Remember to Number

It’s strange that we often remember
so much that we ought to forget;
and forget what we should have remembered,
that’s one reason we worry and fret.

Remembering the hurts other give us
won’t make our lives happy and sweet.
In fact, it will be just the opposite,
and we’ll burden the folks that we meet.

Forgetting the kind deeds of others,
believe me, is fully as bad;
for this is how favors quit coming;
it’s selfishness, which is so sad.

Remembering each good we engage in
and wanting our neighbors to see;
forgetting how often we’ve failed them—
what blind hypocrites we can be!

There’s one thing I’ve recently noted—
it’s funerals—where truth we must face;
we may promise to make worthwhile changes,
yet how quickly these thoughts we erase.

Oh, teach us, dear Lord, then, to number
our days—yes, they really are few;
and open our hearts to Thy wisdom,
securing our “Well done” from You!

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(Reposted from August 6, 2017. Alternate title: Remembering and Forgetting)



Picture: depositphotos.com #104026080, standard license

Planning Ahead

The way to look at life, my friend,
if you would win at last,
depends upon two vantage points—
the future and the past.

But you object, “There’s almost naught
of the future we can know!”
The past is clear, all must agree,
our gains and losses show.

But have you heard that history
repeats itself full well;
and this is one of several ways,
the future we can tell.

So let’s project our thinking to 
the day that we shall die;
we’ll look at life as in the past;
for changes, then, we’ll sigh.

This way, past history is ahead,
and wrongs we then can right;
the sad mistakes we can avoid,
and actions that would blight.

It’s idealistic, yes, I know,
but not impossible;
for God can help us see and plan
the life that’s sweet and full.

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Picture: from The Peanut Gallery blog, accessed online July 30, 2017