"Our Father's Fought for Liberty": a poem about true freedom

This poem is in my Grade 10 VSP book. I like it because it talks about true freedom. True freedom is something that every generation, every person has to fight for, a decision to make. It is freedom from sin and freedom to do what  is right.

Our Fathers Fought for Liberty

Our fathers fought for Liberty, 

They struggled long and well, 

History of their deeds can tell--

But did they leave us free?

Are we free from vanity, 

Free from pride, and free from self, 

Free from love of power and pelf, 

From everything that's beggarly?

Are we free from stubborn will, 

From low hate and malice small, 

From opinion's tyrant thrall?

Are none of us our own slaves still?

Are we free to speak our thoughts, 

To be happy, and be poor, 

Free to enter Heaven's door, 

To live and labor as we ought?

Are we then made free at last

From the fear of what men say, 

Free to reverence Today, 

Free from the slavery of the Past?

Our fathers fought for Liberty, 

They struggled long and well, 

History of their deeds can tell--

But ourselves must set us free. 

--by James Russell Lowell (I think he's a fireside poet)

Poems from MM reflection

Poems I wrote to God during worship while reflecting. 11 March 2012, Sunday.

Jesus, Thy body broken in my stead,
This do remember Thee.
Thy great love, O Lord, for me
As Thou suffredst on that cruel tree.
Eternal love, eternal strength
From Thou Eternal One.
What more do I need and ask;
Thou gave Thy all for me.
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When Thou walked on earth,
And trod among mankind,
Thou saw how vile we are
Yet Thou still died for me.
How, O Lord, Thy love so rich, so free!
That Thou shouldst dare to die
For vilest sinners such as we.
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Jesus, the Name that cheers my heart,
That brings glad tidings the world around.
One God that rules over all,
Lifting the despairing from the hopeless pit.
(--Thy name we praise!)

--APTG

"Poem" at "Culture Shock"

This is what I wrote at a Generations of Virtue conference "Culture Shock" by Riverlife Church. This is not because of the GOV team but because of the typical public school teenagers I saw around me.

The world is bustling about me,
Noise and din hurts my ears,
My heart aches--I'm so different;
But my heart rejoices,
And my chains are lifted--
This world is not my home!
Yet these people are God's people,
They are my brother's and sisters,
Sigh, my heart sinks to the ocean deep.
Why am I so weird?
Yet God made me like that,
But is what I'm doing what God wants?
Thoughts swarm as I
Try to contemplate.
As I write, my hearrt is stilled.
My Love is the Lord.
Of course, I'm not supposed to be like them,
But so different?
O Lord, I pray,
Teach me your way,
Help me discern truth and lie.
O Lord, I love my siblings,
But I just wish they were different?
I don't understand even myself!
But I take heart O Lord,
That You know me more than I do myself.
Be still my soul, the Lord is on thy side.
My heart was in turmoil but is rested,
But now I waver again.
O Lord, help my soul find rest in You,
In Your word, the only strong shelter.

--18 Feb 2012

My Lord and my Love is my God

While singing the "prince and the pauper one day", I hit on a title that I could call the Lord. It is "my Lord and my Love is my God". Well, what makes me like it so?

My Lord--this is "master", Lord Jesus, and also, as in what a wife calls the husband. It reminds me that I belong to the Lord, I am to obey Him. He is my future "husband" because I, part of the church, is His bride. 

My Love--this is a mushy name for lover. It reminds me to devote my love to the Lord. And just like a lover, to be committed to Him. It also reminds me that Jesus is my Prince and that I am to love him like and more than my future husband (whoever Jesus sends, He only knows). 

My God--this is the specifies who I am referring to. It also reminds me about how great and big my Love is. He too is sovereign. Although He is Creator and God of the whole universe, He still is seeks a personal relationship with me, reflected in the two names above. 

My  Lord and my Love is my God! O Lord, praise Thy matchless name. Thou so near to me. 

(This thought occurred to me on 2 Dec 2011, but I didn't record it until March 2012 so the thoughts may not be "ad verbatim" and some might have been accidentally added or omitted.)

Value, Priority, and Mission: Reflections on Come What May

Last year, after Mom's Sunday school class watched "Come What May", I reflected on the show again and realized the importance for a couple to have the same values, same priority, and same mission.

Many times, Mr. Don Hogan and Mrs. Judith Hogan were fighting over teaching Caleb the "wrong" set of values. They taught him by writing Latin on a blackboard door and asked Caleb to translate it, explain the cases in which it applies. Mrs. Hogan wrote "malus prohibitim" which is wrong because we say it is but it's not morally wrong like "malum in se". She introduced speeding and showed Caleb "When someone tells you something is 'morally wrong', watch out, there's always a sliding scale." She cited stealing when starving. Fighting  back passively, Don writes "Fiat justicia et pereat mundus" which Caleb translates "Do the right thing, Come what may". Later, Don and Judith fight over Caleb. Don, "I know you're worried Caleb might get the wrong set of values. So am I. What do we do now?" Judith, "Get rid of that blackboard." Don, "I'm serious." Judith, "Well, our Friday night dates, I guess we could start those again." And then they "fight" over who's going to cook. (Remember when you're married that your husband EXPECTS that you cook.) From this scene, I realized that a husband and wife must be in unison in their values, or else they will have a hard time passing on the torch. Just to note, Judith thinks that "Just admit, not everything is absolute"; Don says "I didn't say everything was absolute, you're the one who says nothing is."

In view of same priorities, many times Judith misses the Friday night dates, or even dinner at home with Don just because of "work parties" that occur every single week! This causes Don to be lonely and all his effort in preparing for the date is gone to waste. From this scenario, I learned that the priorities of a couple must be the same otherwise it will result in heartache. (Just like when people get engrossed in solitary golf rather than spending time with family.)

Judith's mission at work is for success, whereas Don's mission is to do the right thing. Judith's mission sent her to the Supreme Court, being head-hunted, and going on radio. Don's mission sets him to write about controversial truth, losing his job and tenure. Caleb has a dilemma. Should he follow his mother's sense to "success" and fight the Moot Court Case the way he thinks he can win? Or should he follow Don's sense of "success" and Rachel's conviction, to do the right thing and "tell thousands of people how", knowing that a sound argument is not as good as a popular one? If his parents had the same mission and same support, he might have been able to work it out faster and make a wise decision.

A couple's values, priorities and mission needs to be similar.