One Thousand Gifts List~ continued

21. anniversaries ~ 30 years together
22. rain
23. cooler weather
24. opportunities for intercession
25. returning hummingbirds
26. butterflies
27. really good coffee
28. lifestyle witnessing opportunities
29. a quiet talk with someone who "gets it"
30. an unexpected chance to be mentored
31. the view out my kitchen window
32. a birthday party for a 6 year old
33. a gift of blueberries
34. the thing I need "on sale"
35. someone to share a book with
36. someone to snuggle with
37. deer sightings
38. Canadian geese
39. an unexpected gift of fishing lures for a special little guy
40. a lake and ponds and friends to fish with

Multitude Monday

1 (again)~ New beginnings~ Beginning afresh~

As I thought about rejoining the Gratitude Community, trying to find my previous list and picking up the numbering from there, the words ~his mercies begin afresh each morning. *~ kept running through my mind, so I decided to begin afresh this truly, wonderfully endless gift list.

1. the Lord’s great love and mercy
2. His word and the many and varied ways He brings it to me
3. my family
4. the shelter of my home
5. the surprising ways He provides
6. the ways He creates beauty from ashes
7. old friends
8. new friends
9. nature
10. fresh fruits & vegetables from a neighbor
11. a gift of wonderful smelling cleaning supplies
12. the beautiful peace lily in my kitchen
13. music~ especially hymns
14. books, books, and more books
15. folks to share the books & music with
16. electricity & the appliances it powers
17. summer jobs for a 12 year old boy
18. telephones, cellphones, internet, mail~ staying connected to family & friends
19. opportunities (and the ability) to help
20. discernment


*Lamentations 3:23 (NLT)

Sunday Hymn

My Song is Love Unknown
Words: Samuel Crossman, The Young Man’s Meditation, 1664.

My song is love unknown,
My Savior’s love to me;
Love to the loveless shown,
That they might lovely be.
O who am I, that for my sake
My Lord should take, frail flesh and die?

He came from His blest throne
Salvation to bestow;
But men made strange, and none
The longed for Christ would know:
But O! my Friend, my Friend indeed,
Who at my need His life did spend.

Sometimes they strew His way,
And His sweet praises sing;
Resounding all the day
Hosannas to their King:
Then “Crucify!” is all their breath,
And for His death they thirst and cry.

Why, what hath my Lord done?
What makes this rage and spite?
He made the lame to run,
He gave the blind their sight,
Sweet injuries! Yet they at these
Themselves displease, and ’gainst Him rise.

They rise and needs will have
My dear Lord made away;
A murderer they saved,
The Prince of life they slay,
Yet cheerful He to suffering goes,
That He His foes from thence might free.

In life, no house, no home
My Lord on earth might have;
In death no friendly tomb
But what a stranger gave.
What may I say? Heav’n was His home;
But mine the tomb wherein He lay.

Here might I stay and sing,
No story so divine;
Never was love, dear King!
Never was grief like Thine.
This is my Friend, in Whose sweet praise
I all my days could gladly spend.

Sunday Hymn

O Breath of God, Breathe On Us Now
Words: Alfred H. Vine, The Doom of Saul, 1895.
Music: Maryton, H. Percy Smith, in Church Hymns with Tunes (London: 1874).

O breath of God, breathe on us now,
And move within us while we pray:
The Spring of our new life art Thou,
The very light of our new day.

O strangely art Thou with us, Lord,
Neither in height nor depth to seek:
In nearness shall Thy voice be heard;
Spirit to spirit Thou dost speak.

Christ is our Advocate on high;
Thou art our Advocate within.
O plead the truth, and make reply
To every argument of sin.

But ah, this faithless heart of mine,
The way I know, I know my Guide:
Forgive me, O my Friend divine,
That I so often turn aside.

Be with me when no other friend
The mystery of my heart can share;
And be Thou known, when fears transcend,
By Thy best name of Comforter.

Sunday Hymn

God of All Power and Truth and Grace
Words: Charles Wesley, Hymns and Sacred Poems, 1742.
Music: Von Himmel Hoch, from Geistliche Lieder, by Valentin Schumann (Leipzig, Germany: 1539); harmony by Johann S. Bach.

God of all power, and truth, and grace,
Which shall from age to age endure,
Whose Word, when Heaven and earth shall pass,
Remains and stands for ever sure;

That I Thy mercy may proclaim,
That all mankind Thy truth may see,
Hallow Thy great and glorious Name,
And perfect holiness in me.

Thy sanctifying Spirit pour,
To quench my thirst, and make me clean;
Now, Father, let the gracious shower
Descend, and make me pure from sin.

Purge me from every sinful blot;
My idols all be cast aside;
Cleanse me from every sinful thought,
From all the filth of self and pride.

Give me a new, a perfect heart,
From doubt, and fear, and sorrow free;
The mind which was in Christ impart,
And let my spirit cleave to Thee.

O take this heart of stone away!
Thy sway it doth not, cannot own;
In me no longer let it stay,
O take away this heart of stone!

O that I now, from sin released,
Thy Word may to the utmost prove,
Enter into the promised rest,
The Canaan of Thy perfect love!

Sunday Hymn

My Jesus, I Love Thee
Words: William R. Featherston, 1864; Featherston was only 16 years old at the time.
Music: Gordon, Adoniram J. Gordon, 1876

My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine;
For Thee all the follies of sin I resign.
My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art Thou;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

I love Thee because Thou has first loved me,
And purchased my pardon on Calvary’s tree.
I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

I’ll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,
And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;
And say when the death dew lies cold on my brow,
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

In mansions of glory and endless delight,
I’ll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright;
I’ll sing with the glittering crown on my brow;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

Sunday Hymn

This song is sung at our house a lot. What I found so interesting when I went to look for the lyrics for today's blog is that the verses that our family knows so well aren't "official" verses. Even the youtube videos I found had verses I hadn't heard before and aren't "official" verses. Official or not we now have so many more verses to learn and sing and enjoy!

JESUS LOVES ME
Words: Stanza 1, Anna B. Warner, 1860. Stanzas 2-3, David Rutherford Mc­Guire

Jesus loves me! This I know,
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to Him belong;
They are weak, but He is strong.

Refrain

Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so.

Jesus loves me! This I know,
As He loved so long ago,
Taking children on His knee,
Saying, “Let them come to Me.”

Refrain

Jesus loves me still today,
Walking with me on my way,
Wanting as a friend to give
Light and love to all who live.

Refrain

Jesus loves me! He who died
Heaven’s gate to open wide;
He will wash away my sin,
Let His little child come in.

Refrain

Jesus loves me! He will stay
Close beside me all the way;
Thou hast bled and died for me,
I will henceforth live for Thee.

Refrain

This stanza from the original is commonly omitted in hymnals:

Jesus loves me! Loves me still,
Though I’m very weak and ill,
That I might from sin be free
Bled and died upon the tree.