Word

A Month from Matthew – 15

Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep’s clothing,

but inwardly they are ravening wolves.  7.15

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Old poem/card

HE CAME AT NIGHT (15^th card)

Heaven had such luster, such delight,

While far below on the footstool of God,

The absence of beauty, the absence of light,

Ruled over river and rock and sod,

And over plants and over creeping things,

And animals with hoofs, and animals with wings.

 

For thousands of years it had been thus;

Day constantly pursued by the night.

Twilight toning to shades of dusk –

The way to walk again lost from sight –

Man floundering in murk and mire,

With only here and there a tiny fire.

 

The Creature saw His creatures’ needs;

Saw the contrast of heaven and earth,

Saw, through darkness, the wound that bleeds,

Saw the man in shadow’s firm girth;

And seeing He felt, seeing He cared,

And destined Heaven’s Light to be shared.

 

Christ left the sight of eternal morn,

Departed in mutual, Sovereign will.

And arrived at night, Ah, time forlorn;

Time that drags for the sad and the ill.

Oh, what Providence, that the Prince of Light,

Should arrive on earth in the middle of the night.

 

And the night to which He came was more,

Than a mere dome of black o’re head.

Sin had blackened the human shore

(Far worse than oil slicks of modern dread)

And proceeded to ink the rest of the race,

From the pagan’s hut to the civilized place.

 

All this night, all this visionless foul,

Christ, the Illustrious, met full of force.

He brightened them both (Don’t ask me how.)

And challenging, changed the nature, the course,

Of the darkness, the ruin, the blackness of sin,

Both outward and inward, the problems of men!

 

So as beautiful stars light he winter’s sky,

Remember that Christ came from brilliance – to none.

Sacrificing for man, that man might glorify

The Light, the only self-brilliant One.

And remember, heaven shared its gift of light,

In the middle of Bethlehem’s, Ah, the world’s dark night.

– eab, 12/14/79

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Why do YOU want to go to heaven?

Some are looking for a “carnal” heaven. 

In their mind the center of heaven is not Christ

but “fleshly” pleasures.

– eab, 10/02

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Earth

The body of Adam was formed from clay,

All our bodies return earthward after death’s day,

But till that day, from our very birth,

We’re bundles of earth walking on earth.

– eab, 12/15/06

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Anna Helena Ölander – born

ON THIS DATE

Anna Helena Ölander was born 12/15/1861 in Linköping, Sweden. She was the daughter of a high school tutor.  She moved to Svanshals, Sweden (age 10) when her father became vicar there, then returned to Linköping after his death.  She started writing poems and stories while still a child and continued, editing almost 50 books, including three of poetry.  Anna wrote Christian stories and novels and translated hymns into Swedish from English and German.  She died 10/23/1939 in her native Linköping.

Below is probably her best known – PLEASE read it all. Hear nice tune at http://www.hymntime.com/tch/index.htm

If I gained the world, but lost the Savior,  Were my life worth living for a day? Could my yearning heart find rest and comfort  In the things that soon must pass away? If I gained the world, but lost the Savior,  Would my gain be worth the lifelong strife? Are all earthly pleasures worth comparing  For a moment with a Christ-filled life?

Had I wealth and love in fullest measure,  And a name revered both far and near, Yet no hope beyond, no harbor waiting,  Where my storm-tossed vessel I could steer; If I gained the world, but lost the Savior,  Who endured the cross and died for me, Could then all the world afford a refuge,  Whither, in my anguish, I might flee?

O what emptiness!—without the Savior  ’Mid the sins and sorrows here below! And eternity, how dark without Him!  Only night and tears and endless woe! What, though I might live without the Savior,  When I come to die, how would it be? O to face the valley’s gloom without Him!  And without Him all eternity!

O the joy of having all in Jesus!  What a balm the broken heart to heal! Ne’er a sin so great, but He’ll forgive it,  Nor a sorrow that He does not feel! If I have but Jesus, only Jesus,  Nothing else in all the world beside— O then everything is mine in Jesus;  For my needs and more He will provide.

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