ODE TO JOSEPH AND MARY

 

To heaven's gate you came so willing

To claim God's Son as your own;

The seeds of love you offered there

In noble soil forever sown.

- Cathryne Allen

(Art: Joseph and Mary by Greg Collins)

A CHOSEN VESSEL

 

“And so we find Mary, about fifteen years of age and inexperienced in meeting the trials of life, under contract to marry one she loved, but with child by the power of the Holy Ghost. We find her in a city of Galilee – rough, rugged, untampered Galilee – where a self-righteous people were quick to condemn, ever ready to punish; where the tongue of gossip would cut her tender feelings to the bone; where she would become a hiss and a byword among her friends and relatives, for she had (as they would view it) committed the sin next only in wickedness to murder.

“Those among whom she dwelt would no more believe her strange tale that an angel had come to her – angels no longer came to mortals, everyone knew that! – or that the Almighty himself was the Father of that which was in her womb; they would no more believe these claims than they would believe the testimony of the fruit of her womb when He testified in their own city that he was the Messiah of whom Isaiah had spoken.

“Thus we find Mary facing the trials of life – there would be others, as her Son ministered among men; as He hung on the cross; as He lay in a borrowed tomb; yes, there would be others, and her present troubles were but the beginning of sorrows…..”

-        Bruce R. McConkie, The Mortal Messiah Book 1, p 322

 

ODE TO MARY

You consented at all cost

To fulfil your duty

Or else, all would be lost.

You carried your precious boy

So close to your beating heart,

Hoping it would protect Him

From the fate that would tear you apart.

You stood weeping at the foot of the cross

In the valley of humiliation and death,

Your pain and sorrow unable to suppress.

You are a mother, like no other……

 

 - CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Mary Kept All These Things by Howard Lyon)

 

MY PURPOSE

 

I will step into deeper waters

And abandon the ground under my feet;

I will wade and look for You,

I will see Your footprints

Even in murky seas.

I will reach and find Your hand

To guide me where I am meant to go

I will trust, I will surrender,

Your purpose for me to know.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

IN GOD'S CARE

 

The turbulent waves of the sea

Have no power to swallow me;

The depths of the earth

Have no power to bury me;

The evil has no power

To overcome me;

The clutches of death

Have no power to extinguish me.

 

In Thy constant care

Thy shadow shelters me;

In Thine arms of mercy

Thy refuge carries me.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art:  In God's Care by Greg Collins)

SELF-WILL

 

 

“As the heavens are higher than the earth, God’s work in your life is bigger than the story you’d like that life to tell.

“His life is bigger than your plans, goals, or fears. To save your life, you’ll have to lay down your stories, and minute by minute, day by day, give your life back to Him.”

-       Adam S. Miller, “Letters to a Young Mormon” (2014) p 17-18

 

I pleaded with you on bended knee

My fears to dissolve.

You sat in silence

Hoping I would give You

what You yearned

the most to own;

My self-will,

My hesitance to relinquish control.

In the end I gave it up

 And found solace in Thy soul.

 

Yes ,You said,

Now you understand.

I paved the way,

In Gethsemane long ago.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Christ in Gethsemane by Dan Burr)