"Happy Saint Patrick's Day"

Christ be with me, Christ within me,

Christ behind me, Christ before me,

Christ beside me, Christ to win me.

Christ to comfort and restore me.

Christ beneath me, Christ above me,

Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,

Christ in hearts of all that love me,

Christ in the mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the Name,

The strong Name of the Trinity;

By invocation of the same.

The Three in One, and One in Three,

Of whom all nature hath creation,

Eternal Father, Spirit, Word;

Praise the Lord of my salvation,

Salvation is of Christ the Lord.   

Amen

**This is a portion  of Saint Patrick's "Breastplate" Prayer.

**Happy Saint Patrick's Day to everyone...especially to my dear friend Maureen from the big city of Waterville, Maine and of course, to Patrick, who has always had a bit of "leprechaun" in his heart. :)

"Paul writes to the Romans"

   "For I am convinced that neither death,

nor life, nor angels, nor rulers,

nor things present,

nor things to come,

nor powers, nor height, nor depth,

nor anything else in all creation,

will be able to separate us from the

love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Romans 8:38

Wow! I just love this verse! Paul speaks with great boldness and

 authority in his statement concerning God's love for us. 

Nothing is greater than God's love for us!

***You won't be surprised to know that If I could edit

one thing it would be to add an exclamation point at the 

end of his amazing proclamation!!  :)

Also, this picture was taken by Clayton Todd Whatley.

"Be Thou My Vision"

   Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart

Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art

Thou my best thought, by day or by night

Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my Light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word

I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord

Thou my great Father, I, Thy true son

Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise

Thou mine inheritance, now and always

Thou and Thou only, first in my heart

High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of Heaven, my victory won

May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heaven's Sun

Heart of my own heart, whatever befall

Still be my vision, O Ruler of all...

Still be my vision, O Ruler of all.

This is by far one of my favorite Christian songs...I can just feel it in my bones!  Recently, I heard a beautiful version of it performed by Jamie Thietten.  Check it out on my Facebook page sometime, you won't regret it! :)

**Lord of all Hopefulness, which was my previous post, is sung to the tune of Be Thou My Vision.

"Lord of all Hopefulness"

   Lord of all hopefulness, Lord of all joy,

whose trust, ever child-like, no cares could destroy,

be at our waking, and give us we pray,

your bliss in our hearts, Lord,

at the break of the day.

Lord of all eagerness, Lord of all faith,

whose strong hands were skilled at the plane and the lathe,

be there at our labors, and give us we pray,

your strength in our hearts, Lord,

at the noon of the day.

Lord of all kindliness, Lord of all grace,

your hands swift to welcome, your arms to embrace,

be there at our homing, and give us we pray,

your love in our hearts, Lord,

at the eve of the day.

Lord of all gentleness, Lord of all calm,

whose voice is contentment, whose presence is balm,

be there at our sleeping, and give us we pray,

your peace in our hearts, Lord,

at the end of the day.

P.S. You may recognize this as a song from church...it is one of my

favorites that jabo's quartet sings from time to time...it's just so beautiful to consider 

God's presence in each part of our day!

(Lord of all Hopefulness is sung to the tune of Be Thou my Vision)

**A sidebar concerning the picture of the moon**

In late January, my niece, Karen sent a mass text to everyone urging us to look at the moon. 

When I looked up at the sky the moon was 

beautiful but was nothing unusual from my prospective...not wanting to hurt her feelings I told her how amazing it looked!

Finally, she called me laughing and let me know that others 

were more honest and what we were

seeing was different from what they were seeing.

So the last picture is the magnificent view of the moon in January

as it appeared to my precious family in Daphne, Alabama.

This picture was taken by Michael Castrillo,

who is the brother of Dan Castrillo.

Thank you Karen and Michael!

"Sweet Surprise"

Today I decided to get back into yoga so when I found

my sneakers, which I haven't worn in a while, I

received a sweet surprise...my shoe laces

 had nice big loopy bows finished

with a firm double knot. Most certainly the work of

my oldest grandson Will! 

When he was here in January he tied everything he could 

get his hands on...my apron, my jacket 

and at some point he tied my shoes!

He has perfected the art of tying a bow!

Thanks for the smile, Will! I love you as high as the sky!

P.S. Looks like gigi needs a new pair of sneakers!
Also, Maniac McGee would have been proud of Will's double knot!

"Michelle"

We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed;

we are perplexed, but not in despair;

       

persecuted, but not forsaken; 

struck down, but not destroyed...

2 Corinthians 4:8-9

  

"Clay"

Because the foolishness of God

is wiser than men,

and the weakness of
God is stronger than men.

1 Corinthians 1:25