SO FAR ABOVE

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! - Psalm 8:3-9 (KJV)

"O Lord, Our Lord." Do you know that song? The above scripture was the inspiration for the song. I memorized it when I was 12 or 13 years old. The youth choir at our little church memorized all the songs we sang because our leader didn't want us holding a book when we "performed". I loved this song then and I still do.

This video has been around for awhile and I think I have shared it in the past, but I think it goes well with the scripture in Psalms.

Spiritual Sundays is the place to be each weekend for lots of links to inspirational posts. Click HERE to go to that blog. You may want to link there and share a post on your blog.

I hope everyone has a blessed new year. Let's make 2012 a year to remember - in a good way.

Tom and Alura

Anything good? That's the question I always ask Clif when he brings the mail in. Most of the time it is just junk mail but once in a while there is something good. Yesterday when I asked him, he said we got a Christmas card from Tom and Lou. "I always call them Lou and Tom," I replied. It's always been Lou and Tom - not Tom and Lou. He said, "Well, they're more formal. The return address says Tom and Alura." Why was this beautiful Christmas card and a four page hand written letter special to me? Alura (Lou) is my dad's youngest sister. She's 93 years old. Her husband Tom is 95. They still live at home and take care of themselves. They have a lady that comes in once every two weeks and cleans the house. They've been married for 72 years. I think that is remarkable. I remember when I was growing up I was always compared to my Aunt Lou. People said I looked like her. Maybe this is a good "omen" for me. LOL

Some of my most cherished childhood memories are going to their farm in Oklahoma. They sold their farm and moved to town about 15 years ago. Tom bought himself a new pickup for his 90th birthday. And they both played golf regularly until just a few years ago. In her letter she updated us on all their kids and grandkids. She was proud they all had college educations. Lou and Tom lived their entire lives in the same area in Oklahoma. I remember many years ago they visited us when my parents and I lived in Colorado. Lou really fell in love with Colorado and I think for just a short time, she wished she lived there. Her heart was in Oklahoma though and it didn't take her long to "get over it."

I credit at least part of their longevity to all that good fresh food they grew on their farm. Clif added, "and clean air." I think the main thing though was the Lord was blessing them in every way. They have both been faithful Christians all their lives.

Thank you for letting me reminisce a little. I hope you have a Lou and Tom in your lives. Even more importantly, I hope you have their Lord in your lives.

I'm sharing this tribute for Spiritual Sundays.  Again, I want to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas.

Isaiah 9:6-7

AMAZING GRACE - Not Just Soap

Amazing Grace is not just soap? Of course not. We all know about Amazing Grace ― the spiritual kind (at least I hope we do) ― but how many know about Amazing Grace soap? I just found out about it recently. So how did I find out about this amazing soap? It was at an Arts & Crafts Festival in Fountain Hills, AZ. Did I buy some of it? No. But after I got home I wished I had. And why is that, you ask? I did buy a jar of their Body Butter and I love love loved it. When I bought the Body Butter I was given a small sample of their soap. (It is so wise to give samples.) Well, I used that little sample all up and was sold on it. But the Fair was over, so I looked it up online. A little research by my dear hubby and we found out they would be at the Tempe Festival of the Arts. It can also be ordered online, of course, but since they were going to be at the Festival I thought it would be a good excuse to go to it. We always enjoy going there anyway. We were so glad we went because we met the lovely lady who makes these beautiful soaps and her husband also. Amazing Grace is just one of the choices they have. Many different fruity and flower "flavors" are also available. And they are all amazing. The problem I had was deciding which fragrance to choose. Amazing Grace was the one I finally chose, partly because of the pink color. They do have other colors. So this is one of my Christmas presents. It's under the tree now in the lovely bag they provided. Here is their website if you would like to find out more about their products. http://SophisticatedSoap.com/index.htm

As wonderful as this soap is, it pales in comparison to God's Amazing Grace. There is a reason why Amazing Grace is one of the most popular songs in the religious world. That Jesus would leave his heavenly home, come to earth, live here showing us how we should live, and then going to the cross, dying in our place. And of course just as important, his resurrection and promised return to this earth as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Now, that is truly AMAZING GRACE.

I'm sharing this both for Spiritual Sundays and for Pink Saturday. I hope you will visit both of these links to find many wonderful posts both of the spiritual and pink varieties.

Silent Night

After posting some history behind O Little Town of Bethlehem, I decided to see what I could find out about an even more popular carol — Silent Night. Here is what I found online.

On December 24, 1818 the carol "Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht" was heard for the first time in a village church in Oberndorf, Austria. The congregation at that Midnight Mass in St. Nicholas Church listened as the voices of the assistant pastor, Fr. Joseph Mohr, and the choir director, Franz Xaver Gruber, rang through the church to the accompaniment of Fr. Mohr's guitar. On each of the six verses, the choir repeated the last two lines in four-part harmony.

On that evening in 1818 Joseph Mohr journeyed to the home of musician-schoolteacher Franz Gruber who lived in an apartment over the schoolhouse in nearby Arnsdorf. He showed his friend a poem he had written and asked him to add a melody and guitar accompaniment so that it could be sung at Midnight Mass. His reason for wanting the new carol is unknown. Some speculate that the organ would not work; others feel that the assistant pastor, who dearly loved guitar music, merely wanted a new carol for Christmas. Later that evening, as the two men, backed by the choir, stood in front of the main altar in St. Nicholas Church and sang "Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!" for the first time, they could hardly imagine the impact their composition would have on the world. Now translated into hundreds of languages, it is sung by untold millions every December from small chapels in the Andes to great cathedrals in Antwerp and Rome.

I learned this carol in school way back when Christmas was celebrated in public schools and Christmas plays were the norm. In fact, I think I learned most of the carols that I love today in school. Today's children are denied that blessing. How sad for America's children.


I'm sharing this for Spiritual Sundays. You can go there to find links to many spiritual and inspirational posts on different blogs. You may want to share. There is info there about how to do it.