Love Gifts (3 page)

What must I do to ensure peace of mind?

Is the answer I’m seeking too hard to find?

How can I know what God wants me to be?

How can I tell what’s expected of me?

Where can I go for guidance and aid

To help me correct the errors I’ve made?

The answer is found in doing three things,

And great is the gladness that doing them brings.

“Do justice”—“Love kindness”—

“Walk humbly with God”—

For with these three things as your rule and your rod,

All things worth having are yours to achieve,

If you follow God’s words and have faith to believe.

There is no thinking person

who can stand untouched today

And view the world around

us slowly drifting to decay

Without feeling deep within

him a silent, unnamed dread

As he contemplates the future

that lies frighteningly ahead …

But the problems we are facing

cannot humanly be solved

For our diplomatic strategy

only gets us more involved

And our skillful ingenuity,

our technology and science

Can never change a sinful heart

filled with hatred and defiance …

So our problems keep on

growing every hour of every day

As man vainly tries to solve them

in his own self-willful way …

But man is powerless alone to

clean up the world outside

Until his own polluted soul

is clean and free inside …

For the amazing power of love

is beyond all comprehension

And it alone can heal this world

of its hatred and dissension.

Somebody cares and always will—

The world forgets, but God loves you still

You cannot go beyond His love

No matter what you’re guilty of,

For God forgives until the end—

He is your faithful, loyal friend …

And though you try to hide your face,

There is no shelter any place

That can escape His watchful eye,

For on the earth and in the sky

He’s ever-present and always there

To take you in His tender care

And bind the wounds and mend the breaks

When all the world around forsakes.

Somebody cares and loves you still,

And God is the someone who always will.

Sometimes when faith is running low

And I cannot fathom why things are so,

I walk among the flowers that grow

And learn the answers to all I would know …

For among my flowers I have come to see

Life’s miracle and its mystery,

And standing in silence and reverie,

My faith comes flooding back to me.

When you’re troubled and worried and sick at heart

And your plans are upset and your world falls apart,

Remember God’s ready and waiting to share

The burden you find too heavy to bear …

So with faith, let go and let God lead the way

Into a brighter and less-troubled day.

For God has a plan for everyone,

If we learn to pray, “Thy will be done.”

For nothing in life is without God’s design

For each life is fashioned by the hand that’s divine.

There’s an old Chinese proverb that if practiced each day

Would change the whole world in a wonderful way.

Its truth is so simple, it’s easy to do,

And it works every time and successfully, too.

For you can’t do a kindness without a reward

Not in silver nor gold but in joy from the Lord.

You can’t light a candle to show others the way

Without feeling the warmth of that bright little ray,

And you can’t pluck a rose all fragrant with dew

Without part of its fragrance remaining with you.

So we may know God better

and feel His quiet power,

Let us daily keep in silence

a meditation hour …

For to understand God’s greatness

and to use His gifts each day,

The soul must learn to meet

Him in a meditative way …

For our Father tells His children

that if they would know His will

They must seek Him in the silence

when all is calm and still …

For nature’s great forces are

found in quiet things

Like softly falling snowflakes

drifting down on angels’ wings

Or petals dropping soundlessly

from a lovely full-blown rose,

So God comes closest to us

when our souls are in repose …

So let us plan with prayerful

care to always allocate

A certain portion of each day

to be still and meditate …

For when everything is quiet

and we’re lost in meditation,

Our souls are then preparing

for a deeper dedication

That will make it wholly

possible to quietly endure

The violent world around us,

for in God we are secure.

God, open my eyes so I may see

And feel Your presence close to me.

Give me strength for my stumbling feet

As I battle the crowd on life’s busy street,

And widen the vision of my unseeing eyes

So in passing faces I’ll recognize

Not just a stranger, unloved and unknown,

But a friend with a heart that is much like my own.

Give me perception to make me aware

That scattered profusely on life’s thoroughfare

Are the best gifts of God that we daily pass by

As we look at the world with an unseeing eye.