Harvest Rains

The rain falls softening the earth
Preparing it for new birth

Our tears fall softening the harden heart
Preparing it for a new start

We want the blessing of your rains
We want to gather up your grain

See Lord our tears
See Lord our tender hearts
Hear Lord our prayers
Let your revival start
Bring forth your harvest
Lord today!
This is what we pray..

Fall down oh blessings from on high
Lord, open up your skies
Shower us with your mercies fair
Hear oh Lord and answer prayer


cjb


“Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.”
Psalm 126:5-6 (NIV)

A butterfly's season

If Robert Frost is right
then butterfly…
“fate had made thee for the pleasure of the wind”

The wind lifts and tosses
crosswinds bat about your delicate state
You know your fate….
when trees begin to sleep
when leaves fall to the ground
the wind will carry you off
to another place
a warmer spot
then…
Who will inspire,
when cold colorless blankets
cover the land?
When the earth hardens like
a bitter unforgiving heart.
Will we see your colors again?
Will we remember your flight?
Your dance in the new spring light?
How is it that you find your way back?
In a dream or a new wind stream?
Who would have thought …
you,
so small and insignificant
so fragile and short lived
could fly so high
be so strong
than afterward …
when the snow is gone,
return.

cjb

undisturbed

Looking for somewhere to land
Looking for somewhere to rest
A tree, an olive branch

Looking for somewhere to settle
Looking for somewhere to glean
a mountain top, a harvest spot

Some storms wipe out all places of rest
hiding,
covering,
flooding

but there is a place…
a place that’s deep like the ocean floor
a place where no storm has stirred
a place of peace
a place of depth
a place in you Lord
where I find rest.

So when life’s storms come crashing in
Stand up and calm my sea within.
When I have no place to land
Catch me Lord and help me stand

As deep calls to deep…
I know a place where we can meet…

a place where no storm has stirred
a place that’s undisturbed
a place of peace
a place of depth
a place in you Lord
where I find rest.

cjb





From Streams in the Desert, compiled by Mrs. Charles Cowman- Oct. 19th:

Cushion of the Sea

"And the peace of God, which transcends all our powers of thought, will be a garrison to guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:7) (Weymouth).
There is what is called the "cushion of the sea." Down beneath the surface that is agitated by storms, and driven about with winds, there is a part of the sea that is never stirred. When we dredge the bottom and bring up the remains of animal and vegetable life we find that they give evidence of not having been disturbed in the least, for hundreds and thousands of years. The peace of God is that eternal calm which, like the cushion of the sea, lies far too deep down to be reached by any external trouble and disturbance; and he who enters into the presence of God, becomes partaker of that undisturbed and undisturbable calm.--Dr. A. T. Pierson

Autumn Glory- 2005

Picture by Jeff Strain

AUTUMN GLORY

Fall comes with autumn breezes.
It is cool, crisp, brisk.
Darkness is on its way …
A winter sleep,
A stillness,
A certain kind of death.

The leaves on the trees change and fall …
Dying with colors that brighten the grayest skies.
They die gracefully,
Drifting to the earth,
Covering the ground,
Leaving the tree bare until spring.

Seasons are short.
My life is like one of those leaves.

Lord,
No matter how short the season is …
May I die with colors
That are brilliant like the autumn trees.
May my death, my death to self,
Brighten the grayness of ordinary moments and days.

May I die to self, gracefully.
Gently dancing in the currents of Your Spirit
Like the leaf slowly falling,
Lifting, twirling,
Carried by the current of the wind.
Touching the earth and
Covering it with small,
Short seasoned sacrifices
For Your glory.


cjb- 05

Picture by Jeff Strain

His work in me

If I could fly to the heights of the sky
I could not hide from you
For you are there
Your Spirit lifts me higher
I’m caught up in you.

If I could swim to the depths of the sea
I could not flee from you
For you are there
Your Spirit takes me deeper
I sink deep into you.

From the highest and
To the lowest points
My God is with me
Lifting me higher
Giving me depth

He calls me by name
He makes me into
What I am not
Taking a nobody
With one word from His mouth
Calling me something
As if it were

I wait to become
All he hopes me to be
I wait for The Creator
To finish
To perfect
His work in me.


cjb

Psalm 139:8-9 (NIV), Romans 4:17 (Message, NIV), Hebrews 12:2 (NIV), Jude 24 (NIV)