A Hymn for Grandparents

A grandmother, a grandfather, are reflections of the love

Of a caring heavenly parent, watching over from above.

Dearest children and grandchildren are the joy of all their years.

Give them prayers and dreams and blessings,

Soothe their sorrow, dry their tears.

Down the little lanes of memory, gathering roses red and white,

Fragrant blossoms stir a vision of their own in God’s pure light.

Now the years fly by so swiftly, youth and beauty on the wing.

Still God strengthens and sustains us.

Let us all God praises sing.

Gather then your loved ones closely, sing them melodies of dawn.

Quote them verses, play them music, for that song will linger on.

Give them smiles and hugs and stories. Play the childhood games again,

Till the joys of childlike wonder

Fill the hearts of women, men.

Unto you, dear God of Wonder, and to you, dear God the Son,

Blessed Spirit, Holy Spirit, fiery wind, God three in One,

Unto You be praise and glory. All the voices all the days

Sing thanksgiving for the children.

All grandparents sing your praise.

from the hymns of Willard Spencer

I lift up my eyes to the hills, from whence comes my help.

memory of a line from Psalms

Friends, I love the beach.  The waves stretch out to a seeming eternity, the light flashes upon the horizon, the mighty power smashes the flood against the land.  It is always an eternal experience.  It is the hills that live deeply in my memory.  I grew up on he last hill (Crowley's ridge) in the Ozarks.  It overlooked the level earth that stretches out to the Gulf.  Used to ride my bike down the hill -- lots more fun than riding back up.  The mountains and hills are deeply lodged in memory and heart. I lift up my eyes to the hill .. lift up.  Hope all is well in your domain.  The days runs quickly toward the edge of fall.  Feels a bit like that now.  Rain has lifted a bit and the sun has taken its place in the heavens.  

Blessings,

Bill

-Never let a bad day make you feel like you have a bad life.

-A bad attitude is like a flat tire .. you cannot get far until you change it.

Friends, Here are ideas to feed your daily journey.  May they be of help.  I hope that all is well with you .. the blessings of the Lord include a hope that does not pass away, that is unfading. We can be up or getting up.  (remember John, Columbia friends?)  

Blessings,

Bill

-Little by little, one travels far.
-A single dream is more powerful than a thousand realities.
-All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.
-Never laugh at live dragons.
-Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.
-The world is indeed full of peril and in it there are many dark places. But still there is much that is fair. And though in all lands, love is now mingled with grief, it still grows, perhaps, the greater. ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

Friends, I bought the three volumes of the Lord of the Rings in 1970.  I still have them -- much worn, marked in countless places, and still treasured.  Tolkien (and his friends in the "coal biters" group of writers) have the gift of stimulating imagination.  They add to the process of thought and reflection.  The best books of the 20th century.  

Blessings,

Bill

Learning isn't easy...embrace struggle...and grow.  Krissy via Christine

The above is a quote I found on Facebook, sent by an dear friend of Cheryl.  As teachers, this was a time of year to challenge themselves to begin again the ongoing joyous struggle of teaching.  It was for learners as well, of course, and for each of us in the daily journey to forever.  Face.. don't flee.. you are never alone.  

Light and Warmth,

Bill

The ferry boat moved slowly across the water.  The Buckland shore drew nearer.  Sam was the only member of the party who had not been over the river before.  He had a strange feeling as the slow, gurgling stream slipped by: his old life lay behind in the mists, dark adventure lay in front.  He scratched his head, and for a moment had a passing wish that Mr. Frodo could have gone on living quietly at Bag End.

John Ronald Ruel Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, vol. 1

Friends, Ah, Tolkien is my favorite of favorites.  Each reading is alive.  His is the best style, grammar, story.  In this quote the great adventure of the ring is just beginning.  The quote catches a feeling we all have had -- crossing a boundary.  Sam crossed the river on the edge of the Shire, and life was not to be the same again.  Behind were the mists, ahead the adventure.  Scary but sometimes necessary.  Life has its changes.  Some we choose.  Some just come to us.  You don't have to cross boundaries alone.  Go with a 'party.' There is One who will always go into adventures with you.  And the Church is your traveling party. Blessings on your adventures.

Light and Warmth,

Bill

In the Garden

Earlier in the summer. Iris and Blackberry blooms.

Two butterflies

Leaf Play

He laughed so hard that he got the hiccups. And getting the hiccups is funny in itself, so we laughed in between the hiccups. In fact, we sat down in the leaves and laughed – long lung expanding guffaws, life affirming, healing laughter, the medicine of the spirit. (That is in Proverbs. Remember? "A merry heart has a continual feast." Also, "A merry heart does good like a medicine.") So we laughed in the warm sunlight of a fall afternoon.

What were we doing? Well it was not complex equations, nor keeping rounds of appointments,
not even a necessary meeting. It was a game, a simple game. We were playing in the leaves in the yard…a fitting fall activity for grandson and grandfather.

Does time fly swiftly? Is the old saying correct? "Time, stern huntsman, who can balk, strong as hound, swift as hawk?" Just ask yourself where the summer went. Yes, the days fly! Earth tilts upon its axis and the daylight wanes swiftly. The geese form "vees" and honk their way after the sun. The owls call out in the night.  The locusts have surrendered their stage to the crickets. In the old days the corn would have been in shocks by now.

Let us gather a harvest of autumn days…joy and laughter, word and deed. Let us find time to play in the sunshine with the children. And remember that someone has called worship "Holy play". We gather close to altar fire, in the full warmth of that never diminishing flame, to sing and pray, to weep and to laugh, to share together these swiftly moving days. Some Sunday "activities" should give way to that kind of enduring joy.

Seek the Sabbath rest and laughter.

Light and Warmth,

Bill

Prayer for a Late Summer Sunday

Dear Lord Jesus, summer is rapidly disappearing.  The locusts cry out during the daylight hours.  The lightening bugs have gone.  The wild flowers are the hardy, dry plants that can endure the torpid heat of the 'dog days' of summer.  The future-stressed marketers have long ago forgotten the summer.  Some are even treading on the verge of the sacred season of Christmas. We all have a tendency to live where we are not - whether in a fondly remembered past or in the hazy vistas of some future when we "really will live."  Dear Lord Jesus, center us in the present.  Show us that you are with us in this moment, that this slice of time that seems so fleeting is an everlastingness to you.  You are forever and now.

Give us your peace in the midst of change.  Sometimes the pace of change is so rapid that it brings us close to chaos, Dear Lord Jesus.  Sometimes it is so slow that it seems to take forever just to get up and get going in the morning.  But you are the master of wind and wave, you have a capacity for overcoming the chaos of change.  Your grace saves us from the nothingness of drawn out days and nights.  Touch us with that grace.  Let a bit of your eternity dwell within us, giving us a weight of glory in the middle of the vortex of change we are all in.

Dear Lord Jesus, we remember before you those who have suffered loss -- of loved ones, of hopes, of dreams.  Help us to know that nothing good is ever lost, but that which is all good and precious is gathered up into your everlasting kingdom.  Help us to remember that those we have lost are not lost if we know where they are.  Be with those who are lonely and depressed.  Give unto them the boost of your joyful laughter and music, winging from your heavenly throne.  Be with all who suffer and are ill at ease.  You are with us no matter what we feel, Dear Lord Jesus.  You are ours and we are yours.  Sustain us with your grace and grant us your peace.  Hear our pleas, we bring them all to you, Dear Lord Jesus, especially these words you first gave to us….(Pray the Lord's Prayer.)

                 from the prayers of Bill Spencer