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Thank
you, Lord, for all the places of
great beauty
that you have taken us to,
and all the inner beauty of the
people we know who love You.
Thank You for the creative
loveliness
that surrounds us on every side,
that all possess who have a heart to
shape and craft and sew and sound. |
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We drink in
the fragrance
of frailest bluebell, philadelphus
and flowering rose
yet have less than
no idea
how You formed
the original pattern
when You hymned
creation into being. |
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Whatever depths of beauty we
explore
we observe You there
fourscore;
whatever subject we set
ourselves to study
we find You deep within. |
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Be now with all who are
setting out on fresh
adventures.
Grant them grace to discern
Your concerns,
power to resist
distractions,
and strategic connections
that will make a lasting
impact. |
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Be with those who feel as though
they are
marking time or slipping back.
Prepare them now for all
You have in mind.
Consume their hearts
with longing for the Heavenly
Country,
whose host hasten at Your bidding
to succour and sustain.
How often we have found ourselves
having a brush
with the boa crush of profoundly
Gothic fears:
gibbering goblins sowing diabolic
thoughts of darkness
that taunt our spirits and daunt our
hopes.
Most serene are those who lean on
Your proven promises
to scatter the clatter of umpteen
dire and dreadful Fearlings.
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Lord,
Your mercy comes in ways that are
as unexpected as they are
undeserved;
so brim full of grace
that despair melts away
for who can believe that our Helper
is all powerful
and yet remain doleful and doubtful?
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“It is
because you are aspiring to
heavenly things
that these deadly foes have
come to head you off.
Resist their plausibly
persistent scaremongering
and take it captive in the
Name of the One
who neither slumbers nor
sleeps.
He will keep your soul
intact
and break all other spells.
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“Rise above the spirits that
air-sail the thermals of the sky
in their bid to assail questing
souls.
Have no more fear of the years to
come than of the years that are
past,
for ‘He will nourish you and your
little ones,’ (Gen. 50:21)
and not allow you to miss the mark;
and although you do not know what
lies ahead,
you know and love the One Who knows
the way.
Whatever happens,
you must live in a manner worthy
of the Good News about Christ,
as citizens of heaven. (Philippians
1:27)
“You love to give us those with whom
our spirit chimes,
to attempt new and greater things
for You.
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What joy when the bedrock is
safe enough
to trust each other’s
hearts,
and we can say of our
friends and colleagues:
‘You have caused us to know
the Lord that much better
because we see so much of
Him in you.’ |
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May we stand together with those
whom we can count upon.
-- though not everyone will have the
good will to fit the bill.
Help us to discern
what is the result of our choosiness
and what Your chosenness.
May we be careful not to demand that
others
embrace our every point of view,
but rather find out where the
boundaries lie
and which things we must insist
upon.
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“Companions,
give your hearts to one another.
Plough deep as well as wide,
but do not bemoan
that I must test the fabric of your
relationships.
Outward giftings
all too often conceal wrong
ambitions
but I insist on a character
that matches your calling.
Declare war on every flicker of
uncertainty
that would crush the flow of trust
between you.
The enemy cannot pierce
the cloak of closely woven
friendship fabric
as I knit your spirits together:
well woven strands
that both call and comfort others –
and when some especially sharp blow
strikes one,
each will feel it quite as acutely.
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Though sunlit days bring
special sweetness,
you actually achieve the
finest bonding
when your back is to the
wall.
Friendships forged in fire
are refined for finer fare,
and those who weep and pray
together
hold each other through
the times of strain and
shame;
and should some
friendship-breaking act
attack our roots
even then,
where there are humble
hearts
My grace can rectify so
much,
restoring that which has
been whittled
and snatched away. |
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If certain links are crossed
out with indelible ink,
I send profound new
friendships to take their
place,
jump starting the years to
make up for missing time.
Since I hold true
friendships in such high
esteem,
hoist your sails to catch
the wind
and let a whole new tale
evolve
as you sail both sweet and
stormy seas. |
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