Meditations: November 2025

Thank you that your grace in me balances
The debt I owe to mercy.

The apostle prayed for strength
To comprehend the love of God:
Kindness so rich it must be borne.
If we receive suffering from the Lord,
Shall we not also endure blessing?

(Eph 3:18; Job 2:10; Jer 33:9; 2 Cor 4:17)

Such was Paul’s faith
That he only had to ask three times
For the buffeting, darkangel thorn to be removed
Before he could be convinced of sufficient grace.
Such is sufficient grace
That it is recorded for our welfare
Who ask many times more than three,
Even more than seventy times seven.

(2 Cor 12:7-9; Matt 18:22)

Ah, Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
City that kills the prophets,
That stones those sent to her,
How often I would you have gathered,
As a mother hen her chicks under wing,
Under the wings of the cherubim above the mercy seat—
The seat of mercy, not of condemnation!
Come for mercy and find it, O Jerusalem!
Come not in righteousness
Lest you be desolated by righteousness!
But this is the one to whom I will look:
He who is humble
And contrite in spirit
And trembles at my word.

(Matt 23:37-38; Isa 66:2)

Were sheep wise before the fall?
Did they dwell in humble, trusting subjection to Adam
As Adam dwelt to God?
Were they cursed with heedless stupidity after
To remind us of what we have become?
If all Creation groans not for destruction but redemption,
Then what does a glorified sheep look like?

(Rom 8:20-22)

If he is not only faithful but just
To forgive us our sins
Then it is not only allowed but proper
To pray for his justice.

(1 John 1:9)

“The fear of the LORD is instruction in wisdom,
And humility comes before honor.”
You harden whom you will
But have mercy on whom you will,
And I have been both.
You lay low the proud
But exalt the humble,
And I have been both.
You slay your enemies
But raise your children,
And I have been both.
To be wise is to know who you are,
And who I am in relation to you,
And to fear you.

(Prov 15:33)

Mystery:
How can we say to Wisdom, my sister,
And call Insight, my intimate friend,
Unless Wisdom herself love the woman Folly,
Which is us.

(Prov 7:4; 8:13)

Our Lord was a man of sorrows
And acquainted with grief,
Yet his disciples did not fast
For joy that the bridegroom was with them —
So then whether through sorrow or joy
He has been there for me to follow him.

(Isa 53:3; Mark 2:19)

Restore to me the years the swarming locust has eaten.

(Joel 2:25)

As fat weeps off a roasting turkey
And simmers into gravy,
So let my pressing render into praise,
Enriching the saints.

(Thanksgiving prayer)