The Lord Will Provide

Though troubles assail 

And dangers affright, 

Though friends should all fail 

And foes all unite; 

Yet one thing secures us, 

Whatever betide, 

The scripture assures us, 

The Lord will provide. 

The birds without barn 

Or storehouse are fed, 

From them let us learn 

To trust for our bread: 

His saints, what is fitting, 

Shall ne’er be denied, 

So long as ’tis written, 

The Lord will provide.

We may, like the ships, 

By tempest be tossed 

On perilous deeps, 

But cannot be lost. 

Though Satan enrages 

The wind and the tide, 

The promise engages, 

The Lord will provide. 

His call we obey 

Like Abram of old, 

Not knowing our way, 

But faith makes us bold; 

For though we are strangers 

We have a good Guide, 

And trust in all dangers, 

The Lord will provide. 

When Satan appears 

To stop up our path, 

And fill us with fears, 

We triumph by faith; 

He cannot take from us, 

Though oft he has tried, 

This heart–cheering promise, 

The Lord will provide. 

He tells us we’re weak, 

Our hope is in vain, 

The good that we seek 

We ne’er shall obtain, 

But when such suggestions 

Our spirits have plied, 

This answers all questions, 

The Lord will provide. 

No strength of our own, 

Or goodness we claim, 

Yet since we have known 

The Savior’s great name; 

In this our strong tower 

For safety we hide, 

The Lord is our power, 

The Lord will provide. 

When life sinks apace 

And death is in view, 

This word of his grace 

Shall comfort us through: 

No fearing or doubting 

With Christ on our side, 

We hope to die shouting, 

The Lord will provide.

 —John Newton (1725-1807) from Olney Hymns, 1779 [author of "Amazing Grace"]

[The fountain in its source]

The fountain in its source

No drought of summer fears;

The farther it pursues its course

The nobler it appears.

But shallow cisterns yield

A scanty short supply;

The morning sees them amply filled,

At evening they are dry.

    --Madame de la Mothe Guion (1648-1717), translated by William Cowper  (1731-1800)

     This poem is not "Christian", per se, but Cowper certainly was.  His work is featured on both of my blogs.  There are links to his amazing life story. Madame Guion was also a fervent Christian, seeking private devotional disciplines.   

     The poem gives an overall sense of a giving, active life being preferable.  The flowing, active fountain which freely gives of itself never has to "worry" about running dry.   The still cisterns, from which people come and take what they want, do have that "concern.

     Cowper ended up living in the vicinity of Olney, England. There he was friends and a joint hymn-writer with John Newton, author of "Amazing Grace."  Though Americans are much more familiar with Newton, Cowper has had more fame in the UK.  (As noted elsewhere, Cowper was the favorite poet of author Jane Austen.)

   

  

Olney still hosts the Cowper and Newton Museum.  On its premises are Cowper's Summer House.  After his death, a book was published about the place.  "Fans" showed up and wrote on its walls, some of which is still visible today.

"Light Shines out of Darkness" (Cowper; with biographical notes)

[Joy & Peace in Believing] (Cowper)

"The [Slave's] Complaint" (Cowper, plus biographical link; Witticisms & Aphorisms Blog)

"I Will Praise the Lord at All Times" (Cowper)

Quotable Cowper (with biographical link; Witticisms & Aphorisms Blog)

Perfect Love

     This is another year that Valentine's Day falls on Ash Wednesday.  A real reminder of the sacrificial love of all the Saint Valentines.  (See also my other blog for some Valentine's thoughts)

For All the Saints

All Saints Day is November 1st.  It is a day to remember those who have departed the world before us and are in Christ's presence forever.  

My favorite departed saint to remember is my maternal grandmother, whose photos you will find scattered throughout.  In Lutheran thinking (following how the Bible uses the term), all Christians are "saints" because Christ has made us holy by saving us. We don't live it out perfectly (sadly, we often don't live it out well at all), but Christ is the Perfect One, the Holy One who makes us that way in God's eyes. 

For all the saints 

Who from their labors rest,
Who Thee by faith 

Before the world confessed;
Thy name, O Jesus, 

Be forever blest.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

Thou wast their Rock, 

Their Fortress and their Might;
Thou, Lord, their Captain 

In the well-fought fight;
Thou, in the darkness drear, 

Their one true Light.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

O blest communion, 

Fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, 

They in glory shine;
Yet all are one in Thee, 

For all are Thine.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

But then there breaks 

A still more glorious day:
The saints triumphant 

Rise in bright array;
The King of Glory 

Passes on His way.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

From earth's wide bounds, 

From ocean's farthest coast,
Through gates of pearl 

Streams in the countless host,
in praise of Father, 

Son, and Holy Ghost.
Alleluia, Alleluia!  --William Walsham How, 1864

W.W. How was born in 1823 in England and died in 1897 in Ireland.  He was an Anglican priest who rose to be a bishop.  

Consider*

Consider 

The lilies of the field whose bloom is brief:--

We are as they;

Like them we fade away,

As doth a leaf.

Consider 

The sparrows of the air of small account:

Our God doth view

Whether they fall or mount**--

He guards us, too.

Consider 

The lilies that do neither toil nor spin,

Yet are most fair:--

What profits all this care

And all this coil***?

Consider 

The birds that have no barns nor harvest-weeks;

God gives them food:--

Much more our Father seeks

To do us good.   --Christina Rossetti, 1866  

*"consider the lilies and the birds [ravens]"; Luke 12:22-31, Matthew 6:25-33

**mount the wing, take flight

***mortal coil: this fleshly, physical life

Looking Backwards & Forwards at Hopkins

 

For this new year, I'm reviewing for you all the Gerard Manley Hopkins entries on this blog.  There are works by Hopkins himself, plus references to his work.  Hopkins was a 19th century English Jesuit poet.  He both modernized and stuck with old forms in his work. Enjoy, and Happy 2021!

"Pied Beauty" [Best known; 2nd posting]

"Pied Beauty" [1st posting]

"God's Grandeur" [2nd best known]

"Spring & Fall"

"Peace"

"Spring"

"My Own Heart Let Me Have More Pity On"

"Moonrise"

"Patience"

"Easter"

"The Starlight Night"

"Music on the Wing"

Excerpt from "That Nature is a Heraclitean Fire and of the Comfort of the Resurrection."

"Moonless Darkness Stands Between" [Christmas]

"He Hath Abolished the Old Drouth"

"May Magnificat"

Here is Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, reading "God's Grandeur":

Reading of "God's Grandeur"

Here's an original poem of mine, drawing from a line in God's Grandeur":

"Nature is Never Spent"

This is by a poetess who really admired Hopkins:

"A Song of Spring"

Chokecherries, White Mountains of Arizona
October 2021

The Long View

 

"If I knew tomorrow were the end of the world,

I'd plant an apple tree today." 

(attributed to Martin Luther; 16th century German)  

O God, Our Help in Ages Past*

 

1. O God, our help in ages past,
   Our hope for years to come,
   Our shelter from the stormy blast,
   And our eternal home.
2. Under the shadow of Thy throne
   Thy saints have dwelt secure;
   Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
   And our defense is sure.
3. Before the hills in order stood,
   Or earth received her frame,
   From everlasting Thou art God,
   To endless years the same.

   

   Colorado Rocky Mountains

4. Thy Word commands our flesh to dust,
   “Return, ye sons of men”:
   All nations rose from earth at first,
   And turn to earth again.
5. A thousand ages in Thy sight
   Are like an evening gone;
   Short as the watch that ends the night
   Before the rising sun.  

   

   Sierra Prieta Mountains, Arizona

6. The busy tribes of flesh and blood,
   With all their lives and cares,
   Are carried downwards by the flood,
   And lost in foll’wing years.
7. Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
   Bears all its sons away;
   They fly, forgotten, as a dream
   Dies at the op’ning day.
8. Like flow’ry fields the nations stand
   Pleased with the morning light;
   The flow’rs beneath the mower’s hand
   Lie with’ring ere ’tis night.
9. O God, our help in ages past,
   Our hope for years to come,
   Be Thou our guard while troubles last,
   And our eternal home.  --Isaac Watts, 1708 (pub. 1719)

*A hymnodic version of Psalm 90.  (This Psalm and hymn are often used in liturgical churches on New Year's Eve, due to the discussion of "time.")

Posh Hopkins

   

Here is Prince Charles reading Gerard Manley Hopkins' second most famous poem, "God's Grandeur."

"God's Grandeur" Prince Charles 2021 Easter Message

Here is the text for this poem, with explanatory notes, from an earlier post in this blog:

"God's Grandeur"

This is not a strong "resurrection poem"; Hopkins did write some Easter specific poems.  If you click the "Easter" link, you will pull some up.  But at least it does mention "the Holy Ghost."  At one time, Charles seemed to be drifting away from Christian-specific matters, but that does not seem to be the case anymore.

I imagine Charles chose this, partly, because of the environmental theme.  I also wonder if, as Prince of Wales, he did it for the Welsh connection.  Hopkins was an English Jesuit priest, but his most favorite place of serving was Wales.  He learned some Welsh.  (For a poetry day event several years ago, the Prince of Wales read a poem by the Welsh poet, Dylan Thomas.) 

Prince Charles at his investiture as Prince of Wales, 1969

Just for "fun", here is a poem I wrote as a "riff" off of a line in "God's Grandeur."

"Nature is Never Spent" 

Moisture Comes to Arizona

Rain, Rain,

Came again,

Came to ease our climate's pain.

Cloud, Cloud,

You're no shroud;

You're a joy to have around.

Snow, Snow,

Do not go:

Beautify us here below.

"Cleanse me with hyssop,

And I shall be clean;

Wash me,

And I shall be whiter than snow."  (Psalm 51:7)*

Grey, Grey,

Gone away:

Would you stay another day?

Sun, Sun,

Elsewhere fun,

Here you give our drought a run.

Rain, Rain,

Come again:

Leave us not with hopes in vain.

"'For just as the rain comes down

And snow from the heavens

And does not return there

Without watering the earth...

Thus is My Word

Which goes forth from my mouth:

It does not return to Me void.'"  (from Isaiah 55:10-11)*

--C. Marie Byars, (c) 2021

*original retranslations of the Bible from Hebrew

 

This poem is fourth in a series of drought & rain across Arizona.  These are the other three:

What Color is Your Christmas?

Rain Redux

Perspectives

The below links show pictures of the author (and family) sledding in the US Southwest across the past several years.

More Sledding, More Snow

Sledding

 

 

Imagine

 

Imagine...

love that embraces the enemy

grace that preaches repentance

joy that strengthens during depression

peace that accompanies the conflicted

hope that enlivens the dying

Jesus gives this.  --Rev B.T. (c) 2021

What Color Is Your Christmas?

Customs say that Christmas colors

Feature red and green:

Reams and reams of dusty paper

Tell what these hues mean.

Newer en vogue Christmas pallettes

Favor blue and silver-- 

Mildest hints of bracing cold,

Tinselly chills with frosty lure.

"I'm dreaming of a...

    ...blue, blue Christmas."

Irving wrote of Christmas white,

Decked in sparkling snow;

Here an unplanned black-eyed Susan

Joins planned lemons dressed in yellow.

"Susan" on December 1st

Lemons on December 17th
Photo by my husband

Others might await their snow:

Winters here bring liquid flow.

Yet our rain has gone away--

Still not back this holiday.

If the rain falls on us all,

Good and evil both the same*,

What does this prolonged' drought

Say of our respective blame?

Christmas comes, Christmas goes,

Elsewhere as they brave the snows.

Christ's love blankets all our sin:

Someday all that's right will win.

--C. Marie Byars; (c) December, 2020

*Matthew 5:45

This poem forms a triptych with two other poems on our lack of rain:

Rain Redux

Perspectives

It partially "twins" with the black-eyed Susan poem below and forms a partial "triptych" with the visuals in all three of these posts:

Black-Eyed Susan (poem)

Black-Eyed Susans (homegrown images)

 

Black-Eyed Susan

Black-eyed Susan~
The name doesn't fit:
Your eye's not an eye--
So much like brown velvet.

Susan~
The Hebrew Shoshanna
The name of the lily.
But you're the cousin
Of the sunflower and daisy.

Susan, oh Susan,
You old friend of mine,
What then was your name
When the Maker made time?

Yellow for joy~
Reminder of heaven*--
Multi flowers in brown**--
Keeper of secrets,
In simplicity renown.
     --Marie Byars, 2019 (c)


*Romans chapter 8:  all creation waits to be renewed when Christ returns. 
**The "center" in flowers in the composite family is a cluster of minute flowers. What are often called the petals are really "rays."

St. Paul, Minnesota; July, 2019

Botanical Gardens
Albuquerque, NM

Lake County (suburban Chicago), Illinois;
July, 2018

The ones which inspired this poem
Prescott, Arizona; August, 2019

My own, which came up a year later:

A field of Black-eyed Susans 
that became naturalized in Flagstaff, AZ
October, 2022:

Black-eyed Susans in south central Texas 
get a maroon hue near the center

More Flowers of the Upper Midwest

Travels (related to the Christian life) took me to Minnesota recently. Though I love the southwest, there are things there I find refreshing in the Midwest:

Johnny Jump-Up; violet strain

" '26So if you cannot do such a small thing,' [said Jesus] 'why do you worry about the rest? 27Consider how the lilies grow: They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory was adorned like one of these. 28If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith!…' "

Berean Study Bible