My Faith is in You

Your grace goes before me
Your mercy forgives me
Your blood has redeemed me
The faith You have given me
I place forever in You.

Tortured Genius

Written following this week’s Haiku Challenge on RonovanWrites – “Create and Destroy”

Creativity
From self-destructive natures –
Mankind’s paradox

‘Every act of creation is first an act of destruction.’
– Pablo Picasso

‘Flower of Scotland’

Today, Thursday 18th September 2014, the people living in Scotland (NB, not the Scottish people) decide whether they wish Scotland to be an independent country, separate from the Unite Kingdom. We should know the result of the referendum at 06:00 GMT Friday 19th September.

Flower of Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Flùr na h-Alba)

O Flower of Scotland,
When will we see
Your like again,
That fought and died for,
Your wee bit Hill and Glen,
And stood against him,
Proud Edward’s army,
And sent him homeward,
Tae think again.

The hills are bare now,
And autumn leaves
lie thick and still,
O’er land that is lost now,
Which those so dearly held,
That stood against him,
Proud Edward’s Army,
And sent him homeward,
Tae think again.

Those days are past now,
And in the past
they must remain,
But we can still rise now,
And be the nation again,
That stood against him,
Proud Edward’s Army,
And sent him homeward,
Tae think again.

0 Flower of Scotland,
When will we see
your like again,
That fought and died for,
Your wee bit Hill and Glen,
And stood against him,
Proud Edward’s Army,
And sent him homeward,
Tae think again.

It was written by Roy Williamson of the folk group The Corries, and presented in 1967, and refers to the victory of the Scots, led by Robert the Bruce, over England’s Edward II at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.

‘God Save the Queen’

Today, Thursday 18th September 2014, the people living in Scotland (NB, not the Scottish people) decide whether they wish Scotland to be an independent country, separate from the Unite Kingdom. We should know the result of the referendum at 06:00 GMT Friday 19th September.

God save our gracious Queen,
Long live our noble Queen,
God save the Queen!
Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us;
God save the Queen!

O Lord our God arise,
Scatter her enemies
And make them fall;
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On Thee our hopes we fix,
God save us all!

Thy choicest gifts in store
On her be pleased to pour;
Long may she reign;
May she defend our laws,
And ever give us cause
To sing with heart and voice,
God save the Queen!

Not in this land alone,
But be God’s mercies known,
From shore to shore!
Lord make the nations see,
That men should brothers be,
And form one family,
The wide world over.

From every latent foe,
From the assassins blow,
God save the Queen!
O’er her thine arm extend,
For Britain’s sake defend,
Our mother, prince, and friend,
God save the Queen!

Lord grant that Marshal Wade
May by thy mighty aid
Victory bring.
May he sedition hush,
And like a torrent rush,
Rebellious Scots to crush.
God save the Queen!

Around 1745, anti-Jacobite sentiment was captured in the last stanza shown above, with a prayer for the success of Field Marshal George Wade’s army then assembling at Newcastle. These words attained some short-term use, although they did not appear in the published version in the October 1745 Gentleman’s Magazine.

‘Scotland the Brave’

Today, Thursday 18th September 2014, the people living in Scotland (NB, not the Scottish people) decide whether they wish Scotland to be an independent country, separate from the Unite Kingdom. We should know the result of the referendum at 06:00 GMT Friday 19th September.

Scotland the Brave (Scottish Gaelic: Alba an Aigh)

Hark when the night is falling,
Hear! Hear the pipes are calling,
Loudly and proudly calling down through the glen.
There where the hills are sleeping,
now feel the blood a-leaping,
High as the spirits of the old highland men.
Towering in gallant frame,
Scotland my mountain hame
High may your proud standards gloriously wave.
Land of my high endeavour,
land of the shining river,
Land of my heart forever,
Scotland the Brave.

High in the misty highlands,
out by the purple islands,
Brave are the hearts that beat beneath Scottish skies.
Wild are the winds to meet you,
staunch are the friends that greet you,
Kind as the love that shines from fair maiden’s eyes.
Towering in gallant frame,
Scotland my mountain hame
High may your proud standards gloriously wave.
Land of my high endeavour,
land of the shining river,
Land of my heart forever,
Scotland the Brave.

Far off in sunlit places,
sad are the Scottish faces,
Yearning to feel the kiss of sweet Scottish rain.
Where tropics skies are beaming,
love sets the heart a-dreaming,
Longing and dreaming of the homeland again.
Towering in gallant frame,
Scotland my mountain hame
High may your proud standards gloriously wave.
Land of my high endeavour,
land of the shining river,
Land of my heart forever,
Scotland the Brave.

The words above today were written in/around 1950 by the Scottish journalist Cliff Hanley.

Thursday is Verse Day @FaithUnlocked – Psalm 144:1-8

Praise be to the Lord my Rock,
who trains my hands for war,
my fingers for battle.
He is my loving God and my fortress,
my stronghold and my deliverer,
my shield, in whom I take refuge,
who subdues peoples under me.
Lord, what are human beings that you care for them,
mere mortals that you think of them?
They are like a breath;
their days are like a fleeting shadow.
Part your heavens, Lord, and come down;
touch the mountains, so that they smoke.
Send forth lightning and scatter the enemy;
shoot your arrows and rout them.
Reach down your hand from on high;
deliver me and rescue me
from the mighty waters,
from the hands of foreigners
whose mouths are full of lies,
whose right hands are deceitful.
– Psalm 144:1-8