Last Thought of This Evening

 A combination of Psalm 84 and Psalm 90 from David, Isaac Watts and Vaughan Williams.
I want to teach my children to count their days and to understand the benefits of a fully integrated life with God. I want them to experience wonder at the thought of Him and the security that a life with Him brings. Maybe it will not bring them fleeting securities of wealth or fame, but it will bring the knowledge and assurances  and peace that a life with God offers.  This temporal life is a beginning and we are working and playing in that knowledge.   I had the pleasure of listening to the St Matthew's Choir sing this on Sunday and it was beautiful indeed.
http://stmatthewsnewport.com/resources/audio-and-sermons/preacher/st-matthews-choir/

O how amiable are thy dwellings: thou Lord of hosts!

My soul hath a desire and a longing to enter into the courts of the Lord:

My heart and my flesh rejoice in the living God.

Yea, the sparrow hath found her a house,

and the swallow a nest where she may lay her young:

even the altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God.

Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be always praising thee.

The glorious Majesty of the Lord our God be upon us:

prosper thou the work of our hands upon us.

O prosper thou our handywork, O prosper thou our handywork.

O God our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come,

Our shelter from the stormy blast, And our eternal home.

Goodnight to Genevieve, Leticia, Randall and Scott

Snow Cone Machines

When I lost the presidential election for student council in the fifth grade, it hit me.  It had never even occurred to me to lie to the entire student body to win.  Mike promised a snow cone machine and even my cousin fell for it.  Looking back I remember the shock and denial and all the other stages of grief that I went through at the tender age of nine.  My opponent had lied and worked the system.  This same scenario has been my traveling companion from that day onward.  The experience was particularly sad because Mike was my boyfriend.  "Only a friend can betray a friend, a stranger has nothing to gain."

We expect the outside world to hurt us, but those in our inner circles can cause great damage by betraying a trust. To hear the voice of ridicule or feel the wrath of ambition from a stranger is off-putting, surprising or the more benign attempts even funny.  To hear it from a beloved friend is devastating and its presence corrodes our well-being.  What if they are right? What if I...(fill in the blanks)? If the ridicule comes anywhere near family of origin horrors, darkness can settle in for days.