RSS

Author Archives: John D. Willome

Unknown's avatar

About John D. Willome

I post a blog of daily devotions that are my prayer journals based on scripture.

The Beatitudes – Jesus

25 Jun

3 “God blesses those who are poor in spirit and realize their need for him,
    for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
4 God blesses those who mourn,
    for they will be comforted.
5 God blesses those who are humble,
    for they will inherit the whole earth.
6 God blesses those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
    for they will be satisfied.
7 God blesses those who are merciful,
    for they will be shown mercy.
8 God blesses those whose hearts are pure,
    for they will see God.
9 God blesses those who work for peace,
    for they will be called the children of God.
10 God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right,
    for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

11 “God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. 12 Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way.

Matthew 5:3-12

Dear God, I was listening to this week’s Voxology podcast this morning and they were talking about the new Louisiana law that will put the 10 Commandments into every classroom in Louisiana. While not advocating that any Christian religious symbol or language be mandated in a classroom, they suggested that maybe a better alternative would be the Beatitudes as taught by Jesus at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. That sounded like an intriguing idea, so I thought I would take a look at those verses from Matthew 5 this morning and think about what it might be like for children to at least passively see them regularly.

Honestly, God, it’s pretty amazing and powerful stuff! For children to see that it’s okay to be poor in spirit. To mourn. to be meek. to hunger and thirst for righteousness. To be merciful. To be pure in heart. To be a peacemaker. To even be persecuted (bullied) because of righteousness. What great character traits for everyone to have and to be reinforced.

There is a room in one of our local schools that casually puts the words love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control in big letters on the walls (note, they don’t have peace for some reason). I recognized them as the fruits of the Spirit as described by Paul in Galatians 5:22-23. I’m sure the children don’t. And there is nothing offensive about them so the words are allowed to stay. I am much more interested in this sort of affirmation of your character and what it means to follow you as opposed to listing 10 Commandments from Exodus that, according the Jesus, all of us have broken each one–even if we only hated and didn’t actually kill.

I read an article the other day that talked about how abortions are actually up overall in the U.S. since the Dobbs ruling the overturned Roe v Wade. I think one of our problems is that when we (the moral majority?) feel like we are losing the influence and persuasion battle, we reach for power to enforce our will. What a foolish thing!

Father, help me to lead today with love and patience. Help me to not be afraid to encourage and persuade. Help me to remember to pray for others about whom I care. Help me to willingly take a back seat and even suffer for them. Help me to dive into service of others. That is how you would have me impact the world. Not through power, but through love. I love you, Lord. Help me pass that love of you to others.

I offer this prayer to you in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on June 25, 2024 in Matthew

 

Tags: , , , , ,

“That’s the Way I Always Heard it Should Be” by Carly Simon

24 Jun

“That’s The Way I Always Heard It Should Be“
Music by: Carly Simon
Lyrics by: Jacob Brackman

My father sits at night with no lights on
His cigarette glows in the dark
The living room is still
I walk by, no remark
I tiptoe past the master bedroom where
My mother reads her magazines
I hear her call sweet dreams
But I forgot how to dream

But you say it’s time we moved in together
And raised a family of our own, you and me
Well, that’s the way I’ve always heard it should be
You want to marry me, we’ll marry

My friends from college they’re all married now
They have their houses and their lawns
They have their silent noons
Tearful nights, angry dawns
Their children hate them for the things they’re not
They hate themselves for what they are
And yet they drink, they laugh
Close the wound, hide the scar

But you say it’s time we moved in together
And raised a family of our own, you and me
Well, that’s the way I’ve always heard it should be
You want to marry me, we’ll marry

You say we can keep our love alive
Babe, all I know is what I see
The couples cling and claw
And drown in love’s debris
You say we’ll soar like two birds through the clouds
But soon you’ll cage me on your shelf
I’ll never learn to be just me first
By myself

Well O.K., it’s time we moved in together
And raised a family of our own, you and me
Well, that’s the way I’ve always heard it should be,
You want to marry me, we’ll marry
We’ll marry

© 1970 Quackenbush Music Ltd. / Kensho Music, ASCAP

Dear God, it looks like this song was copyrighted the summer I was born. My parents had been married just under 16 months when they had me. It’s interesting to thing about them as a young couple.

Marriage is such an interesting sacrament (in the words of the Catholic Church). And there is a difference between living together and getting married. For some, like the writer of this song, there is a fear there. You see the misery of an older couple and you don’t want that for yourself. “What if that happens to me?”

I remember when my wife and I were dating and wondering if she was the one to marry. I don’t know if it was the right question, but the question I asked myself was, “Can I imagine being 65 years old, waking up on a Saturday morning and enjoying talking with her over breakfast?” Now that I think about it, that’s kind of an odd question to ask. And our lives have taken a lot of twists and turns since then. But I’m grateful that even this morning, as recently as 15 minutes ago, we sat and had breakfast together, sharing our thoughts on a couple of things. I played a Tracy Chapman song (“I’m Ready”) for her and we talked about the Christian overtones. She talked about some writing she is submitting to a journal. I cannot tell you how grateful I am that I still enjoy her company.

What makes marriage hard is kind of what makes life hard. It seems like we are constantly fighting the slide towards selfishness. In marriage. In life. I have a friend who is always asking, “When will it be my turn to [fill in the selfish desire here]?” But the best thing I ever heard about marriage was something I’ve mentioned to you several times, the Sacred Marriage material by Gary Thomas. “What if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy?” I am grateful I heard that presentation and then read the book less than 10 years into marriage. I can look back and see how selfish and needy I was before that. That book alone might have saved my marriage.

Father, first, please help me to be the husband my wife needs me to be. She is your daughter. And while I am your son, I am also you son-in-law. Help me to do my best for your daughter. Second, help me to be an encouragement to those who are in tough marriages and a supportive counselor to those who are in good marriages. I guess, Father, I just want to be your man today. I’m giving someone I’ve never met a tour of our nonprofit. Help me to be what you need me to be for her. I have friends and family who are facing significant health issues. Please heal. Please comfort. Please strengthen their caregivers and family as well as them. I have relatives whom I love very much. Please show me how to love them and how not to love them. And I pray for favor for my wife in the pieces she is submitting to that journal. Guide her in her career, her passions, and her gifts.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on June 24, 2024 in Hymns and Songs

 

Tags: , , , , ,

Psalm 107:10-16

23 Jun

10 Some sat in darkness and deepest gloom,
    imprisoned in iron chains of misery.
11 They rebelled against the words of God,
    scorning the counsel of the Most High.
12 That is why he broke them with hard labor;
    they fell, and no one was there to help them.
13 “Lord, help!” they cried in their trouble,
    and he saved them from their distress.
14 He led them from the darkness and deepest gloom;
    he snapped their chains.
15 Let them praise the Lord for his great love
    and for the wonderful things he has done for them.
16 For he broke down their prison gates of bronze;
    he cut apart their bars of iron.

Psalm 107:10-16

Dear God, the passage from Psalms for the Catholic church today is Psalm 107:23-31, but while I was at mass last night reading these verses I wanted to see the rest of the psalm. It was quite something. It basically talked about all of these different types of people who run from you and how they are often brought back into worship through suffering and struggle. There is nothing like coming to the end of ourselves that will reveal the truth to us about who you are.

It reminds me of my answer a couple of weeks ago when I wondered what I would answer a reporter if asked, like Pope Francis was of 60 Minutes, in the midst of everything in the world that is wrong, what gives me hope? My answer: You have built something in all of us that longs for you. That longs to find you. It’s that God-hole I heard about in my Baptist church as a kid. We (and I’m counting myself in this) all try to come up with idols that we think will fill the hole. Possessions. Relationships. Power. Security. Comfort. Leisure. Influence. Even self-gratification.

As I read the rest of psalm 107 yesterday, this was the group of people described by the psalmist who broke my heart. I don’t know if the psalmist is talking about literal prisoners who committed crimes or figurative prisoners of worlds of their own making. I took it to mean the latter. I pictured someone like Bridget Jones in Bridget Jones’s Diary at the beginning of the movie singing “All By Myself,” drinking heavily, and being wholly unhappy. Of course, that movie is Hollywood (even though it’s set in London) so she finds her happiness at the end of the year in a relationship, but we all know that relationship will be troubled. How can it be whole? She has no peace.

Father, first, help me to identify any idols I have in my life today. Show me anything I am doing to try to displace you from my God-hole with something else. You would think I wouldn’t do that anymore, but of course I do. I’m an idiot. Of course I do. And also give me your eyes to see anyone in my sphere who might be in the gloomy figurative prison described in Psalm 107:10-16. Help me to introduce them to you.

I ask all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on June 23, 2024 in Psalms

 

Tags: , , ,

Anger vs. Disdain

22 Jun

disdain (noun) : a feeling of contempt for someone or something regarded as unworthy or inferior

anger (noun) : a strong feeling of displeasure and usually of antagonism

Dear God, I think I have some repenting to do this morning. My wife and I were talking about our attitudes towards different people, and my confession to you is that there are some instances in which I have taken disdain and justified it by calling it anger. Where I really got convicted is when I realized that there are certainly people in multiple areas of my life who I think are unworthy of my time.

As I sat and thought about it, the common theme that seems to run through most of them is that I perceive them to be bullies. My closest friend said to me a few years ago, “You don’t like bullies.” And I don’t. I really don’t. I don’t care if I perceive it to be a politician, people within a local church, people I know or know of in our community, or even family, if I think they bully others then I will immediately be against them and have no use for them. In fact, as I sit here and think about it, one of the most difficult managerial situations I had was a past employee who bullied others. I ultimately had to fire him, but I probably put up with his bullying for too long. I see bullies as emotionally, if not physically, abusive. I see them as potential tyrants. I see them as harmful. I see them as dangerous. I can sit and list a whole bunch of adjectives, but the problem I am seeing in myself is that I take that and allow it to become disdain instead of simple anger. I elevate myself above (in my own mind) and approach them self-righteously instead of as an equally loved child of you who, while they might be deserving of productive anger, are not beneath me.

Father, I am sorry for this. I’m sorry for not loving others the way you love them. I’m sorry for judging and simply writing some people off instead of looking for productive, loving, Godly ways of expressing my anger with them for their behaviors (which includes forgiveness, by the way). Jesus had to put up with bullies in his time on earth, and he did it with love and, yes, sometimes with anger. But he also kept to the four tools that he also gave us to use: prayer, service, persuasion and suffering. When he saw the bully, he inserted himself into their path to take their blows. Even now, as I sit here I am thinking about a woman in town who has been the victim of being bullied to some extent. She is in a emotional struggle of her own, trying to find her way, and there are many in your church who are rejecting her. Help me to know how to be her friend and how to approach those who are rejecting her. Help me to know how to be exactly who you need me to be for the sake of my own soul and peace, and also so that your presence, will, and kingdom can come into this earth through my life. And if I didn’t say it enough already, I am sorry, Father.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on June 22, 2024 in Miscellaneous, Musings and Stories

 

Tags: , ,

“Out of Place” by Fred Smith

21 Jun

Dear God, yesterday, I read this blog post called “Out of Place” by Fred Smith. One of the things Smith mentioned was how frustratingly inconsistent you can be. Why are you so undependable? Why are you so inconsistent?!?

Now, for anyone who hasn’t read Smith’s piece, he is referring to your anger followed by our mercy as your inconsistency. And it’s true. You prove over and over again in the Bible that you are ready to be turned and change your mind. Even Jesus in Matthew 15:21-28 changes course when talking with the Gentile woman about healing her daughter. Yes, this might have been his plan all along–to test her–but it still shows this thing in your nature that you are just ready to love on us when we are ready for it. You are ready to forgive us. You are ready to be in complete relationship with us. You went to great extremes to do that for us, even sending a piece of you to live, suffer, and die. Amazing!

But that’s good for me. Do you have to do it for the people who make me angry? I joke with my staff that they get frustrated when I am soft with other people, but they don’t mind it so much when I’m soft with them. Yes, I too can be inconsistent with others.

Father, I guess one of my prayers this morning is that you will help me to be more inconsistent. Help me to be quicker to love and forgive. Help me to turn from my anger on a dime. You have modeled forgiveness for me. You have modeled it for my own spiritual and emotional health. You know it is part of your perfect nature and it needs to be part of my nature as well. So help me to get that just one step closer to being that man today. Do it all for your glory to come into this world through me and through your church. Help the whole world to see your church as gloriously inconsistent.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on June 21, 2024 in Miscellaneous, Musings and Stories

 

Tags: , ,

Matthew 6:5-6

20 Jun

5 “When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get. 6 But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

Matthew 6:5-6

Dear God, I admit that when I chose to put these prayer journals up to you on a blog for public consumption, I struggled with verse 5. Should I be doing this so publicly? What are my motives? Am I trying to impress people? But there are some things that have basically made me okay with this. First, for 95% of the people who read this, I am anonymous. They don’t know me. There are only a handful of people who see this who know who I am, and even they aren’t a daily part of my life.

Second, there’s a level of accountability here. The idea that I know people are seeing this helps keep me accountable for coming and doing this. Not that any of them will really notice if I skip a day or two. But in my head, I feel like it’s important for me to be here.

Third, there might be something in what I pray that will be a blessing to others. It’s a way of touching a stranger and sharing our journeys in your Spirit together.

Finally, and this is my main reason, I want to hopefully inspire people to do the same thing themselves. To open up your scripture and learn from you through it. Have the Holy Spirit sit with them as you do with me. And sometimes I hear you incorrectly. Sometimes I get it wrong. But I believe just the act of sitting with you day after day, continuously, cannot help but develop the fruit of your Spirit within me.

Father, I offer this prayer to you. I need you. I need you today. I need you in my life. I need you to teach me through your scripture and through the media and friends I allow into my life. If I am the average of the five people with whom I spend the most time, help me to pick those five people wisely, including those who speak to me through podcasts and videos. I want to me more and more like you every day. That will only happen if you are one of the five–the first among the five. Help me to get there today.

I offer this prayer to you in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on June 20, 2024 in Matthew

 

How to know if you’re a Christian trapped in Culture Wars – Rich Villodas

19 Jun

Dear God, I came across this Instagram post yesterday by Rich Villodas. So the temptation when I read this list is to first think about others and judge them. Kind of like being at a marriage conference and thinking, “Man, I hope my wife is listening to this!” instead of wondering which of the words are for me. So I was able to take a beat and this morning I want to think about myself. Pastor Villodas has the word “you” in his title, talking about me in this case, so I want to focus on myself and work through the sin in my heart.

  • God, you are with me but not with them – Well, that is just not true and so arrogant of me to think. Like I’ve cornered the market on truth. Like I’m sinless. Like the known and unknown sins in their lives are worse than the known and unknown sins in my life. Like you love my sister or brother less than you love me. Like I couldn’t be wrong about what I believe. Father, I am sorry for even entertaining the thought that you care about me or are rooting for me more than you care for or root for those who disagree with me. Help me to embrace those who disagree with me and engage with them in a loving way.
  • I don’t see Christians who bear your image as people with whom I should engage, but instead they are threats that I need to eliminate – Yeah, I’ve been there. I’m still there to some extent. The truth is, a lot of the people who disagree with me on some of our cultural issues are truly good people who wake up in the morning wanting to make the world better. They are concerned. They are scared (we’ll get to that later). Just like I am. Father, I am sorry for not wanting to appropriately and compassionately engage with those who concern me. I am sorry for gossiping about others. Help me to know how to engage with others, Christian and non-Christian alike, at any given moment.
  • My hatred is justified because I am fighting for you/truth – Honestly, I don’t know that this one is a problem for me. I’m not really hating people, and if it does start to happen and I realize it I let it go. Basically, have I hated? Yes. But I’ve never felt it was justified and I’ve tried to repent of it when it happens. Father, I am sorry for my hate and even simple judgment of others. Please help me to see everyone–EVERYONE–with your eyes. Help me to love everyone–EVERYONE–with your love.
  • I believe I need political power to make the most of your Gospel – I’m understanding the danger of political power more and more. The Voxology podcast spends a lot of time talking about the difference between “power over” and “power with.” Humans want to exert power over while you want us to tap into you and use your power to live with our neighbors. The Good Samaritan in Jesus’s parable got down into the muck and used your power with his neighbor. When the Samaritans denied Jesus staying with them and John and James wanted to call down fire to destroy them, Jesus rejected their power over approach, respected their decision, and went around. It goes back to the four tools, and four tools only, I heard someone say Jesus used and you gave us to influence our world: Prayer, Service, Persuasion, and Suffering. All power with tools, not power over. Father, I am sorry for the years I spent seeking power and influence. I am sorry for making an idol out of who wins the next local, state, or federal election. I am sorry for wanting to exert power over my neighbors, as if I am the one who can be trusted with power over my neighbor. Help me to not only get down into the muck with my neighbor, but to take your Gospel with me and introduce them to you.
  • I primarily see the world and respond to it through a lens of fear – This made me think of Psalm 27. I just read it again and it might be one of my favorites. It’s one of those rare psalms from David when he is talking about his enemies, but he’s not calling for their destruction. He’s just reminding himself that you are his fortress and he has nothing to fear. One of the most interesting things he did as king was willingly leave Jerusalem during Absalom’s rebellion and leave whether or not he would continue to be king up to you. You had made him king. You could remove him as king. So as I look at the world around me–and there is so much ugly and horror in the world right now, both domestically and in other countries–whom do I really have to fear? I am concerned about a lot of things. I’m concerned about the environment in which our children are growing up. My heart is moved to help people every day. I am moved to pray for people. So concern, yes. But fear? No. Father, I am sorry for allowing fear to motivate my actions. I’m sorry for letting it drive me to hate, seek power, want to eliminate my enemies, and think for a moment that you love me more than you love them. Please help me to see the world how you see it. As I once heard someone say, “God doesn’t chew his nails.” You are not afraid. You are sad. You are concerned. You are even angry about some things. But you are not afraid. Help me to live out my sadness, concern and even anger in a power with way.

I offer this prayer to you this morning in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on June 19, 2024 in Miscellaneous, Musings and Stories, Psalms

 

Tags: , , , ,

1 Kings 21:17-29

18 Jun

17 But the Lord said to Elijah, 18 “Go down to meet King Ahab of Israel, who rules in Samaria. He will be at Naboth’s vineyard in Jezreel, claiming it for himself. 19 Give him this message: ‘This is what the Lord says: Wasn’t it enough that you killed Naboth? Must you rob him, too? Because you have done this, dogs will lick your blood at the very place where they licked the blood of Naboth!’”

20 “So, my enemy, you have found me!” Ahab exclaimed to Elijah.

“Yes,” Elijah answered, “I have come because you have sold yourself to what is evil in the Lord’s sight. 21 So now the Lord says, ‘I will bring disaster on you and consume you. I will destroy every one of your male descendants, slave and free alike, anywhere in Israel! 22 I am going to destroy your family as I did the family of Jeroboam son of Nebat and the family of Baasha son of Ahijah, for you have made me very angry and have led Israel into sin.’

23 “And regarding Jezebel, the Lord says, ‘Dogs will eat Jezebel’s body at the plot of land in Jezreel.’

24 “The members of Ahab’s family who die in the city will be eaten by dogs, and those who die in the field will be eaten by vultures.”

25 (No one else so completely sold himself to what was evil in the Lord’s sight as Ahab did under the influence of his wife Jezebel. 26 His worst outrage was worshiping idols just as the Amorites had done—the people whom the Lord had driven out from the land ahead of the Israelites.)

27 But when Ahab heard this message, he tore his clothing, dressed in burlap, and fasted. He even slept in burlap and went about in deep mourning.

28 Then another message from the Lord came to Elijah: 29 “Do you see how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has done this, I will not do what I promised during his lifetime. It will happen to his sons; I will destroy his dynasty.”

1 Kings 21:17-29

Dear God, this is one of those stories that reminds me of a couple of things. First, don’t read the Bible in too small of chunks because you could miss an important part of the story. In this case, if I had stopped at verse 27, I would have missed your mercy due to Ahab’s repentance in verse 28 and 29.

Second, you are good. You’re just chomping at the bit to love on us. To show us mercy. You love us. It’s amazing how much you love us. Thank you. In this case, you were showing Ahab love and mercy, in our earthly timeline anyway, before Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection. You are always there. You have always been there.

I was praying with my wife this morning and I felt compelled to just express my love for you to you. And I do, Father. I love you. I’m so grateful for you. I really do want to learn from you and live the life on earth that you have for me to live. I want to slog with you through the valley of the shadow of death. I want to be faithful in the little things. I want to bring your joy to others around me. I want to be part of your kingdom coming to this earth and touching the less fortunate and the fortunate as well. So give me ears to hear. Give me eyes to see. I’m going to a training for leaders today. Make me the man you need me to be for those who are there.

I give all of this to you as a prayer in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on June 18, 2024 in 1 Kings

 

Psalm 68:1-4

17 Jun

1 Rise up, O God, and scatter your enemies.
    Let those who hate God run for their lives.
2 Blow them away like smoke.
    Melt them like wax in a fire.
    Let the wicked perish in the presence of God.
3 But let the godly rejoice.
    Let them be glad in God’s presence.
    Let them be filled with joy.
4 Sing praises to God and to his name!
    Sing loud praises to him who rides the clouds.
His name is the Lord—
    rejoice in his presence!

Dear God, I wonder if there are any circumstances under which Bible Gateway would have picked verses 1 and 2 as the verse of the day instead of verse 4. I also wonder if there is anyone pre-Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection who had a feel for how you really work. Maybe a prophet like Isaiah or Jeremiah. Maybe Elijah. Maybe even Moses. But even all of these people were kind of forced into a position of seeing everyone as friend or enemy. They all certainly faced enemies. Jonah, I supposed had it explained to him pretty well, but he rejected it. He just couldn’t stand your mercy.

I think the thing that all of us forget are the famous line from John Donne’s poem “For Whom the Bell Tolls”:

Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.

What if I am the one who has made myself your enemy? Or the enemy of the righteous. I had a donor at our nonprofit complain to me once that they had not gotten a privilege extended to them they felt they had earned through the size of their donation. I privately thought to myself, “But what if the cut line on the privilege was higher than you think and you were still on the other side of it?” So when I read verses like the first couple in the psalm, they make me uncomfortable because I don’t want to hate that much and there is this sneaking suspicion I have that I might actually be on that side of the line. Letting you down. Sinning. Hating. Lusting. Lying. Coveting. Making idols. Rejecting you.

Father, for the other praise words in this psalm, I agree. Even just verse 3 and 4: But may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; may they be happy and joyful. Sing to God, sing praise to his name, extol him who rides on the clouds–his name is the LORD–and rejoice before him. I rejoice before you. I praise your name. I extol you, Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit. Please forgive me. Please help and guide me. Please heal me. Please use me however you will.

I offer this prayer to you in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit.

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on June 17, 2024 in Psalms

 

Tags: ,

“The Living Years” by Mike & the Mechanics

16 Jun

“The Living Years” by Mike & the Mechanics

Every generation
Blames the one before
And all of their frustrations
Come beating on your door

I know that I’m a prisoner
To all my Father held so dear
I know that I’m a hostage
To all his hopes and fears
I just wish I could have told him in the living years

Oh, crumpled bits of paper
Filled with imperfect thought
Stilted conversations
I’m afraid that’s all we’ve got

You say you just don’t see it
He says it’s perfect sense
You just can’t get agreement
In this present tense
We all talk a different language
Talking in defense

Say it loud (say it loud), say it clear (oh say it clear)
You can listen as well as you hear
It’s too late (it’s too late) when we die (oh when we die)
To admit we don’t see eye to eye

So we open up a quarrel
Between the present and the past
We only sacrifice the future
It’s the bitterness that lasts

So don’t yield to the fortunes
You sometimes see as fate
It may have a new perspective
On a different day
And if you don’t give up, and don’t give in
You may just be okay

So say it loud, say it clear (oh say it clear)
You can listen as well as you hear
Because it’s too late, it’s too late (it’s too late)
When we die (oh, when we die)
To admit we don’t see eye to eye

I wasn’t there that morning
When my Father passed away
I didn’t get to tell him
All the things I had to say

I think I caught his spirit
Later that same year
I’m sure I heard his echo
In my baby’s new born tears
I just wish I could have told him in the living years

Say it loud, say it clear (oh say it clear)
You can listen as well as you hear
It’s too late (it’s too late) when we die (it’s too late when we die)
To admit we don’t see eye to eye

So say it, say it, say it loud (say it loud)
Say it clear (come on say it clear)
Say it loud
(Don’t give up, don’t give in and don’t look away ’til it’s too late)
Say it clear
Say it loud (say it loud, say it loud)

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: B.A. Robertson / Mike Rutherford

Dear God, this seems like a good Father’s Day song. As I said a day or two ago, I think there are probably more of us who struggle with Father’s Day than sink into the joy of it. I think this son by B.A. Robertson and Mike Rutherford explains why.

When I think about it from a macro level, I think the words mercy and forgiveness are what come to mind. It reminds me of the beginning of the poem “This Be The Verse”: The f*** you up, your mom and dad. They don’t mean to but they do. They fill you with the faults they had. Then they add some extra just for you...

What the child never realized until maybe when they are a parent is how much the parent loves them. How much the parent sacrifices for them. I’ve seen a mom I work with fight for her child’s brain development and health. Doctors and therapists were convinced he is autistic, but she knew there was something more and she has put him through amazing amounts of occupational and cognitive development therapy for the first three years of his life. She has sacrificed. She has taken time from work. She has spent tons of money. And now it seems to be paying off to the point that she was told last week by his developmental therapist that she was once convinced the boy was autistic, but now she doesn’t think he is. As she told me this story, I thought about how this boy will one day be a teenager and frustrated with his parents, and he won’t realize how much they’ve done for him or loved him. How can he.

I can’t really understand how much my parents have done for me over the years. I know there was a time when I was a baby that I was very sick and my mother fought for me to see the right doctors when she felt like I wasn’t getting the care I needed. She carried me and walked with me a long distance to get me where I needed to be. And yes, I have been frustrated with her over the years. And yes, I haven’t fully appreciated everything she has done. And yes, I still have some issues. But it’s okay to let mercy and forgiveness rule the day.

So, Father, I offer this prayer to you today–this Father’s Day. The only hope any of us have is if we, to quote Rich Mullins, “let mercy lead.” Help me to lead with mercy today. Mercy for my dad. Mercy for my children. Mercy for everyone around me. Help me to lead with mercy today, see each person with your eyes, and worship you throughout this day.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on June 16, 2024 in Hymns and Songs

 

Tags: , , , , , , ,

← Older posts
Newer posts →