Poetry Saturday—Thou Didst Leave Thy Royal Throne

December 14, 2019 — Craig T. Owens
Thou didst leave Thy throne and Thy kingly crown,
When Thou camest to earth for me;
But in Bethlehem’s Home was there found no room
For Thy Holy nativity.


O come to my heart, Lord Jesus


There is room in my heart for Thee.




Heaven’s arches rang when the angels sang,


Proclaiming Thy royal degree;


But of lowly birth didst Thou come to earth,


And in great humility.




The foxes found rest and the birds their nest


In the shade of the forest tree


But Thy couch was the sod, O Son of God


in the deserts of Galilee 




Thou camest, O Lord, with the living Word


That should set Thy people free;


But with mocking scorn, and with crown of thorn,


They bore Thee to Calvary. 




When the heavens shall ring, and the angels sing,


At Thy coming to victory


Let Thy voice call me home, saying “Yet there is room,


There is room at My side for thee.”


 


My heart shall rejoice, Lord Jesus,


When Thou comest and callest for me. —Emily Elliott








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Poetry Saturday—On A Day When Men Were Counted

December 7, 2019 — Craig T. Owens 




On a day when men were counted, God became the Son of Man,


That His name in every census should be entered was His plan.


God, the Lord of all creation, humbly takes a creature’s place;


He whose form no man has witnessed has today a human face.




On a night, while silent shepherds watched their flocks upon the plain,


Came a message with its summons brought by song of angel train:


Lo, in Bethlehem’s little village has arrived the shepherd King,


And each shepherd to his Master must his sheep as offering bring.




When there shone the star of David in the spangled eastern sky,


Kings arrived to pay their homage to the Christ, the Lord Most High.


Yet not all, for lo, there soundeth through the streets a fearful cry;


For a king who will not worship has decreed that Christ must die.




Yet it’s Christmas, and we greet Him, coming even now to save;


For the Lord of our salvation was not captive to the grave.


Out of Egypt came the Savior, man’s Immanuel to be—


Christmas shines with Easter glory, glory of eternity. —Daniel Thambyrajah Niles








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Poetry Saturday—Thanksgiving

November 30, 2019 — Craig T. Owens 




We walk on story fields of white 


And do not see the daisies, 


For blessings common in our sight 


We rarely offer praises. 


We sigh for some supreme delight 


To crown our lives with splendor, 


And quite ignore our daily store 


Of pleasures sweet and tender.




Our cares are bold and push their way 


Upon our thought and feeling; 


They hang about us all the day, 


Our time from pleasure stealing. 


So unobtrusive many a joy 


We pass by and forget it, 


But worry strives to own our lives, 


And conquers if we let it.




There’s not a day in all the year 


But holds some hidden pleasure, 


And, looking back, joys oft appear 


To brim the past’s wide measure. 


But blessings are like friends, I hold, 


Who love and labor near us. 


We ought to raise our notes of praise 


While living hearts can hear us.




Full many a blessing wears the guise 


Of worry or of trouble; 


Far-seeing is the soul, and wise, 


Who knows the mask is double. 


But he who has the faith and strength 


To thank his God for sorrow 


Has found a joy without alloy 


To gladden every morrow.




We ought to make the moments notes


Of happy, glad thanksgiving; 


The hours and days a silent phrase 


Of music we are living. 


And so the theme should swell and grow 


As weeks and months pass o’er us, 


And rise sublime at this good time, 


A grand thanksgiving chorus. —Ella Wheeler Wilcox






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Poetry Saturday—I Do It Unto Thee

November 23, 2019 — Craig T. Owens 




Lord of all pots and pans and things,


since I’ve no time to be a great saint


by doing lovely things…


make me a saint by getting meals,


and washing up the plates.


Warm all the kitchen with Thy love,


and light it with Thy peace;


forgive me all my worrying,


and make my grumbling cease.


Thou Who didst love to give men food,


in room, or by the sea,


accept the service that I do,


I do it unto Thee.


Amen. —Brother Lawrence








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Poetry Saturday—Come, Thou Fount

November 16, 2019 — Craig T. Owens 




Come, Thou Fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing Thy grace; 


streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise. 


Teach me some melodious sonnet, sung by flaming tongues above. 


Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it, mount of Thy redeeming love. 




Here I raise mine Ebenezer; hither by Thy help I’m come; 


and I hope, by Thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home. 


Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God; 


He, to rescue me from danger, interposed His precious blood. 




O to grace how great a debtor daily I’m constrained to be! 


Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to Thee. 


Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love;


here’s my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for Thy courts above. —Robert Robinson








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Poetry Saturday—Mind Is The Master

November 9, 2019 — Craig T. Owens 




Mind is the Master power that moulds and makes,


And Man is Mind, and evermore he takes


The tool of Thought, and, shaping what he wills,


Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills:—


He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass:


Environment is but his looking-glass. —James Allen, in As A Man Thinketh








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Poetry Saturday—Come, Ye That Love The Lord

November 2, 2019 — Craig T. Owens 




Come, ye that love the Lord,


  And let your joys be known;


Join in a song with sweet accord


  While we surround the throne.




The sorrow of the mind


  Be banish’d from the place; 


Religion never was design’d


  To make our pleasures less.




Let those refuse to sing


  Who never knew our God;


But servants of the heavenly King


  May speak their joys abroad.




The God that rules on high,


  That all the earth surveys,


That rides upon the stormy sky,


  And calms the roaring seas:




This awful God of ours,


  Our Father and our Love;


He will send down His heavenly powers


  To carry us above. 




There shall we see His face,


  And never, never sin;


There from the rivers of His grace


  Drink endless pleasures in.




Yes! and before we rise


  To that immortal state,


The thoughts of such amazing bliss


  Should constant joys create.




The men of grace have found


  Glory begun below;


Celestial fruits on earthly ground


  From faith and hope may grow.




The hill of Zion yields


  A thousand sacred sweets,


Before we reach the heavenly fields,


  Or walk the golden streets.




Then let our songs abound,


  And every tear be dry;


We’re marching through Immanuel’s ground


  To fairer worlds on high. —Isaac Watts






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Poetry Saturday—Evolutionary Hymn

October 26, 2019 — Craig T. Owens 




Lead us, evolution, lead us 


Up future’s endless stair; 


Chop us, change us, prod us, weed us. 


For stagnation is despair: 


Groping, guessing, yet progressing, 


Lead us nobody knows where. —C.S. Lewis








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Poetry Saturday—Want Of Understanding

October 19, 2019 — Craig T. Owens 




The wretch in me is not a scheming or


mendacious, violent spirit; nor is he


the sort to kill, or other treachery


indulge to gain a another’s vineyard for


himself. He does not with his neighbor’s wife


conspire for fleeting pleasure, or to buy


prestige or safeguard pride, some little lie


compose. He does not plot against the life


of those who scorn, spite, torment, or betray


him; and he holds no grudges, has no need


of vain revenge, avoids self-serving greed,


and keeps content within his given way.


   No, he is worse than all of the above,


   who honors not the wife he’s sworn to love. —T. M. Moore (1 Peter 3:7)






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Poetry Saturday—Hark! The Sound Of Jubilee

October 12, 2019 — Craig T. Owens 




Hark! the song of jubilee,


Loud as mighty thunders roar,


Or the fullness of the sea,


When it breaks upon the shore:


“Hallelujah! for the Lord


God Omnipotent shall reign;


Hallelujah!” let the word


Echo round the earth and main.




Hallelujah! hark! the sound,


From the depths unto the skies.


Wakes above, beneath, around


All creation’s harmonies;


See Jehovah’s banner furled,


Sheathed His sword; He speaks; ‘tis done;


And the kingdoms of this world


Are the kingdoms of His Son.




He shall reign from pole to pole


With illimitable sway;


He shall reign when, like a scroll,


Yonder heavens have passed away.


Then the end; beneath His rod


Man’s last enemy shall fall:


Hallelujah! Christ in God,


God in Christ is All in All. —James Montgomery








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