So sorry for the long absence.
Posts will begin again in a few days.

Marvelous Grace

I was in prison, locked up in chains

sin held me captive to sorrow and pain

years of frustrations as love passed me by

until the Master heard my heart's cry

for grace

marvelous grace

I needed grace to pardon and make me whole

grace

marvelous grace

flows from above with infinite love

marvelous grace

I was downhearted, I was broken inside

praying for mercy with nowhere to hide

there was a solace searching for me

grace everflowing that set my soul free

for grace

marvelous grace

I needed grace to pardon and make me whole

grace

marvelous grace

flows from above with infinite love

marvelous grace

I am forgiven

I am redeemed

A brand new creation

He saved me and gave me a reason to sing...

Grace, Grace, God's Grace,

grace that will pardon and cleanse within

Grace, Grace, God's Grace

grace that is greater than all our sins

for grace

marvelous grace

flows from above with infinite love...

Marvelous Grace.

(as performed by The Martins)

The Love of God

Matthew 18

11 For the Son of man is come save that which was lost.

12 How think ye? If a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?

13 And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the nonety and nine which went not astray.

14 Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.

To the Bee Balm

Unmoved I saw you blooming,
Your crimson cap uplooming
Above the jewel weed;
‘Tis true I passed unheeding,
Unmindful of your pleading,
Until she gave you heed.

But when she paused and plucked you,
And in her bosom tucked you,
And filled her girlish hands,
New beauty filled your measure,
You shone a woodland treasure
Amid the floral clans.

Your martial look grew tender,
More winsome was your splendor
With her beside the stream;
Rare gift to charm she brought you,
With her own graces fraught you,
Retouched your glowing beam.

I soon forgot my trouting,
Repented of my flouting
Your brave and festive look;

I saw in your new meaning,
A nodding or a leaning
Beside the purling brook.

Oh, day I long shall cherish,
Nor let one vision perish
That filled each sunny hour.
The phoebe’s mossy chamber,
The pool like liquid amber,
That mirrored maid and flower.

John Burroughs 1906

~*~

Giving

(paper art by Lana Manis)

You give but little when you give of your possessions.

It is when you give of your heart that you truly give.

~ Author unknown

Memorial Day

O! say can you see by the dawn's early light

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming.

Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming.

And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,

Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,

What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,

As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?

Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,

In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:'

Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore

That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,

A home and a country should leave us no more!

Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.

No refuge could save the hireling and slave

From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand

Between their loved home and the war's desolation!

Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land

Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,

And this be our motto: 'In God is our trust.'

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Heroes & Cowards

(photo: York Grist Mill in Pall Mall, TN)

"The fear of God makes heroes, the fear of man makes cowards."

spoken by Sgt. Alvin C. York, WWI hero

Fentress County, TN native

(my home county)

~*~