Nov.12.02: Light For The Day - "Peaceful Heart" If your Bible is coming apart, it's a good indication that you have great peace and  are fairly well put together. --------------  -- Isaiah 32:17 (RSV) "And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust for ever." ------------ "Peaceful Heart" Your life needs days of retirement, when it shuts the gates upon the noisy whirl of action and is alone with God. I need wide spaces in my heart Where Faith and I can go apart And grow serene. Life gets so choked by busy living, Kindness so lost in fussy giving, That Love slips by unseen. I want to make a quiet place Where those I love can see God's face, Can stretch their hearts across the earth. Can understand what spring is worth, Can count the stars, Watch violets grow, And learn what birds and children know -- Selected ------------ The most tempestuous wind cannot disturb the quiet serenity of the stars. The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers: Little we see in nature that God gives us. We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon! -- William Wordsworth ------------ -- John 14:27 (RSV) "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid."  -- John 16:33 (RSV) "I have said this to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." ---------------- -- Psalm 23 1. The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want; 2. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters; 3. He restores my soul. He leads (guides) me in paths of  righteousness for His name's sake. 4. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. 5. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You annoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. *** Peace-of-mind game: Replace "I'm worry" with "The Lord is my shepherd" ----------- "For Peace" LORD, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, let me sow pardon. Where there is doubt, let me sow faith. Where there is despair, let me give hope. Where there is darkness, let me give light. Where there is sadness, let me give joy. O divine master, grant that I may Not try to be comforted, but to comfort; Not try to be understood, but to understand; Not try to be loved, but to love. Because it is in giving that we receive, In forgiving that we are forgiven, and in dying that we are born to eternal life. -- Francis Of Assisi