Come Before My Presence

Psalm 16:11 NKJV “You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”  

 

The Message version is: “Now You’ve got my feet on the life path, all radiant from the shining of Your face. Ever since You took my hand, I’m on the right way.”  

 

I am trying to envision Psalm 16:11. In so doing, I see Jesus, first. I see His presence with a mighty glow surrounding Him. In His presence is joy; A joy which brings completeness. It provides satisfaction and contentment. I have no need to search for anything more. Next, I see Jesus with His right hand stretched out. As I place my hand in His, all fear is gone. My path is certain and secure. My heart is filled! I have found direction. I have found favor! 

     As the scripture says, my pleasure and my treasure in life is being with Jesus; surrounded by Jesus, and walking with Jesus. 

     As I pray the scripture: “Lord! Come before me and be present with me this day. Take my life, my hands, feet, mouth, and thoughts; Make them Yours so that I can walk in fullness of joy, being content with my direction and with all You provide.”

 

BETTER

Better is a more excellent quality, and I always want better. However, obtaining better does not come with having more money, more status, or even more power. Obtaining “better” comes from searching for what really makes life meaningful; it comes from being able to taste the fullness of God. How do I achieve this? Some ways are: 

 

B eing in favor with God

E ntering into daily communication with God

T elling Christ’s story

T urning from sin to God

E ntertaining all with whom I come in contact with love

R ecognizing that all I have comes from and belongs to God 

So, today, let me do better to obtain better!

Valentine's Day

As I was thinking about Valentine’s Day, I looked up a few quotes:

 

“To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides.” David Viscott
 “I am much more when I’m with you.” Unknown
 “The best thing to hold onto in life is each other.” Audrey Hepburn
 “Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.” Robert A. Heinlein
 “I love you for all that you are, for all that you have been, and for all you’ve yet to come.” Unknown
 

     I believe those are good thoughts on love; however, 1 Corinthians 13:8-7 tells me what love really is: 

 

Love is patient

Love is kind

Love does not envy

Love does not boast

Love is not proud

Love does not dishonor others

Love is not self-seeking

Love is not easily angered

Loves keeps no record of wrongs

Love does not delight in evil

Love rejoices with the truth

Love protect, trusts, hopes, and perseveres 

 

     Love is for all; family, spouses, children, family, friends, acquaintances, and even enemies. 

     I made up a quote myself and it takes love to accomplish. Here goes: 

“The best way to make a friend out of an enemy is to love him.”  Mary Crisp Jameson

 

Swearing

I think I will be just a little preachy today which is not my usual thing to do, and also since ugly talk and/or swearing in public conversation is a little pet peeve of mine.  To my readers, if I offend someone, I simply ask forgiveness after the fact, but I make no apology about not wanting to hear my God's name used in vain. 

     Matthew 5:34-37 says, “But I say to you, do not swear at all; neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool, nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. But let your “yes” be “yes” and your “no” be “no.” For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.”   

     Since my childhood, we have come a long way, and not for the better. In my youth there was not any, if very little, bad words on T.V. much less by those who are in roles of leadership. If my parents swore, it was not in front of me. That’s goes a long way in the role of parenthood and respect.

     It would mean a lot in the role of true leadership if our politicians, who are supposed to be role models, left their swearing and/or bad words in their rooms of privacy and broadcast on national T.V. during speeches or interviews. 

     To the politicians and, in all due respect, even to the President of this great United States of America: No value is being added to the position in which the people have elected you to with the use of your swear words and the use of the "F" word. Your positions are to be respected, and the people are to be respected, as well. 

     To the news commenters: Families do not want the use of the "F" word broadcasts in  news being received into their homes, even if it is bleeped.  

     To the movie industry: Families who are trying to bring up children to be respectful, want the ugly words and vain use of God's name left out of their homes. 

     To the book writers: Readers do not want their minds filled with the use of God's name used vainly. This gives no justice to the story and adds no appeal. You may have written a very good story, but the use of God's name smeared throughout the pages of your book ruins the whole concept. 

     In the role of Christians, we are called to the same- that is leave off our swearing and use of God's name in vain. Much can be accomplished with a simple “yes” or “no”.

 

It's Not Fair!

I hear it all the time and have even said it myself, “It’s not fair!” Take today, for instance. I had planned to work my flower beds, but I woke up to rain. “Lord, I need outside, this is just not fair.” This is really minute, but it proves a point. We whine about the smaller of things. Yet, Jesus was silent. He never said, "Father, this is not fair."

 

It’s Not Fair

 

It’s not fair that I am oppressed and stressed.

It’s not fair what I must endure;

Others have better living, I am sure.

Life is not fair I grumble and mumble.

Yet, was it fair what Jesus had to bear?

Was it fair that Jesus’ trials were not just, though they were a must?

Was it fair that Jesus was afflicted, though they were predicted?

Was it fair that Jesus suffered pain, though He did not complain?

Was it fair that Jesus had to die, though He did not whine and cry?

Was it fair that Jesus remained silent when all was violent?

Was it fair that Jesus suffered a brutal infliction at the crucifixion?

Was it fair for Jesus to take my sins to make me an heir?

Was it fair that the world did not care? 

Was it fair? 

Is it fair that when I pull away from God, He is still there?

Is it fair that when I deliberately sin, God still pulls me to Him? 

Is it fair, my sins Jesus must still bear, though I gain love through prayer?

 Is it fair? 

 

Mary Crisp Jameson 2/11/2026

 

“He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away. Yet who of His generation protested? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people He was punished.” Isaiah 54:7-8 NIV  

 

 

 

I Can Only Imagine!

 We have all been given an imagination. Some have a better ability of forming mental images than others; yet, I believe everyone who knows Christ can project a mental image of what happened with Christ on the cross, His nail-scarred hands, His ascension, and what is to come.

I Can Only Imagine

 

Can you imagine the clouds so high

Too high for the reach of man and too unclear for the human eye!

There was a man standing beneath them on the ground 

While people stood around-

They had already seen a miracle and a foretelling,

Though they never understood the indwelling.

They had witnessed this man’s death and burial-

They had experienced His resurrection

And preformed a nail-scarred hand inspection.

What miracle was coming next?

The man, before them, had them all perplexed! 

And then He started to ascend-

A cloud came down to cover their friend.

I can only imagine 

This man rising into the clouds and then out of sight

With me standing there watching His powerful might.

I can only imagine the breath being held-

How each man’s chest swelled. 

I can only imagine 

The tears that fell from faces looking upward that day

And the memory being stored away.

I can only imagine!

The wonder, being there and turning, to see 2 strangers in white

Suddenly appearing within their sight,

And saying, “Why look up and sigh?

That is Jesus ascending on high.

But He will come again in the sky

And be seen by every eye.

I’ve read about what this all has meant.

And my chest swells with joy for this great event.

I can only imagine!

 

Mary Crisp Jameson - 2/10/2026

 

“And when He had spoken these things, while they beheld, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight.” Acts 1:9 KJV

 

Jonah's Rebellion

Every Bible reader knows the story of Jonah, in his rebellion, who ran from what the Lord wanted of him, and Jonah got swallowed by a large fish that we like to call a whale. 

     In Jonah 2b, Jonah told the Lord why he ran. “I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and One who relents concerning calamity.”

     My prayer is that:  Lord, I am so glad you are a gracious and compassionate God. I thank You for being slow to anger and for loving me with a desire that no calamity should come my way because of my sin. You always reach out Your arms and bring me back to you and are compassionate in forgiving me. Should troubles arise because of what I have done or said, You help me through in ways only You know. I praise You for continually caring, forgiving, and loving.  Amen!