Learning to Cherish

Do you also tend to feel a sense of frustration/astonishment 

as you read in Exodus, how God freed the children of Israel from

their bondage and oppression in Egypt in ways that they beheld His mighty power,

Then how, though they had a visual reminder of His presence 

in a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night, (Ex.13:21)

How, though God parted the Red Sea so they passed through on dry ground, 

before the waters swallowed up the Egyptian army pursuing them.

and yet, how quickly their praise turned to murmuring

 when they were hungry and thirsty,

when present unpleasantness drew their attention and worship

 from He who had proven faithful over and over...

Oh!!! suddenly this sounds very familiar! 

forgive me, Lord!!

Moses' reprimand to the children of Israel is the same for you and me...

Because if we believe we too have been freed 

from bondage and oppression in the wilderness of Sin!

(I jotted half of this poem yesterday from a totally different train of thought

before finishing it this morning after today's scripture reading from Exodus!)

We take it as it comes; Blossoms and butterflies

Wishes that don’t come true and some that do to our surprise

We cannot seize what was or leap beyond today

So, we cherish what is because there is no other way

We take it as it is; of new not yet turned old

Of old that once was younger and of gray that once was gold

We cannot stay the hands that mark the march of time

So, we cherish duty’s demands and beauty’s season-chime

We take it as it goes; the high road and the low

Where only God, who grants it knows what life waits to bestow

To teach us how to trust and love Him all our days

To cherish His goodness to us and live a life of praise

To He who does not faint or weary of our cry

May we withhold thankless complaint and vanity of 'why' 

But cherish that which flows from Mercy's patient nod/rod

What comes, what is, what goes unfurls the soul's return to God

© Janet Martin

...in the morning we shall see the glory of the Lord!

Ex.16:7

Isa. 40:28

Have you not known? 

Have you not heard?

 The everlasting God, the LORD, 

The Creator of the ends of the earth, 

Neither faints nor is weary. 

His understanding is unsearchable.

His Love Endures Forever-Chris Tomlin