Forgive Me

Forgive me my friend I've failed you
I should have realized you were watching me
Hoping for a glimpse of the Christ I know
Is all you've seen just patterns
Mere routines and pious words
When what you sought was love
Forgive me my friend I've let you down
I haven't really shown what you wanted to see
A glimpse of Christ living in me
Forgive me and I'll try my friend
Forgive me and I'll pray
That he will live his life in me
Shining for each day
So you will see the joy that he gives
So you will feel the peace that I know
So you will find the love He can bestow
So please forgive me my friend
For Jesus loves you so

by Jimmy & Carol Owens
Song on their album "Show Me Jesus"
This album was used for a Salvation Army Youth Council in the 70's.
Here is a link to listen to it on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9RUl6mf3q8

The Villagers of Stiltsville - by Max Lucado

Mom thought I said "Mash Potato"... um, close... I like reading books by Max Lucado.

(pg. 17-20 & 27 of "Fearless" by Max Lucado)

The Villagers of Stiltsville

Perhaps you don't know
then, maybe you do,
about Stiltsville, the village,
(so strange but so true)

where people like we
some tiny, some tall,
with jobs and kids
and clocks on the wall

keep an eye on the time
For each evening at six,
they meet in the square
for the purpose of sticks,

tall stilts upon which
Stiltsvillians can strut
and be lifted above
those down in the rut:

the less and the least,
the Tribe of Too Smalls,
the not cools and have-nots
who want to be tall

but can't, because
in the giving of sticks,
their name was not called.
They didn't get picked.

Yet still they come
when villagers gather;
they press to the front
to see if they matter.

to the clique of the cool,
the court of high clout,
that decides who is special
and declares with a shout,

"You're classy!" "You're pretty!"
"You're clever" or "Funny!"
And bequeath a prize,
not of medals or money,

not a freshly baked pie
or a house someone built,
but the oddest of gifts -
a gift of some stilts.

Moving up is their mission,
going higher their aim.
"Elevate your position"
is the name of their game.

The higher-ups of Stiltsville
(you know if you've been there)
make the biggest to-do
of the sweetness of thin air.

They relish the chance
on their high apparatus
to strut on their stilts,
the ultimate status.

For isn't life best
when viewed from the top?
Unless you stumble
and suddenly are not

so sure of your footing.
You tilt and then sway.
"Look out bel-o-o-o-w!"
and you fall straightaway

into the Too Smalls,
hoi polloi of the earth.
You land on your pride -
oh boy, how it hurts

when the chic police
in the jilt of all jilts,
don't offer to help
but instead take your stilts.

"who made you king?"
you start to complain
but then notice the hour
and forget your refrain.

It's almost six!
No time for chatter.
It's back to the crowd
to see if you matter.

Stiltsvillians still cluster,
and crowds still clamor,
but more stay away.
They seem less enamored

since the Carpenter came
and refused to be stilted.
He chose low over high,
left the system tip-tilted.

"You matter already,"
he explained to the town.
"Trust me on this one.
Keep your feet on the ground."

Others

This is a poem that my grandmother had as a bookmark in her Bible. It fit her life so incredibly well. I just have to share it.

“Others”
By Charles D. Meigs (written sometime between 1890 and 1902)

Lord help me live from day to day
In such a self-forgetful way
That even when I kneel to pray
My prayer shall be for – Others.

Help me in all the work I do
To ever be sincere and true
And know that all I do for you
Must needs be done for – Others.

Let “Self” be crucified and slain
And buried deep; and all in vain
May efforts be to rise again
Unless to live for – Others.

And when my work on earth is done
And my new work in heaven’s begun
May I forget the crown I’ve won
While thinking still of – Others.

Others, Lord, yes others
Let this my motto be
Help me to live for others
That I may live like Thee.