Abraham’s Worlds (Luk 16.25)

Abraham was in the Best world,

 

 

Aware of the Worst world,

 

 

And still connecting to our world.

(Luk  16.25)               

– eab, 4/27/07

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CARNAL OR CHRISTIAN

Carnal man likes to be seen,

Likes you to know his fair worth,

Wants to stand out in his crowd,

Longs for acclaim on this earth.

 

Holy hearts want the Lord seen,

Lift up His name for acclaim,

Readily give up “lime light,”

Backing away from cheap fame.

 

Carnal man takes pride in self,

Always demands his own way,

“Thought of it first,” knows “what’s best.”

Argues black night is broad day.

 

Holiness yields to the Lord,

Gives up its claim to be right,

Wants still God’s perfect, pure will,

Walks happily in God’s light.

 

The carnal centers “on me,”

I am the important one,

Sees no way other than his,

Answers to no one – that’s none!

 

Holy hearts center on Christ,

Focus on the Son of God,

Easily know His way goes

Perfect on Sea or on Sod.

 

* * So * *

Which way will it be for you, For me?

Our way or God’s sovereign will?

We can know the thrill,

In both valley and hill,

Of being wholly given to God.

                – eab, 8/12/2005

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Robert Southey – birth, Aug. 12, 1774

The Cataract of Lodore

“How does the water
Come down at Lodore?”
My little boy asked me
Thus, once on a time;
And moreover he tasked me
To tell him in rhyme.
Anon, at the word,
There first came one daughter,
And then came another,
To second and third
The request of their brother,
And to hear how the water
Comes down at Lodore,
With its rush and its roar,
As many a time
They had seen it before.
So I told them in rhyme,
For of rhymes I had store;
And ’twas in my vocation
For their recreation
That so I should sing;
Because I was Laureate
To them and the King.

From its sources which well
In the tarn on the fell;
From its fountains
In the mountains,
Its rills and its gills;
Through moss and through brake,
It runs and it creeps
For a while, till it sleeps
In its own little lake.
And thence at departing,
Awakening and starting,
It runs through the reeds,
And away it proceeds,
Through meadow and glade,
In sun and in shade,
And through the wood-shelter,
Among crags in its flurry,
Helter-skelter,
Hurry-skurry.
Here it comes sparkling,
And there it lies darkling;
Now smoking and frothing
Its tumult and wrath in,
Till, in this rapid race
On which it is bent,
It reaches the place
Of its steep descent.

The cataract strong
Then plunges along,
Striking and raging
As if a war waging
Its caverns and rocks among;
Rising and leaping,
Sinking and creeping,
Swelling and sweeping,
Showering and springing,
Flying and flinging,
Writhing and ringing,
Eddying and whisking,
Spouting and frisking,
Turning and twisting,
Around and around
With endless rebound:
Smiting and fighting,
A sight to delight in;
Confounding, astounding,
Dizzying and deafening the ear with its sound.

Collecting, projecting,
Receding and speeding,
And shocking and rocking,
And darting and parting,
And threading and spreading,
And whizzing and hissing,
And dripping and skipping,
And hitting and splitting,
And shining and twining,
And rattling and battling,
And shaking and quaking,
And pouring and roaring,
And waving and raving,
And tossing and crossing,
And flowing and going,
And running and stunning,
And foaming and roaming,
And dinning and spinning,
And dropping and hopping,
And working and jerking,
And guggling and struggling,
And heaving and cleaving,
And moaning and groaning;

And glittering and frittering,
And gathering and feathering,
And whitening and brightening,
And quivering and shivering,
And hurrying and skurrying,
And thundering and floundering;

Dividing and gliding and sliding,
And falling and brawling and sprawling,
And driving and riving and striving,
And sprinkling and twinkling and wrinkling,
And sounding and bounding and rounding,
And bubbling and troubling and doubling,
And grumbling and rumbling and tumbling,
And clattering and battering and shattering;

Retreating and beating and meeting and sheeting,
Delaying and straying and playing and spraying,
Advancing and prancing and glancing and dancing,
Recoiling, turmoiling and toiling and boiling,
And gleaming and streaming and steaming and beaming,
And rushing and flushing and brushing and gushing,
And flapping and rapping and clapping and slapping,
And curling and whirling and purling and twirling,
And thumping and plumping and bumping and jumping,
And dashing and flashing and splashing and clashing;
And so never ending, but always descending,
Sounds and motions for ever and ever are blending
All at once and all o’er, with a mighty uproar, –
And this way the water comes down at Lodore.

Robert Southey was born this date, 8/12/1774 – wrote “The Cataract of Lodore.”

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