"You are old, father William," the young man said,
"And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head
Do you think, at your age, it is right?
"In my youth," father William replied to his son,
"I feared it might injure the brain;
But, now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,
Why, I do it again and again."
"You are old," said the youth, "as I mentioned before,
And you have grown most uncommonly fat;
Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door
Pray what is the reason for that?"
"In my youth," said the sage, as he shook his grey locks,
"I kept all my limbs very supple
By the use of this ointment one shilling a box
Allow me to sell you a couple?"
"You are old," said the youth, "and your jaws are too weak
For anything tougher than suet;
Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak
Pray, how did you manage to do it?"
"In my youth," said his fater, "I took to the law,
And argued each case with my wife;
And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw,
Has lasted the rest of my life."
"You are old," said the youth, "one would hardly suppose
That your eye was as steady as ever;
Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose
What made you so awfully clever?"
"I have answered three questions, and that is enough,"
Said his father. "Don't give yourself airs!
Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
Be off, or I'll kick you down stairs.
I love this poem, if you read it through, it does not make much sense at first but at a closer reading, Father William was rooted in things he had done in his youth. Wow, what a concept. Quite a novel concept if the Preacher in Ecclesiastes had not already professed this life truth.
"Ecc 12:1 Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, "I have no pleasure in them";"
Father William was old, he was old but he was wise.
hahahahahaha. "Winners at heart". OH NO! You've succumbed to that dangerous thinking that we should "all get trophies" and nobody fails school classes because we don't want anyone to feel badly about themselves. :-)
You should post about... the joy that is those effervescent tabs that are supposed to make you feel better, but after drinking the disgsting liquid, actually make you feel worse. You know the kind?
I am so unworthy of God's grace through his son Jesus Christ. My walk with him has led me through winding hills and interesting places but until now I never asked why I was led there and why I was tempted in such ways. Upon asking WHY, a megalithic epiphany of my spiritual life was given to me. The trials I and all face have been suffered by our Lord and Savior. Heb 4:15 "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin." I remembered that when I put him on in baptism that I had taken off the old man and I no longer lived in the flesh, or at least I should not live in the flesh. We died to our former selves and put on the spirit, that is how we are to live. IN THE SPIRIT!
Rom 7:6 "But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code."
When I analyzed myself again I realized that I had translated fruit of the spirit to fruit of the flesh along the way. I had forgotten, or had I known, that the only goodly fruit I could produce was from my spirit and because I should "worship [God] in truth and spirit" Jn 4:24 I instead worshiped in a distracted world of fleshly lusts. I was "... slothful in zeal, [and not] fervent in spirit, [to] serve the Lord. Rom 12:11
Paul knew of this separation we need to have and the struggle with it. "Rom 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.
Rom 7:15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.
Rom 7:16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good.
Rom 7:17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
Rom 7:18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
Rom 7:19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.
Rom 7:20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
Rom 7:21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.
Rom 7:22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being,
Rom 7:23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members."
This is such a huge battle and so, I suggest to all that praying alone in a closet or other space others can't see you in, is a renewing of the spirit we are to have. When you talk to your heavenly Father, do not use the "thees and thous" that we hear so often. Honor him, for he is our heavenly Father letting your request be known. Speak with him like the adopted son and the joint heir with Christ that you are. This will help you
remember who you are and that the battle we fight is a spiritual one.
Rev 5:9-10 "And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,
and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth."
We were bought by a worthy king! We the unworthy sinners.
I know this was a rambling post. Please feel free to post more scripture or anything else you would like.
very good. i know a lot of people talk about a gray area between good and bad. sin and righteousness. but there isn't. it is all obvious in the scriptures. you are either spiritual or carnal. you can't sit on the fence.
which version is that from? i usually like my kjv kuz it's more literal, but sometimes with things like this, it's much more effective to have a more modern translation.
and i totallt agree that we are like, SO unworthy. i've acutally had people tell me "oh, don't think like that- Crist must've thought us worth enough to die for". but that's the thing. if we wor worthy of this, there would be no need for grace. if we were able to be worthy of this, there would be no need for someone to save us from what should have been our horrible death.
lol, the title was from the new katy perry song, "hot and cold". do you know how accurate the esv is? i'd like a more modern, applicable version, but i know in alot of the newer versions, there are places where the meanings have been altered to fit the religion of the translater.
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought
And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! and through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
He chortled in his joy.
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
-I love this peom, because it is truly nonsensical and whimsical and yet profound at the same time. Mind you some the words did not exist until Lewis Carroll wrote this. Since then many of the words have received a place in our lexicon along with words like lamp and rhino. This poem is righteously awesome, but mind you the author was a bit psychotic.
what are your thoughts on this one of a kind piece?
You can write a poem like this one and post it if you like. I wrote one a long time ago, but alas I lost it. Maybe I will recreate it and post. Any hoo, I love you all.
I love this poem! Yeah, L.C. was pretty strange, but I love how he used so many strange and interesting words. Have you read any of Ogden Nash's poems? He made up words, too, but in a totally different style. :) (I hope you can recreate "Woodlezog" so we can all read it!!!)
