Thy Way, Not Mine

Pray for us...that the Lord thy God may show 
us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing
that we may do.  Jeremiah 42:2,3

Thy way, not mine, O Lord,
However dark it be!
Lead me by Thine own hand.
Choose out the path for me.

Smooth let it be or rough,
It will be still the best;
Winding or straight, it leads
Right downward to Thy rest

I dare not choose my lot;
I would not if I might;
Choose Thou for me, my God,
So shall I walk aright.

Take Thou my cup, and it
With joy or sorrow fill,
As best to Thee may seem;
Choose Thou my good or ill:

Choose Thou for me my friends,
My sickness or my health;
Choose Thou my cares for me,
My poverty or wealth.

Not mine, not mine the choice,
In things or great or small;
Be Thou my strength,
My wisdom and my all.
Horatius Bonar  1808-89

Reader, our lives are made up of boredom, excite-
ment, "suddenlies," and hard work in between. I
just finished a whirl-wind week of family where
12-20 gathered at the table each day--then the si-
lence of just two. It is good to go back to scripture,
back to Jeremiah, and be reminded that God has
the script. He wants us to trust Him all our days.
He plans delightful surprises on the way:

Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude
of the heavenly host praising God...Luke 2:13

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven
with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, 
and with the trump of God: and the dead in 
Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive 
and remain shall be caught up together with 
them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: 
and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Where-
fore comfort one another with these words.
I Thessalonians 4:16-18