The poem doest tell
of thy great love
of he in whom she’s thinking of!

A tale so true
a mystery
abundant love for all to see!

From start to end
emotions flow
like no-one knows, like no-one knows!

She gets it right
so right I say
love lives, love breaths, love’s here to stay!

Come sway with me
till death do part
from toe to brow, from heart to heart!

So say it now
and have no fear
forever more, let’s disappear!

Those goggles you say I wear
Baby, they were never there
The words I spoke so true
And spoken just for you

So know you this, this day
Whate’er you hear me say
Or act upon or do
I swear it’s just for you

And even more do tell
That disease that brings you hell
Does not hinder my love for you
For forever it’s just for you

One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and the need for more government programs. The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth and she indicated so to her father. He responded by asking how she was doing in school. Taken aback, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn’t even have time for a boyfriend, and didn’t really have many college friends because she spent all her time studying.

Her father listened and then asked, “How is your friend Audrey doing?”

She replied, “Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes, she never studies, and she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She is so popular on campus; college for her is a blast. She’s always invited to all the parties and lots of times she doesn’t even show up for classes because she’s too hung over.”

Her wise father asked his daughter, “Why don’t you go to the Dean’s office and ask him to deduct 1.0 off your GPA and give it to your friend who only has a 2.0. That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA and certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA.”

The daughter, visibly shocked by her father’s suggestion, angrily fired back, “That’s a crazy idea, and how would that be fair! I’ve worked really hard for my grades! I’ve invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work! Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I worked my tail
off!”

The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, “Welcome to the Republican party.”

[Source: Email Forward]

So, what makes this piece of property in the middle of nowhere so special you ask? Perhaps it’s the fact that the wind is always blowing – cooling your brow on hot Summer days wrestling the cows or reminding of our Lord, the Unmoved Mover. Or maybe it’s all of the imagery of a simpler time – the old tractor, rusted hay rake, weathered fence corner posts or the proud Prairie barn. It could even be because everywhere you turn your eyes you see something that Grandpa and Grandma Robertson touched – the Cherry, Buckeye, and Walnut trees that Grandma Annie planted and the buildings that Grandpa Glenn built with Depression Era tools and practically no money. Maybe it’s the pristine views (click the gas tank image above). All of these are great examples of the specialness of “the farm,” yet I can’t help but consider the fact that when I walk all the way to the back of the property to my favorite place I feel like I’m standing in the presence of God.

“But the most obvious fact about praise – whether of God or any thing – strangely escaped me. I thought of it in terms of compliment, approval, or the giving of honor. I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise unless (sometimes even if) shyness or the fear of boring others is deliberately brought in to check it. The world rings with praise – lovers praising their mistresses, readers their favorite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favorite game – praise of weather, wines, dishes, actors, motors, horses, colleges, countries, historical personages, children, flowers, mountains, rare stamps, rare beetles, even sometimes politicians or scholars. I had not noticed how the humblest, and at the same time most balanced and capacious, minds praised most, while the cranks, misfits and malcontents praised least…

I had not noticed either that just as men spontaneously praise whatever they value, so they spontaneously urge us to join them in praising it: “Isn’t she lovely? Wasn’t it glorious? Don’t you think that magnificent?” The Psalmist in telling everyone to praise God are doing what all men do when they speak of what they care about. My whole, more general, difficulty about the praise of God depended on my absurdly denying to us, as regards the supremely Valuable, what we delight to do, what indeed we can’t help doing, about everything else we value.

I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed.” (C. S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms, 93-5)

“There is the solution! We praise what we enjoy because the delight is incomplete until it is expressed in praise. If we were not allowed to speak of what we value and celebrate what we love and praise what we admire, our joy would not be full. So if God loves us enough to make our joy full, He must not only give us Himself; He must also win from us the praise of our hearts – not because He needs to shore up some weakness in Himself or compensate for some deficiency, but because He loves us and seeks the fullness of our joy that can be found only in knowing and praising Him, the most magnificent of all Beings. If He is truly for us, He must be fore Himself!” (John Piper, Desiring God, 49)

Reflections on the Psalms (Harvest Book)

C.S. Lewis. Mariner Books 1964, Paperback, 168 pages, $5.21