Our journey towards Lent

It's been a busy few days surrounded by the sounds of youth at the Junior Theater Festival. Tomorrow I will journey home again.

I've needed this time away. This afternoon I stepped away and walked several blocks, and then, found a park bench to just sit and watch people go by.

We all need to stop along our journey. Not so much to rest, but to reflect. I am reminded that this week we will once again wear ashes, and be reminded that, "From dust we were created, and to dust we shall return."

​While none of us are immune to this journey, we are, however, drawn to our own personal paths.

​I'm do thankful for the moments to reflect among redwoods, and give thanks, as I also listen to the voices of a new generation as they just discover that they, too, are on a path.

Today I am grateful to have been a part of both.

​Stay in God's grip!

G. Todd Williams (c) 2018

​

The Immortal Creator
(Based on Psalm 90)
Lord, we know our history and look forward in time,
but You remain our constant.
Before the labor pangs of the mountains,
before the first cosmic particle even back before the beginning,
You were God.

From the very dust of the earth You
cry, “Go back oh mortals.”
In Your eyes a thousand years are like yesterday,
or like an hour’s sleep in the night.
You remove people, just as the plains’ tornado
wipes a home from its foundation.
We are as winter grass in the Guadeloupe Valley –
In the winter it bursts with green life,
Yet by summer it is quickened and
burnt in the scorching heat.

So it is with our life, consumed by Your discipline,
and by Your insight we are removed.
Our inequities are evident to You,
our guilt disclosed to You in a solitary glance.
Each day surrenders each second to Your might.
Our life ends as sudden as a short story.
Our life span may measure seventy-five years –
If we persevere, perhaps, ninety.
If our life is full of struggles and sadness;
Soon it is over and our soul takes wing.

But, do we take a moment to think of Your love?
Where else may we find respect even remotely
close to your amazing power?
Treasure each day is a lesson
You try to teach each of us,
stretching forth before us Your words of wisdom.
By our side, stand Lord, through the long hours
of each day;
Show us your mercy.

Fill us with your gift of love,
so that we may know joy,
laughing and singing like children.
Give to us Your grace, so that we may find
ways to dilute the pains of life with happiness.
​
Help us to see You more clearly, working
and ever re-creating within us,
so that others may recognize Your glory.
We want so much for God’s beauty
to be upon us,
until our hands find their way to
Yours, and we share in Your eternal purpose.