::: blog

( this was in an email that my grandpa sent out to all the family. he loves to write poetry, and always is writing poems for birthdays and holidays. he even has a blog where he posts stuff, check it out here ).

As we approach this special time
And contemplate God’s gift sublime,
Let us look at Christ’s life as the way
That we should live our lives each day.

We know that He overcame each trial.
He always walked the second mile.
He healed the sick and raised the dead.
He made sure the hungry were fed.

“Come follow me,” was His request.
“I promise you that you’ll be blest.”
In crucifixion, He paid the price
So each of us could be blessed twice.

Resurrection is for all mankind.
Not one soul will be left behind.
He made it so that if we endeavor
To be like Him, we’ll live forever.

At Christmas time our thoughts are turned toward family and friends because of how each has blessed our lives.  We are grateful for how we feel about the purpose of life and the opportunity to live in this beautiful world with people who love us.  Our heart goes out to those who are seeking the same and pray that they will find the peace that we enjoy in the knowledge that God does live and that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the Redeemer of all mankind.  The greatest gift that can be given is the promise of eternal life.  “For God so loved the world that he gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not parish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

We wish each of you a Merry Christmas and a New Year full of many blessings.

Lots of love and best wishes, VerNon and Bernice Bingham

and now each night i count
the stars…
and each night i get the same number.
and when they will not come to be counted-
i count the holes they leave

–imamu amiri baraka–

a clip from a forum by poet Li-Young Lee given in January of 2004.

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

— Robert Frost

Today at church, John Lilegren gave a talk on structure and order in the Kingdom of God and quoted the following poem, which he found in a talk given by Thomas S. Monson in April 1986 General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also know as the “Mormons“), entitled “Call of Duty.”

Father, where shall I work today?
And my love flowed warm and free.
Then He pointed out a tiny spot
And said, “Tend that for me.”
I answered quickly, “Oh no; not that!
Why, no one would ever see,
No matter how well my work was done;
Not that little place for me.”
And the word He spoke, it was not stern;
He answered me tenderly:
“Ah, little one, search that heart of thine.
Art thou working for them or for me?
Nazareth was a little place,
And so was Galilee.”

(Meade McGuire)

I’m Going to Send You Down to Earth

“I’m going to send you down to Earth,”
God said, to me, one day.
“I’m giving you what man calls birth;
Tonight, you start away;
I want you, there, to live with men,
Until I call you back again.”

I trembled as I heard Him speak,
Yet knew that I must go.
I felt God’s hand upon my cheek
And whished that I might know.
Just what, on Earth, would be my task,
And timidly I dared to ask.

“Tell me before I start away,
What Thou wouldst have me do?
What message wouldst Thou have me speak?
When shall my work be through?
That I might serve Thee better on the Earth,
Please tell me the purpose of my birth.”

God smiled and gently, sweetly said,
“Oh, you’ll find your task.
I want you free, life’s path to tread,
So do not stay to ask.
Remember this, if your best you’ll do,
That I will ask no more of you.”

Often as my work I do,
So common place and grim.
I sit and sigh and wish I knew,
If I were pleasing Him.
I wonder if in all my Earthly test,
If I have truly tried to do my best?”