Category: Poetry

You Never Can Tell

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Poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

You never can tell when you send a word,
Like an arrow shot from a bow
By an archer blind, be it cruel or kind,
Just where it may chance to go.
It may pierce the breast of your dearest friend.
Tipped with its poison or balm,
To a stranger’s heart in life’s great mart,
It may carry its pain or its calm.

You never can tell when you do an act
Just what the result will be;
But with every deed you are sowing a seed,
Though the harvest you may not see.
Each kindly act is an acorn dropped
In God’s productive soil
You may not know, but the tree shall grow,
With shelter for those who toil.

You never can tell what your thoughts will do,
In bringing you hate or love;
For thoughts are things, and their airy wings
Are swifter than carrier doves.
They follow the law of the universe –
Each thing must create its kind,
And they speed o’er the track to bring you back
Whatever went out from your mind.

This I Know

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I do not know what next may come
Across my pilgrim way;
I do not know tomorrow’s road,
Nor see beyond today.
But this I know –my SAVIOR knows
The path I cannot see;
And I can trust His wounded hand
To guide and care for me.

I do not know what may befall,
Of sunshine or of rain;
I do not know what may be mine,
Of pleasure and of pain;
But this I know — my SAVIOR knows
And whatsoe’er it be
Still I can trust his love to give
What will be best for me.

I do not know what may await,
Or what the morrow brings;
But with the glad salute of faith,
I hail its opening wings;
For this I know — that my LORD
Shall all my needs be met;
And I can trust the heart of Him,
Who has not failed me yet.

Poem by Margaret Clarkson

Make Christmas a Verb

Published on by arecordofgraces

Poem by Mark F. Stone

For many, the gifts are the be-all and end-all:
the big screen, the tablet, the Barbie and Ken doll.
For me, gifts I get are like ice in the sun.
I cannot recall them. No, not even one.

How did I find a true way to remember
the import of each twenty-fifth of December?
The quest to acquire is an urge one can curb.
The lesson I learned was: make Christmas a verb.

Knock on the door of your neighbors who deal
with aging and loneliness. Bring them a meal.
If you have means and you live in fine fettle,
drop off some greens in that little red kettle.

Visit our vets who are hurt and express
your thanks for their service as they convalesce.
Deliver to others a luminous glow.
The gifts you will cherish are those you bestow.

Carrying Joy

Published on by arecordofgraces

Sometimes I feel a note or a kind word is just not enough. I feel helpless and inadequate many times in offering support and I tend to believe that my ‘little note’ or what-have- you is not enough. But the ‘little things’ are not so little, really. What may seem small to me, may be the big thing that breathes peace and which helps someone live another day less burdened. To ease an aching heart, to carry a burden for a dear one, to offer kind words, to sow seeds of comfort–All these are carrying joy.  A note, a phone call, a simple “Hello”, a prayer in Jesus’ name- beautiful ways to let someone know you care.

“The Little Things in Life” -Author Unknown

“If you have eased some aching heart today,

Or helped to carry burdens not your own, 

If you have spoken kindly by the way,

Or in some darkened household comfort sown,

You need not say, “This day has been in vain”;

But wait for earth’s tomorrow with a smile,

For you may carry joy where there is pain:

The little things in life are those worth while.”

Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad. -Proverbs 12:25

Thanks to God! {A Hymn for Thanksgiving}

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Thanks, O God, for boundless mercy from Thy gracious throne above;
Thanks for every need provided from the fullness of Thy love.
Thanks for daily toil and labor and for rest when shadows fall;
Thanks for love of friend and neighbor and Thy goodness unto all.

Thanks for thorns as well as roses, Thanks for weakness and for health;
Thanks for clouds as well as sunshine, Thanks for poverty and wealth.
Thanks for pain as well as pleasure- All Thou sendest day by day;
And Thy Word, our dearest treasure, Shedding light upon our way.

Thanks, O God, for home and fireside, Where we share our daily bread;
Thanks for hours of sweet communion, When by Thee our souls are fed.
Thanks for grace in time of sorrow, And for joy and peace in Thee;
Thanks for hope today, tomorrow, And for all eternity!

(Hymn by A.L. Storm)

 

Let Every Day Be Christmas (a poem)

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Let Every Day Be Christmas
by Norman Wesley Brooks, 1976

Christmas is forever, not for just one day,
for loving, sharing, giving, are not to put away
like bells and lights and tinsel, in some box upon a shelf.
The good you do for others is good you do yourself.

Peace on Earth, good will to men,
kind thoughts and words of cheer,
are things we should use often
and not just once a year.

Remember too the Christ-child, grew up to be a man;
to hide him in a cradle, is not our dear Lord’s plan.
So keep the Christmas spirit, share it with others far and near,
from week to week and month to month, throughout the entire year!