Hope for me, a light, no matter how faint,
From heaven shines — even when evils paint
Their darkest colors and into the heart the cold
Of doubt seeps and chills, when men grow bold
To oppress the poor and weak — but still I see
That ray descending — answer to prayer — to free
My soul from despair. O save me, Lord — ’tis gone
My strength, awaiting the sun beyond the dawn.
Love Me
Save me, Lord, for I am weak,
Love me with your love undying,
Satisfy me with all I seek,
My deepest need in Christ supplying.
Cast me, Lord, your single net,
Use me for a soul’s salvation;
Honor my tears and blood and sweat,
To build on Christ’s secure foundation.
Whatever Comes My Way
Whatever comes my way I will
accept with quiet gratitude:
What I receive today will give
me cause for joy, all in good time;
And if tomorrow shall remove
what makes me glad today, I’ll thank
the Lord above for his good gift,
allowing me that cherished hour.
Piety a response to grace
Lord, help my piety to be a response to your grace, and not an impulse of my guilt.
Help my works to be an outflowing of gratitude, and not a begrudging effort to win your approval.
Help my faith to be a profound confidence in your word, and not an invention of my expectations for your intervention.
Help my love to be a response in kind to your compassion and glory, rather than an extension of weak human passion.
Protect our house this day from evil
Heavenly Father, protect our house this day from evil. Let us walk in your presence. May your hands bless our home, our marriage, our coming and going, our rising and our rest.
Help us to serve the brethren well and strengthen, and perhaps even save, relationships with you, with each other, with those outside of Christ.
Focus my mind on your goodness, on acting with knowledge, on being patient and grateful.
Strengthen me to take the steps forward that I need to take today. Help me consider the present, leaving in your hands the cares of the future.
Thank you for health, for work, for opportunity, for faith, for family, for life’s necessities, for eternity’s door in Jesus Christ my Savior.
I Killed a Pigeon
Oh, God, I killed a harmless pigeon,
I heard its bones crunch under my tires —
My car moved slowly, no intent
To harm the creature — he failed to fly.
How many times, in stupor, have I
Been on my selfish passions bent —
To die for feeding on wild desires —
Crushed under wheels of false religion?
In All My Need
Here, O God, I stand in all my need —
I, stripped of strength, no good or perfect deed
To offer up — only a heart impressed
With love’s own gift, with grace unsurpassed,
With mercy’s invitation in my breast —
I throw myself before you, all my past
Mistakes and present sins disowned, confessed.
Overboard, the weights of this world
You, O God, must look down upon our strivings,
and shake your head in amazement —
we, who should stand in awe of you,
act in strange and foolish ways.
Of all this world’s possessions,
none compare to knowing you,
none withstand the test of time —
to know your goodness spans
the bridge to eternal happiness.
Draw us near you, God of love —
we’d mind the things of the Spirit,
pursue your good and perfect will,
engage in your enduring work.
Overboard, the weights of this world,
with freedom gained from truth,
the popular pressure to conform is gone,
our single goal to please you, Lord,
become the people we were meant to be.
Like Pigs
Save us, Lord, from foolishness,
We need your wise and perfect will;
Restore our minds which—we confess—
Like pigs would seek a carnal swill.
The truth of your working among men
O God who makes the mountains quake, overturn all my wrong conceptions of your character, and make me know the truth of your working among men.
Keep me from the lies of the evil one about your intentions.
Close my ears to the sour grapes of sinners.
Remove from my presence the dissatisfied complaints of the selfish.
Let me not be swayed by the charges of the impatient.
Protect me from the hardness of heart of the dissolute.
Help me hear your own witness to yourself, of your love and patience, your holiness and purpose, you who have only our best interest in mind, our salvation at heart.