Establish the work of our hands

I was just reading Psalm 90 and these verses jumped out at me,

So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Return, O Lord! How long? And have compassion on Your servants. Oh, satisfy us early with your mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.... Let Your work appear to Your servants, and Your glory to their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands for us; yes, establish the work of our hands.

That pretty much sums up where I'm at right now. We're asking for His gladness as we move through mourning into a renewed joy. I'm SO jiving with the last two sentences especially as King and I look ahead to what He has for us in SE Asia. We're planning a trip in October for a few weeks. We know that He's called us to go, but we are at a place where He needs to show us what He is doing there and what He wants us to do there.

God, we commit to you the work of our hands and realize that you will be the one to establish it. We want to have your beauty upon us. Jesus, get the glory.

The Shepherd and the Lamb

In the Scottish hills as a shepherd strolled
In the eve with his ancient crook,
He found a lamb, that was young and chilled,
By the side of a purling brook.

And fearing the lamb might sicken and die,
Or, from his mother's side might roam,
He carried it with a tender care
To a fold in his highland home.

Mid the dreary night—o'er the craggy peaks—
Through the winds, and the storms, and cold,
The mother followed her captured lamb
To the door of the shepherd's fold.

One; we had a lamb by its mother's side—
It was artless and pure, and mild—
The dearest lamb in our dear flock,
Was the pale, little blue-eyed child.

But a shepherd came, when the sun grew low,
By a path that has long been trod,
And carried our lamb through the mists of night.
To his fold in the mount of God.

With tearful eye and a bleeding heart,
We must bear it and struggle on;
Must climb the mount by the shepherd's track,
To the fold where our lamb is gone.

--by David Barker

This reminded me of the painting my friend made for me:

My little, precious one.

family picture - i carry your heart with me

I just found this picture that goes so well with my favorite poem for Malaya that I posted on 3/20/09