01/23/2024
This morning I am once again in my prayer chair. I can pray in many places but none makes me feel more with God than when the house is still in these wee hours, and I sit in near whispered prayer in this comfortable place waiting for the sun to rise. I feel most at home here because my family, and the rest of the world, is sleeping quietly around me. I find a deep inner peace here, while reclining in my early Morning Prayer, listening for the voice of my Father while the whisper of silence begins to open our conversation, and a low still voice comes to bless me with its presence. I thank God today, and every day, that we are able to spend time together in such a holy and loving way.
Before I was able to read and pray on this particular morning something odd happened and I was driven to complete a poem I had started earlier. Then, after my time of Morning Prayer I read my devotional message for the day, and upon reaching the final paragraph it became clear that God wanted me to expound in poetry on what really matters most in our lives. Love matters, and whether it is in our earthly or spiritual families, we need to realize its importance... love, whether for God, Jesus, Families, neighbors, or enemies, is like nothing else… it underpins all we are.
As we age in life and faith we must hold onto those invaluable opportunities to Love and cherish what is truly important and meaningful. God didn't create us to gather things, or to make a living; so those activities should always come behind Him, our families, and our friends. The most valuable jewel can't equal the least significant moment of love, worship, and fellowship.
When we read this particular scripture, what is it that we pray for?
“Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”
Mark 11:24 KJV
We should desire and pray first and foremost for love and then faith. A loving relationship with our God and with our family. Love, its life’s most precious commodity.
“So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
1 Corinthians 13:13 ESV
A Good Life (Poem)
By Rich Forbes
A wise man once looked back on his life
Then with a sad stare he smiled at his wife,
Moments that hadn’t come free.
To no one there, nor words to describe
In a whisper he uttered,
“We’ve loved a good life haven’t we.”
It sounds like a question but isn’t at all
Like far off thunder, a child’s bouncing ball,
It races ahead just out of reach
From yonder comes laughter
Last dream of night fades;
The love in a life that no one can teach.
Young men become wise with age it seems
But wisdom costs much its fare is our dreams
The times, the places, all made of those
Like smoke on a damp night
That smothers the ground;
Its fragrance lingers and sticks to our clothes.
Old men read memories like favorite books
Reliving the pages, savoring love's looks,
Holding the hand of the youth nestled there
Soft like a baby’s skin
Yearning for our touch;
A life filled with love still meant to be shared
Now in the passing wisdom lays bare
The longings that once were treated with care
Revealed by time as such a vain waste
The weight of the shillings
Held out in the palm;
Will not pay the toll to one lost embrace
A wise man looked at where he had been
And dreamed he was walking with an old friend
She held him close, bore children for him,
The sound of a suckle
The smell of her hair;
Their love filled with life; sweet taste to the brim
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for all the love in my life, for your Son Jesus, my family, neighbors, my wife, and in all of these and more out of reach, I thank you for every moment with each. Thank you Lord for your love for me, and for laying it bare for all eternity to see. Help me Abba to love as you do, and open my heart in a life, never through. Eternity awaits each morning in prayer, and I thank you for your whispers we share in my chair. Blessed are you whose mercy and grace have wiped countless tears from this sinner’s face. Help me to love without requiring a price of any soul needing prayer, wicked or nice. You say “love your enemy”, and I struggle at this, but with your hand in mine I find my strength in your kiss. Holy are you, the Word of creation, who loves without cause, every soul, life, and nation. Hear me now as I sing of your glory, and tell of your Son, in Christ’s gospel story. Through His birth, death, and glorious resurrection, I’m covered in blood, and by His perfection. Your loving too, by your grace, has been poured, and I Praise you forever, my Father, my Lord.
Rich Forbes