A Sweet Fragrance » Poetry

Let Us Not Hinder Them ~ Amy Carmichael

Vanessa — Fri, 27 May 2011 11:57:43 +0000

O Father, help, lest our poor love refuse
For our beloved the life that they would choose,
And in our fear of loss for them, or pain,
Forget eternal gain.

Show us the gain, the golden harvest there
For corn of wheat that they have buried here;
Lest human love defraud them and betray,
Teach us, O God, to pray.

Teach us to pray, remembering Calvary,
For as the Master must the servant be;
We see their face set toward Jerusalem,
Let us not hinder them.

Teach us to pray; O Thou who didst not spare
Thine own Beloved, lead us on in prayer;
Purge from the earthly, give us love Divine,
Father, like Thine, like Thine.

-From Thou Givest They Gather
by Amy Carmichael

Something For Christ ~ Elizabeth Prentiss

Vanessa — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 11:00:40 +0000

Something For Christ

Something for Thee! Lord, let this be
Thy choice for me from day to day;
The life I live it is not mine,
Thy will, my will, have made it Thine!
Oh let me do in Thine own way,
Something for Thee!

Something for Thee! What shall it be?
Speak, Lord, Thy waiting servant hears,
Is it to do some mighty deed?
Is it some multitude to feed?
Is it to do mid pains and fears,
Something for Thee?

Something for Thee! I do not see
A coming battle for my King,
I only see a little cup-
With water haste to fill it up:
Thy love will own this trivial thing,
Something for Thee!

Something for Thee! From self I flee,
What wilt Thou, Master, from me still?
With eager heart I stand and wait,
Longing for work, or small or great:
Let me be doing as Thy will,
Something for Thee!

Something for Thee! On bended knee,
Unseen, unknown by mortal eye,
My soul for other souls shall plead-
As Thou for me didst intercede.
Thy love can own a tear, a sigh,
Something for Thee!

Something for Thee! Yet if for me
It is a useless, crippled hand,
Let perfect patience mark my way:
Since they who silently obey
Are doing as Thy wisdom planned,
Something for Thee!

-From Golden hours: Heart-hymns of the Christian life
by Elizabeth Prentiss

Stir Me!

Vanessa — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 05:02:11 +0000

Stir me, oh! stir me, Lord, I care not how,
But stir my heart in passion for the world!
Stir me to give, to go – but most to pray;
Stir, till the blood-red banner is unfurled
O’er lands that still in heathen darkness lie,
O’er deserts where no cross is lifted high.

Stir me, oh! stir me, Lord, till prayer is pain-
Till prayer is joy – till prayer turns into praise!
Stir me, till heart and will and mind – yea, all
Is wholly Thine to use through all the day.
Stir, till I learn to pray ‘exceedingly’:
Stir, till I learn to wait expectantly.

-As quoted in Christian Disciplines
by Oswald Chambers

All I Had Worked For

Vanessa — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 12:00:13 +0000

Out of this life I shall never take
Things of silver and gold I make.
All that I cherish and hoard away,
After I leave, on earth must stay.

Though I call it mine and I boast its worth,
I must give it up when I quit the earth.
All that I gather and all that I keep
I must leave behind when I fall asleep.

And I wonder often, just what I shall own,
In that other life when I pass alone,
What shall He find and what shall He see,
In the soul that answers the call for me?

Shall the great Judge learn when my task is through
That my soul had gathered some riches too?
Or shall at the last, it be mine to find,
That all I had worked for, I had left behind?

-By an unknown author, as quoted in
Discipleship by G. Campbell Morgan

Alone With God ~ Elizabeth Prentiss

Vanessa — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 12:00:16 +0000

Alone With God

Into my closet fleeing, as the dove
Doth homeward flee,
I haste away to ponder o’er Thy love
Alone with Thee!

In the dim wood, by human ear unheard,
Joyous and free,
Lord! I adore Thee, feasting on Thy word
Alone with Thee!

Amid the busy city, thronged and gay,
But One I see,
Tasting sweet peace, as unobserved I pray
Alone with Thee!

O happy life! Life hid with Christ in God
So making me,
At home, and by the wayside, and abroad,
Alone with Thee!

-From Golden hours: Heart-hymns of the Christian life
by Elizabeth Prentiss

Give Me The Lowest Place

Vanessa — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 12:00:06 +0000

Give me the lowest place, not that I dare
Ask for the lowest place, but Thou hast died
That I might live and share
Thy glory by Thy side.

Give me the lowest place, or if for me
That lowest place too high, make one more low
Where I may sit and see
My God and love Thee so.

-Quoted in Christian Disciplines
by Oswald Chambers

Picture from FreeFoto.com

The Valley Of Silence

Vanessa — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 11:00:01 +0000

I walk down the Valley of Silence,
Down the dim voiceless valley alone,
And I hear not a sound of a footstep
Around me but God’s and my own,
And the hush of my heart is as holy
As bowers whence angels have flown.

In the hush of the Valley of Silence,
I hear all the songs that I sing,
And the notes float down the dim Valley
Till each finds a word for a wing,
That to men like the dove of the deluge,
The message of peace they may bring.

-Quoted in Christian Disciplines
by Oswald Chambers

My God Came Down

Vanessa — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 11:00:06 +0000

Oh, long and dark the stairs I trod,
With stumbling feet to find my God:

Gaining a foothold bit by bit,
Then slipping back and losing it:

Never progressing, striving still,
With weakening grasp and fainting will,

Bleeding to climb to God: while He
Serenely smiled, unnoting me.

Then came a certain time when I
Loosened my hold and fell thereby.

Down to the lowest step my fall,
As if I had not climbed at all.

And while I lay despairing there,
I heard a footfall on the stair,

In the same path, where I, dismayed,
Faltered and fell and lay afraid.

And lo! when hope had ceased to be,
My God came down the stairs to me.

-As quoted in Christian Disciplines
by Oswald Chambers

Do We Ask Enough Of Ourselves? ~ Amy Carmichael

Vanessa — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 11:00:04 +0000

If we take courage to expect, we shall have crushing disappointments sometimes, but often we shall find. And we shall tap deep wells. We shall discover a power and abandon of love to our blessed Lord Jesus that overflows our poverty of faith. Not the emotion of a moment, but the passion of a lifetime, this is what the Lord our God can effect, if only we rise to His thought. We ask far too little of men and women redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, and the smoky, smouldering life of many who might have been flames for Him, and the frigid and measured quality of the service that they offer, is our sorrowful, just reward.

But do we ask enough of ourselves?

Lord, when I’m weary with toiling,
And burdensome seem Thy commands,
If my load should lead to complaining,
Lord show me Thy hands-
Thy nail-printed hands. Thy cross-torn hands-
My Saviour, show me Thy hands.

Christ, if ever my footsteps should falter,
And I be prepared for retreat.
If desert and thorn cause lamenting,
Lord, show me Thy feet-
Thy bleeding feet, Thy nail-scarred feet-
My Jesus, show me Thy feet.

O God, dare I show Thee
My hands and my feet?

-From The Widow of the Jewels
by Amy Carmichael

Originally posted on October 20, 2008.

Thy Loyalty Is To Follow Me

Vanessa — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 11:00:09 +0000

This week I decided to revive some of my favorite posts from my earlier blogging days. These are thoughts and quotes that have challenged and shaped me and I trust will still be an encouragement to others. Enjoy!

If crushed by mysteries of pain
Thou scarce canst face the storm again;
If I should count on thee to share
The grief redeeming love must bear;
What is that, My child, to thee?
Thy loyalty is to follow Me,
Who knew all grief on Calvary;
And blessed is he,
Whosoever shall not be offended in Me.

If I should trust thee to obey,
Though mist and mud beset thy way;
And if obedience leads to loss
And agony, and then – the Cross;
What is that, My child, to thee?
Thy loyalty is to follow Me,
Who triumphed there, on Calvary;
And blessed is he,
Whosoever shall not be offended in Me.

-Written by one of Amy Carmichael’s coworkers,
from Though the Mountains Shake
by Amy Carmichael.

Originally posted November 4, 2007

Picture from FreeFoto.com