begin a thoughtful reading.  You cannot imagine the wonderful things that will happen in your life.

Friday, December 1, 2017

Whose Glory?

When the tempter said he ought


To pursue aims for himself,


Jesus put this evil out of thought.


For our Master was here,


As are you and I,


To be about the Father's business,


To see that God on high


Gets all the glory.


To be right with God,


To keep to the path Jesus trod,


It's good now and then


To ask ourselves,


Am I doing what I'm doing,


That God may get the glory, or --


For personal homage?