[JustAmy]

February 5, 2008
Graphic by MamaBear

"Red Bird"

Red Bird, Red Bird,
What a pretty sight.
Flying in the summer time,
Neath a sun so bright.
Red Bird, Red Bird,
Flying to and fro.
Living in the winter time,
Mid the ice and snow.

~E.H. Coe~
1981

[Mama_Bear]

Good morning, Amy. I'll be answering your e-mail later this morning.

That's a nice Red Bird graphic, but I didn't make it. It's probably Billie's. :-)

Have a super 'Super Tuesday', everyone!

[Billie]

Morning! Looks like we're still covered upwith snow and ice at Amy's, so should be a good place to post a graphic from a thread I did at the Finest (linked above) and a beautiful poem by NNB!

Ice Castles ~ 02-28-06

Ice

Water is a friend to us, a laughing, playful sprite,
Greeting us each morning, weeping in the night,
Sparkling in its banter, elusive in its zest.
Happy are the children who can understand it best.

Water is within us, and we a part of it,
We carry our own ocean or at least a little bit.
The red tide that has colored it tells of the blood we share,
More than all the breath we blow means we are partly air.

Our water is a food to us, and carries woes away,
And clouds become our cover tucking in at end of day.
A fever can bring fire to the balance that we seek,
And ever helpful water is a nurse when we are weak.

Yet even water can oppose us and bring its wrath to bear,
And crash upon our hovels when it teams up with the air.
Sometimes a sea of water overcomes us as a flood,
And we are left to wonder why an ocean needs our blood.

There comes a time when best of friends must pass,
Our friend the water turns into a stone of glass,
And frozen clouds and turbulence made into solid form,
And all the softness goes out from the thing that had been warm.

Yes, water dies and brings its own fresh flowers to the wake,
A petaled tear which gently falls as a snowflake,
Yet water has one lesson still to teach us and to warn,
That we will have a cycle too, and we will be reborn.

That we will pound ourselves against the rocks upon the shore,
Eroding folly and excesses in our never-ending war.
A fight against all prejudice and hatred til we sleep,
And joined with other mourners is the water that they weep.

NicknamedBob . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 6, 2004

[Kitty Mittens]

I Love that Poem and Graphic, Amy and Billie!
Lori, I Hope Chachi is Doing Well.
I was Going to Post a Lovely Rose Gif to you All, but both TinyPic and Photobucket Seem to be Down. :(

[La Enchiladita]

Amy, that is beautiful, the red bird against the white snow. It’s wonderful how birds survive in freezing weather; I guess it’s their high metabolism? My Momma Hummingbird is in Day 9 of sitting on the nest.

Is FR slow this morning or is it my computer?
I fear my computer is dying....:(

[Old Sarge]

Little bird, here in my hand, keep your children from the sand,
The topmost pole shall be your nest, shield your chicks, I'll do the rest.

LIttle bird, with trilling sweet, I'm glad we had this chance to meet,
but now, my mission must be done, and I won't stop until we've won.

Little bird, now we must part, your song has lightened up my heart,
Raise your children wild and free, and theach them all to sing for me.

(C) 04 MAY 2002 by JSR

[GodBlessUSA]

Good Afternoon Amy
Lovely poems :) Cardinals are so lovely. Thanks for ping!

[The Mayor]

February 5, 2008

The Atrocious Mathematics Of The Gospel

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READ: Matthew 18:23-35

The master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. —Matthew 18:27

From childhood we are taught how to succeed in the world of ungrace. “You get what you pay for.” “The early bird gets the worm.” “No pain, no gain.” I know these rules well because I live by them. I work for what I earn; I like to win; I insist on my rights. I want people to get what they deserve.

But Jesus’ parables about grace teach a radically different concept. In Matthew 18, no one could accumulate a debt as huge as the servant did (vv.23-24). This underscores the point: The debt is unforgivable. Nevertheless, the master let the servant off scot-free.

The more I reflect on Jesus’ parables proclaiming grace, the more tempted I am to apply the word atrocious to describe the mathematics of the gospel. I believe Jesus gave us these stories to call us to step completely outside our tit-for-tat world of ungrace and enter into God’s realm of infinite grace.

If I care to listen, I hear a loud whisper from the gospel that I did not get what I deserved. I deserved punishment and got forgiveness. I deserved wrath and got love. I deserved debtor’s prison and got instead a clean credit history. I deserved stern lectures and crawl-on-your-knees repentance. Instead, I got a banquet spread for me.

His love has no limit, His grace has no measure,
His power has no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus,
He giveth and giveth and giveth again.  —Flint

Our sin is great—God’s grace is greater.

Bible in One Year:  Exodus 25–27; Proverbs 13:1-12