Thankful Thursday

For the beauty of the earth,

For the glory of the skies,

For the love which from our birth

Over and around us lies;

Lord of all, to Thee we raise

This our hymn of grateful praise.



For the wonder of each hour

Of the day and of the night,

Hill and vale and tree and flower,

Sun and moon and stars of light:

Lord of all, to Thee we raise


This our hymn of grateful praise.



For the joy of ear and eye,

For the heart and mind's delight,

For the mystic harmony

Linking sense to sound and sight;

Lord of all, to Thee we raise



This our hymn of grateful praise.



For the joy of human love,

Brother, sister, parent, child;

Friends on earth and friensd above;

For all gentle thoughts and mild:

Lord of all, to Thee we raise


This our hymn of grateful praise.



For Thy bride that evermore

Lifteth holy hands above,

Offering up on every shore

Her pure sacrifice of love:

Lord of all, to Thee we raise


This our hymn of grateful praise.



For Thyself, best gift divine,

To our race so freely given;

For that great, great love of Thine,

Peace on earth and joy in heaven:

Lord of all, to Thee we raise


This our hymn of grateful praise.

~Folliot Sandford Pierpoint, 1864

Autumn

Delicious autumn!
My very soul is wedded to it,
and if I were a bird
I would fly about the earth
seeking the successive autumns.
  ~George Eliot

Autumn is the eternal corrective.

It is ripeness and color and a time of maturity; 
but it is also breadth, and depth, and distance. 

What man can stand with autumn on a hilltop

and fail to see the span of his world

and the meaning of the rolling hills

that reach to the far horizon?
~Hal Borland

O Autumn, laden with fruit, and stained
With the blood of the grape, pass not, but sit
Beneath my shady roof; there thou may'st rest,
And tune thy jolly voice to my fresh pipe;
And all the daughters of the year shall dance!
Sing now the lusty song of fruit and flowers.
~William Blake, To Autumn, 1783

Thankful Thursday

Blessed be the Lord,
who daily loadeth us with benefits,
even the God of our salvation.

~Psalm 68:19

Thank You, Lord,

for my home;

today we are all together, safe and sound, when so many are not

for my resources;

today I am able to give to those who have lost everything

for Your Divine Providence.

Ora et labora

"Pray and labor."

The Village Blacksmith
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Under a spreading chestnut-tree
The village smithy stands;
The smith, a mighty man is he,
With large and sinewy hands;
And the muscles of his brawny arm
Are strong as iron bands.

His hair is crisp, and black, and long,
His face is like the tan;
His brow is wet with honest sweat,
He earns whate'er he can,
And looks the whole world in the face,
For he owes not any man.

Week in, week out, from morn till night,
You can hear his bellows blow;
You can hear him swing his heavy sledge,
With measured beat and slow,
Like a sexton ringing the village bell,
When the evening sun is low.

And children coming home from school
Look in at the open door;
They love to see the flaming forge,
And hear the bellows roar,
And catch the burning sparks that fly,
Like chaff from a threshing-floor.

He goes on Sunday to the church,
And sits among his boys;
He hears the parson pray and preach,
He hears his daughter's voice,
Singing in the village choir,
And it makes his heart rejoice.

It sounds to him like his mother's voice,
Singing in Paradise!
He needs must think of her once more
How in the grave she lies;
And with his hard, rough hand he wipes
A tear out of his eyes.

Toiling,--rejoicing,--sorrowing,
Onward through life he goes;
Each morning sees some task begin,
Each evening sees it close;
Something attempted, something done,
Has earned a night's repose.

Thanks, thanks to thee, my worthy friend,
For the lesson thou hast taught!
Thus at the flaming forge of life
Our fortunes must be wrought;
Thus on its sounding anvil shaped
Each burning deed and thought.

I Hear America Singing
by Walt Whitman


I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,

Those of the mechanics, each singing his as it should be blithe and strong,

The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,

The mason working his as he makes ready for work or leaves off work,

The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck,

The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands,

The wood-cutter's song, the ploughboy's on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown,

The delicious singing of the mother, or the young wife at work, or the girl sewing or washing,

Each sings what belongs to him or her and none else,

The day what belongs to the day -- at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,

Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.

Happy Labor Day

Hurricane Katrina: Blog for Relief Weekend Post 2

My kids are going to put together a care package to send to Lori Seaborg here at HSB.
She says:

Some of you have asked what else the victims
need.  I'll first tell you what the organizations provided, based on my
first-hand experience in Hurricane Ivan.  The Red Cross provided shelters and food and water.  The Salvation Army provided hot food and water.  The Southern Baptists provided laundry services, debris removal, and hot meals. FEMA
provided ice, water, and meals-ready-to-eat.   After a couple of weeks,
they provided trailers for those who did not have a home.  Later, much
later, they provided cash reimbursements for evacuating and for food
loss, but the aid was sporadic. 

 

Based on that, you can see a big gap.  There is nobody providing diapers, non-perishable foods, shampoo, formula, body wash, cleaning supplies, toiletries, children's toys, and items such as those.  Nobody has a program for handing out clothing.   

 

If you want to get those items to me, I can get
them into the hands of the churches (the Church of Christ is one) and
organizations who will be willing to pass them out.  I can also put the
items into the hands of the refugees that I will personally see at the
shelter.

She is also asking for Bibles.

Hurricane Katrina: Blog for Relief Weekend

So many others have been more timely and helpful in getting information up on their blogs.  Of course, we are all praying here;  we are donating to the relief efforts, and we are wishing we could do more.

Project Noah is a homeschooling ministry that
helps homeschooling families in crisis.  We only provide curriculum and school
supplies to the families that come to us with crisis needs - whether it is
because their home has burned, or been flooded, or the primary wage earner has
been without work for an extended period of time, or other similar crisis, we
try to help.  We have been serving the homeschooling community for almost 5
years now and will continue as long as there are families in need.

The Ambleside Online
Advisory has created a free curriculum plan, AO-HELP, for families and
relief workers who need emergency educational help for children in the
aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. All books and materials necessary are
available online for free. It requires no materials other than pencil
and paper, and a Good Samaritan friend with access to a computer and a
printer. It is designed to be user-friendly, even for those who have
never taught, and suitable for a wide age range.

Our help is in the name of the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.

~Psalm 124:8

Thankful Thursday

Three things that I am thankful for this Thursday:

1. Our neighborhood pool stays open through October,
   so now that the other kids are back in government school we have it
   almost to ourselves every morning.


2. My husband has a really good job right now.


3. Our pastor is a wonderful Bible teacher.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down
from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow
of turning.

James 1:17