accepting

"There are things that we don't want to happen but have to accept, things we don't want to know but have to learn, and people we can't live without but have to let go.

I'm Worn

(Fifth Avenue North) I'm tired, I'm worn My heart is heavy From the work it takes To keep on breathing I've made mistakes I've let my hope fail My soul feels crushed By the weight of this world And I know that You can give me rest So I cry out with all that I have left Let me see redemption win Let me know the struggle ends That You can mend a heart that's frail and torn I wanna know a song can rise From the ashes of a broken life And all that's dead inside can be reborn ‘Cause I'm worn I know I need To lift my eyes up But I'm too weak Life just won't let up And I know that You can give me rest So I cry out with all that I have left Let me see redemption win Let me know the struggle ends That You can mend a heart that's frail and torn 'Cause I'm worn.

character

"May your character not be a writing upon the sand, but an inscription upon the Rock" ~Charles Spurgeon

what we build

When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone. Let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for; and let us think, as we lay stone on stone, that a time is to come when those stones will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say, as they look upon the labor and wrought substance of them, “See! This our father did for us.” __John Ruskin There are many things that a parent “builds” for a child…a physical edifice, I believe, the least of them. Our faith, belief, and love are at the top of the list. Anything we invest time and treasure into, will take root and grow. May our investments be those of eternal value, and not the things that can rust, rot, or be stolen from us. May those who come behind us find us faithful. g

silence

In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. Martin Luther King Jr.

with you

“when the layers subside
and the fortune is empty
the pigment of our days
will echo pure
and I will be nowhere
if not with you”

Kylie Johnson,
Australian potter/poet

bridges

My daddy built a bridge. It is a strong bridge with many yards of concrete, poured into its large forms; steel; and thick planks of wood treated to last a lifetime. My daddy built a bridge, a bridge to help us get to the other side of a creek that has the potential of raging like a river.

My daddy built a bridge. It was a strong bridge. It took years to build. It was made of faith, hard work, and self-sacrifice. It bridged from an old way of life (that had generations of poverty and addiction) to a new way of life (that centers on God, and education, and dreams).

My daddy has spent his life building bridges, and I am so thankful that he did.

g