LOVE

So, today being Valentine's Day, I thought it appropriate to share with you all my favorite LOVE poems. However, I've heard that poetry is the food of love, but I've also heard that music is the food of love. So, I've decided to include my favorite love songs as well. Hope you enjoy them!!!

Sonnet 116~ William Shakespeare

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters where it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove:

Oh no! It is an ever fixed mark

That looks on tempests and is not shaken;

It is the star to every wandering bark,

Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Within his bending sickle's compass come:

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears it out, even to the edge of doom.

If this be error and upon me proved,

I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

"The Way you Look tonight"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDh4GC7n0ig

"When I Fall in Love"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfAb0gNPy6

She Walks in Beauty ~ Lord Byron SHE walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that 's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow'd to that tender light	5
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impair'd the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;	10
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.
And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,	15
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!

Sonnet #43 ~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints!---I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life!---and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

"Everything"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPUJIbXN0WY

"All I Do is Dream of You

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO8xHwijBa8

"Unforgettable"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bfu4V3CmHso&feature=related

Day by Day

I've started reading Keep a Quiet Heart by Elisabeth Elliot for my devotional again. It is such a wonderful book, filled with innumerable insights and pieces of wisdom. Today was about, you guessed it, keeping a quiet heart. Jesus, in his earthly career, was able to keep a quiet heart, to sleep through the storm without worry or fear, because he trusted his Father's plan for him. Do trust our Father's plan for us? We are brothers and sisters with Christ, children of the inheritance, because of His death on the cross. We share the same Father. Do we trust him with every day and everything that happens throughout that day? The countless interruptions, the little things that frustrate us, all of those things are planned by God and given to us as our daily portion. Each time something stands in our way, it is a gift from God to be used for his glory. When the car breaks down just as you needed to get somewhere, or the oven refuses to work right before dinner, or the computer crashes while you were working on an important project, it is hard to think of as being "part of the plan". But perhaps all of these things are the plan. Perhaps the project is not what is truly important, but rather how you deal with everything else today is what really matters. Can we trust the God who created the universe with the order and plan of our day to day lives? This hymn, written by Lina Sandell, is a wonderful testimony to trusting the Lord.

Day by Day

Day by Day, and with each passing moment,

Strength I find to meet my trials here;

Trusting in my Father's wise bestowment,

I've no cause for worry or for fear.

He whose heart is kind beyond all measure

Gives unto each day what He deems best-

Lovingly, its part of pain and pleasure,

Mingling toil with peace and rest.

Every day, the Lord himself is near me

With a special mercy for each hour;

All my cares, He fain would bear, and cheer me,

He whose name is Counselor and Power;

The protection of his child and treasure

Is a charge that on Himself He laid;

"As thy days, thy strength shall be in measure",

This the pledge to me He made.

Help me then in every tribulation,

So to trust Thy promises, O Lord,

That I lose not faith's sweet consolation

Offered me within Thy holy word.

Help me Lord, when toil and trouble meeting,

Ever to take, as from a Father's hand,

One by one, the days, the moments fleeting,

Till I reach the promise land.

Psalm 103

Recently, God opened my eyes to the incredible beauty of Psalm 103. Read it slowly, carefully, and write it's words on your heart as you do. It is a beautiful promise from God of His love for you.

Psalm 103

Praise the LORD, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

² Praise the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits-

³ who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,

⁴ who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,

⁵ who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

⁶ The LORD works righteousness
and justice for all the oppressed.

⁷ He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the people of Israel:

⁸ The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.

⁹ He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;

¹⁰ he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.

¹¹ For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;

¹² as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

¹³ As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;

¹⁴ for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.

¹⁵ As for man, his days are like grass,
he flourishes like a flower of the field;

¹⁶ the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.

¹⁷ But from everlasting to everlasting
the LORD's love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children's children-

¹⁸ with those who keep his covenant
and remember to obey his precepts.

¹⁹ The LORD has established his throne in heaven,
and his kingdom rules over all.

²⁰ Praise the LORD, you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his bidding,
who obey his word.

²¹ Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts,
you his servants who do his will.

²² Praise the LORD, all his works
everywhere in his dominion.
Praise the LORD, O my soul.