Come sit with me by the fire
Take in the glow and warmth
The lights are low and the night is young
Time for a chat, a look back
The mood is fine and all is divine
Sit back, relax, and ease your mind
Let's pause and now rewind the time
To replay the moments: highs and lows
Looking at some decisions you chose

Come sit with me for a little while
Come close and let me hold you child
The storm outside is full of fury and sound
But in here you are on safe solid ground

Come sit with me for a moment or two
In this space, it's just me and you
Let me tell you a story from many years ago
A tale of love and honor suffering and glory
But there is something else you must know
It is as yet unfinished even to this day
Still, it remains the Life, the Truth, the Way

It begins at the beginning the first husband and wife
Everything was perfect and they knew no strife
They walked freely with God in complete honesty
And all the world was blessed in perfect harmony

Lord, I don't know where to begin. Life has thrown me a crazy curveball right now and I'm feeling a little anxious about it. I know that this is supposed to be a time of joy, celebration and thanksgiving, but I haven't been feeling it quite so much. I know there are lots of things to be joyful and thankful for: friends, family, my faith, food, water, clothing, shelter, a good job, being alive, being able to see a sunrise or sunset and the list goes on. Thank you for these Lord, and please help me always be mindful of the many blessings you have given me in my life!

Lord, you are the Prince of Peace. Right now, I could use some peace of mind, body and spirit in this crazy world.
You are the King of the Universe and all creation; help me rest in the knowledge that everything is under your command. You are in control.
You are the Divine Physician, healer of body and mind. Please Lord, heal what ails me physically and cast out any fear or doubt with your perfect love.

In the meantime, help me find my strength and comfort in You. Help me carry this cross of mine and, by it, help me to become more holy, more empathetic to those who are also in need of Your Comfort. Walk with me Lord on this road I am on and, if necessary, carry me.

Sometimes it's hard to see you, and sometimes it seems you are far away. Give me the grace to see with eyes of faith and seek you and find you all around me in big and small ways. But you say: "I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you and not harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future. You will call on me and pray to me and I will listen to you. You will seek me, and you will find me when you seek me with all your heart". (Jeremiah 29: 11-13)

Help me see you in someone who smiles at me as they pass by, the joy that comes in a walk outside on a nice fall day, the incredible beauty of a sunrise or sunset, on a good day with little pain, or having the strength and endurance for a long day and still feeling good afterwards.

Lord, I trust you. Help me trust you in this too and lean on the support and encouragement of my friends, family, spouse, church, and most importantly, You my Lord God. Please help me make a speedy and full recovery, so I can get back to the great work that you have so blessed and gifted me to be able to do. Help me continue to find joy in the job and strength for the journey. Bless my work Lord, that it may be a blessing for others and a blessing for you that others might change lives and hearts for the better and bring people closer to you!

AMEN

Today, Catholics celebrate the Presentation of Mary (by her parents to the church). In the days of old, the church was the primary medium of education and, in some cases, parents would dedicate their first born to the church as a sort of tithe giving back to God in gratitude for the first fruits of their blessings.

When we are young our parents took us and presented us to the church, and we are placed in the care of wise men and women to be taught and brought up in the life and the way and the truth. This is in hopes that we would grow in wisdom and age and favor before both God and man. When we are a little older, we can choose to present ourselves before the Lord and confess by our lips and our actions that we believe and serve. We take ownership of our faith. It is not simply our parents' faith anymore.

The presentation is an offering, a sacrifice, a return in gratitude of blessings. Let us, then, come daily before the Lord Our God and present ourselves to Him, to thank Him, to offer Him all our joys and sorrows, blessings, temptations, work and play. Let us begin by presenting Him with our day.

What would happen if WE would rededicate our hearts, our days, and our lives to Christ our Lord? Doing it can't make things any worse than they are by not doing it. So why not give it a shot?

What would drive me to make a journey so far
What would give me patience through obstacles
What would give me such joy to finally arrive
And to be where you are one more time
I think it must be love

It is love that gives me the strength to go on
It is love that propels me when the road is long
It is the stars to guide me when the sun is gone
It is the joy that arises with the first rays of dawn

Isn't it crazy that I need you like water or air
That I would expire without you always being there
It is medicine to which none can compare
If it is all I have, still, I will not despair

It is love that goes beyond all measure
It is pure love which is the source of highest pleasure
It is the Father's love the most precious treasure
It is the soul's embrace the sweetest gesture

There is no distance too great or too small
That I wouldn't go to answer your call
There is no path that I wouldn't take
And no way that I could ever forsake
A friend in a time of trouble or need
It's written in my core, it's part of my creed

It's love that is so incredibly amazing
It's love that sets my heart a-blazing
It's love that puts my mind at ease
It's only love's sacrifice that truly frees

May a warm summer wind soon blow your way,
Wishing you good, luck fortune, and good day,
You now a part of the kingdom of heaven,
What a wonderful place to go and live in.

For there will be all your wildest dreams,
Nothing you thought you would ever believe.
And now that you will finally receive,
The Wonderful Kingdom of Heaven.

God fears no man – creator of existence, in the composition that
spoke life and oxygen to all you creatures. Some pray their prayers
as Christian, few times aloud as a victim – walking on surface of
earth, we crowd it with pollution for the nectar of wealth, spreading
seeds for what is made from personal growth – the birds and the
bees.

Pollinating the stigma to our young, that they have all the time to
be dumb. Hatching all of your fears to your son you call chum;
fishing the picture of plenty fish in the sea – did you at least
teach him how to swim. Figuratively!

Though quite literally; the bait of addiction is the idea that everyone
does it as a passage of growth. The world finds success in us
following a uniform message, their wickedness to clothe…

Us, against the world, though parts of the world believe they’re
greater than God.

pink blossoms – in the forest of thoughts; I seem
so lost. as a storyteller, I must have consumed a library,
every day is a memory of all that you’ve learned, and
the scriptures on your skin of the Word

where true prophecy reigns – the taste of one’s future
rains, watering faith’s garden. you beautiful tragedy,
making blissful mistakes – life hurts and stresses you
out with heavy thoughts of tomorrow, that you seem
too scared to even let down your hair; it's an anchor

yet in these pink blossoms, any piece of hope blossoms
like a blush on your face – when the slightest beauty
smiles back at your worried face… weary child,
go and pray.

I stand in front of a stone library
that once held great knowledge therein,
but stands now empty under skies dreary.
I whisper a prayer for our sins:

Please, Lord, let the children who follow us
grow wiser than we ever were.
Let them yet be the loving kindness
that we have signally failed to confer.

I doubt that they will ever forgive us
for this fallen world that we’re handing down
thanks to all the blind disservice
by leaving little but ash on the ground.

Before us all stand two stone gates
each leading to diverging roads:
The one leads to our visible fate
while the other fate overthrows.

Please, Lord, let those born in these days
choose the path of the unknown
instead of taking the road that behind us lays:
They shall our foolishness swiftly outgrow.

What few blessings I may pass on to you,
O dear reader of the future’s present,
I give you freely in hopes of a new
rebirth in a world without end, amen.

Through storms, Christ sustains,
In shadows, His light remains,
Peace and hope, He reigns.