Love Thy Neighbour

Did I see You Lord, kneeling beside that crying child, holding them in Your arms?
You were dressed as an old lady with shabby clothes, sheltering the child from harm.
Did I see You, Lord carrying a dog that had been hit by a car?
You looked like a young boy with a tear-stained face You carried that dog so far.

I saw You, as a neighbour, comfort a young wife standing distraught and alone
Her spouse had tired of making ends meet and had left their marital home.
You see a need and then send along a saint from down the street
So many people are hurting today and we are Your hands and Your feet.

W.B. Jan 2009.

I’m Your Man Lord

Help me to say all You would say and do what You would do
I want to be just like You as You would want me to.
There’s no one I admire more and when I’m all grown up
I want to be Your image, Lord, loving, kind, but tough

Too tough to take the ‘low road’, as my Dad says to me
To make the harder choices, for Your man I want to be
I’d still be kind and gentle to those who are in need.
As I remember, but for Your Grace I could be there indeed.

So I want to thank You, Jesus for ever choosing me
To be Your child and then Your man as You would have me be
So I will grow up beside You, I know You’ll hold my hand
And keep me close and teach me to be one of Your great band

For I won’t be alone, Lord, there are many others too
As soldiers of the Mighty King Your bidding always do.
Our tasks may differ slightly but we’ll still do Your work
We’ll raise the Cross and share Your love and no hard task shirk.

IRELAND.

Did the fragrant bogs of Ireland caress the feet of the Son of God?
As He led his new disciples along a path His feet had trod?
When His loving arms held closely those who’d never known His love
Did the warmth of Your salvation send them healing from above?

Did Christ climb on clouded hillsides and down misty country lanes?
Telling of His resurrection and the sacrifice He’d make?
What if we had never heard of the story of His Love?
Never known just how He had saved us when He left His home above

Thank you Lord that there were servants that took Your gospel to this land
That spread the news of Your Salvation and held out a loving hand.
May we all receive gladly Your Salvation full and free
Thank You for the news that Ireland knows Your love for eternity.

.
W.B. Nov 2008

FRIENDS.

The love of friends is sent by God
Who else would want it so?
So when we’re lonely grieved, or sick
For comfort we can go

Not just to God who hears our prayers
But the angels he directs
These are the friends whose constant love
Surrounds us and reflects

The love of God and His sweet care
That sooths our troubled heart
Till tomorrow we’re renewed again
And can once more do our part.

w.b. Jan 2009

Special thanks to Marja.

The Carer.

Is there a path that I can walk entirely alone?
To wake each morning with the hope this day is just my own?
To feed each whim with everything that I would like to do
And just not care another’s there with needs and longings too.

No, that will never be, and I am blessed by that
For to wake and know you are alone, what blessing is in that?
We need another’s love and are honoured by that need
When we are doing God’s own work as our duties now we heed.

The time may come when we lose those that need us most
And then the days that have no claims may hover like a ghost.
Their empty places seen at every spot we look
And time once short now hangs unmoved on every empty hook.

W.B. Jan 2009

I Can Fly.

I can fly through the sky
I can sit on a cloud
I can slide down a rainbow or two
There’s no end to adventures
I know I can have
As I’ve got the imagination to do.

God gave me a brain
And I know I can gain
Such knowledge and skill as I grow
So I’ll learn to build homes
For the homeless I know
And grow food for the hungry ones too.

For those that have needs
Will also have dreams
And I want to help them find
That God loves them as much
As He loves all the rest
Of the people for whom He died.

We none of us have
All the stuff that we’d like
But we’re warm, and we’re sheltered, and fed
So how can we turn
And walk away from the sight
Of those who don’t have a bed?

God told us to care
For all those in need
And love them as we love ourselves
So that’s what I’ll do
Till I’m grown up like you
Then continue through all of my days.


W.B. JAN 2009.