A whole heart, with light in every part

Gather my broken fragments

by George MacDonald

Gather my broken fragments to a whole,
As these four quarters make a shining day.
Into thy basket, for my golden bowl,
Take up the things that I have cast away
In vice or indolence or unwise play.
Let mine be a merry, all-receiving heart,
But make it a whole, with light in every part.

Selah.

Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. Psalm 86:11, NIV

Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name. Psalm 86:11, ESV

And I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their own good and for the good of their children after them.

Selah.

God is the God of the living

Make us live to you, O God

Father in heaven! Draw our hearts to you so that our longing may be where our treasure is supposed to be. Turn our minds and our thoughts to where our citizenship is – in your kingdom, so that when you finally call us away from here our leave-taking may not be a painful separation but a joyful union with you. We do not know the time and the place, perhaps a long road still lies before us, and when strength is taken away from us, when exhaustion fogs our eyes so that we peer out as into a dark night, and restless desires stir within us, wild, impatient longings, and the heart groans in fearful anticipation of what is coming, oh Lord God, fix in our hearts the conviction that also while we are living, we belong to you.

Soren Kierkegaard, Provocations

Search out our hearts and make us true

Before thy throne, O God, we kneel

Words: William Boyd Carpenter (1841-1918)
Music: St. Petersburg

Before thy throne, O God, we kneel:
give us a conscience quick to feel,
a ready mind to understand
the meaning of thy chastening hand;
whate'er the pain and shame may be,
bring us, O Father, nearer thee.

Search out our hearts and make us true;
help us to give to all their due.
From love of pleasure, lust of gold,
from sins which make the heart grow cold,
wean us and train us with thy rod;
teach us to know our faults, O God.

For sins of heedless word and deed,
for pride ambitions to succeed,
for crafty trade and subtle snare
to catch the simple unaware,
for lives bereft of purpose high,
forgive, forgive, O Lord, we cry.

Let the fierce fires which burn and try,
our inmost spirits purify:
consume the ill; purge out the shame;
O God, be with us in the flame;
a newborn people may we rise,
more pure, more true, more nobly wise.

Selah.

A word for the day: a new heart, God's chosen

I will sprinkle clean water upon you

Ezekiel 36:24-26, 28

I will take you from the nations,
and gather you from all the countries.
I will sprinkle clean water upon you,
and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses.
A new heart I will give you,
and put a new spirit within you,
And I will remove from your body the heart of stone
and give you a heart of flesh.
You shall be my people,
and I will be your God!

Selah.

Search out our hearts and make us true

Before thy throne, O God, we kneel

Words: William Boyd Carpenter (1841-1918)
Tune: St. Petersburg

Before thy throne, O God, we kneel:
give us a conscience quick to feel,
a ready mind to understand
the meaning of thy chastening hand;
whate'er the pain and shame may be,
bring us, O Father, nearer thee.

Search out our hearts and make us true;
help us to give to all their due.
From love of pleasure, lust of gold,
from sins which make the heart grow cold,
wean us and train us with thy rod;
teach us to know our faults, O God.

For sins of heedless word and deed,
for pride ambitions to succeed,
for crafty trade and subtle snare
to catch the simple unaware,
for lives bereft of purpose high,
forgive, forgive, O Lord, we cry.

Let the fierce fires which burn and try,
our inmost spirits purify:
consume the ill; purge out the shame;
O God, be with us in the flame;
a newborn people may we rise,
more pure, more true, more nobly wise!

Selah.

A discovery of freedom in purity of heart

If we should wonder of grace, let us wonder no longer, but stake our claim upon it, swinging out as it were, upon a star, in ocean grandeur, true self in divine relation. Let us ask no longer of grace, but rather live it! And so learn with T.S. Eliot:

"Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?'
Let us go and make our visit."

"Blessed are the single-hearted, for they shall enjoy much peace. If you refuse to be hurried and pressed, if you stay your soul on God, nothing can keep you from that clearness of spirit which is life and peace. In that stillness you will know what His will is.

"Joy is not gush: joy is not jolliness. Joy is simply perfect acquiescence in God's will, because the soul delights itself in God himself..."

Amy Carmichael

"Purity of heart is to will one thing. We will the Good and only the Good. We do not resist it, we do not will it for ulterior reasons, and we do not possess other motives which obscure it…

"Purity of heart: Willing what is good, willing what God wills, willing to be gracious and kind, accepting God’s forgiveness for guilt, willing to be obedient to God...

"Each one shall render account to God as an individual. In eternity there is no mob pressure, no crowd, no hiding place in the crowd. Do you now live so that you are conscious of yourself as an individual? Do you live in such a way that this consciousness is able to secure the time and quiet and liberty of action to penetrate every relation of your life?"

Soren Kierkegaard

Thou art the Sea to me

The Shell

by Amy Carmichael

Upon the sandy shore an empty shell,
Beyond the shell infinity of sea;
O Savior, I am like that empty shell,
Thou art the Sea to me.

A sweeping wave rides up the shore, and lo,
Each dim recess the coiled shell within
Is searched, is filled, is filled to overflow
By water crystalline.

Not to the shell is any glory then:
All glory give we to the glorious sea.
And not to me is any glory when
Thou overflowest me.

Sweep over me, Thy shell, as low I lie;
I yield me to the purpose of Thy will;
Sweep up, O conquering waves, and purify,
And with thy fullness fill.