Psalm Challenge

 Rerun…

A long time ago I knew a blogger in Greece.

He challenged friends to read a psalm of the week,

Then write a blog post.

Psalm Challenge 85

Christmas is coming, 
Daylight growing,
Gifts are flowing, 
The tree is up.

The Sun above us, 
a good provider,
shines his gifts of 
warmth and power.

In the Heavens, all around us, 
lies the home of all the Justice.
We Pray for Peace.
We ask for Mercy, 
We want Salvation, 
to rise up through our feet from the earthen ground.

Rainy days, brings flowers, food, 
We take time out to nap.
Later gather the bounty in our garden,
We know no money could ever buy.

We ache for our country,
Sometimes afflicted 
with the opposite of
truth and peace.

We pray salvation,
comes on swiftly,
slaying the greedy, evil and arrogant beasts.

how else would peace be possible except by the death of evil?
Can we pray for such a death sentence to evil?

Psalm 6

 Easter Sunday.

Psalm 6

    [1] O LORD, rebuke me not in your anger,

        nor discipline me in your wrath. 

    [2] Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am languishing;

        heal me, O LORD, for my bones are troubled. 

    [3] My soul also is greatly troubled.

        But you, O LORD—how long?

    [4] Turn, O LORD, deliver my life;

        save me for the sake of your steadfast love. 

    [5] For in death there is no remembrance of you;

        in Sheol who will give you praise?

    [6] I am weary with my moaning;

        every night I flood my bed with tears;

        I drench my couch with my weeping. 

    [7] My eye wastes away because of grief;

        it grows weak because of all my foes.

    [8] Depart from me, all you workers of evil,

        for the LORD has heard the sound of my weeping. 

    [9] The LORD has heard my plea;

        the LORD accepts my prayer. 

    [10] All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled;

        they shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment.

❤️

My Interpretation 

My Plea:

Lord, Dry My Years 

Stop my Weeping 

With Your Gentle Healing ❤️‍🩹 Hands

Deliver Me From Anguish,

You will take care of the Trespassers 

In You I shall Trust until the End of Time.

MEG Sunday 2024

Psalm 5

 Psalm 5

Lead Me in Your Righteousness

To the choirmaster: for the flutes. A Psalm of David.

    [1] Give ear to my words, O LORD;

        consider my groaning. 

    [2] Give attention to the sound of my cry,

        my King and my God,

        for to you do I pray. 

    [3] O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice;

        in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.

    [4] For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;

        evil may not dwell with you. 

    [5] The boastful shall not stand before your eyes;

        you hate all evildoers. 

    [6] You destroy those who speak lies;

        the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

    [7] But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,

        will enter your house.

    I will bow down toward your holy temple

        in the fear of you. 

    [8] Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness

        because of my enemies;

        make your way straight before me.

    [9] For there is no truth in their mouth;

        their inmost self is destruction;

    their throat is an open grave;

        they flatter with their tongue. 

    [10] Make them bear their guilt, O God;

        let them fall by their own counsels;

    because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out,

        for they have rebelled against you.

    [11] But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;

        let them ever sing for joy,

    and spread your protection over them,

        that those who love your name may exult in you. 

    [12] For you bless the righteous, O LORD;

        you cover him with favor as with a shield.

O LORD, Deliver My Life

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments; according to The Sheminith. A Psalm of David.

My interpretation:

Be the Best You can Be

Don’t worry about what the other guy does.

He or She will pay for their transgressions.

Be good, Friends,

God has your back 😎

Mary

    

Psalm 4

 Psalm 4

Answer Me When I Call

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm of David.

    [1] Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!

        You have given me relief when I was in distress.

        Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!

    [2] O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame?

        How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah 

    [3] But know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself;

        the LORD hears when I call to him.

    [4] Be angry, and do not sin;

        ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah 

    [5] Offer right sacrifices,

        and put your trust in the LORD.

    [6] There are many who say, “Who will show us some good?

        Lift up the light of your face upon us, O LORD!” 

    [7] You have put more joy in my heart

        than they have when their grain and wine abound.

    [8] In peace I will both lie down and sleep;

        for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.

Faith in God.

Sleep in Peace.

Believe.

I immediately thought of My Poems about Night Angels:

Night Angel 1

Night Angel

Night Angel,
Call to the angel,
in the night.

Close your eyes,
Fall to sleep,
Wait for a
Sweet heavy hand,
On your shoulder,
Weary traveller,
roam the World,
Oh, Night Angel.

And you fly over,
All the pain and sorrow,
All the stress and strain,
What do you find unfair,
What makes you sad,
Night Angel?

Wish tonight,
For your Perfect world,
For better days,
For justice fair,
For a letting go
of hate,
Night Angel,
Will you be here,
tonight?

Night Angel 2

Night Angel
Oh, Where are you?
The darkness came,
Where did you go?

How to coax you?
Simple Angel,
Where do you hide
When it all falls apart?

Are you there,
There in the darkness,
Even when,
I cannot see?

Do you whisper,
words of urging,
to be the best
that I can be?

What if,
My own Night Angel,
There is no sound,
I cannot hear you?
What If my ears,
no longer work?
Will you touch
my shoulder softly?
Let me know,
you are alright.

Oh Night Angel,
Hurry softly,
Hurry back,
Hurry back,
tonight.

Psalm 3

 Psalm 3

Psalm 3

Save Me, O My God

A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.

    [1] O LORD, how many are my foes!

        Many are rising against me; 

    [2] many are saying of my soul,

        “There is no salvation for him in God.” Selah

    [3] But you, O LORD, are a shield about me,

        my glory, and the lifter of my head. 

    [4] I cried aloud to the LORD,

        and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah

    [5] I lay down and slept;

        I woke again, for the LORD sustained me. 

    [6] I will not be afraid of many thousands of people

        who have set themselves against me all around.

    [7] Arise, O LORD!

        Save me, O my God!

    For you strike all my enemies on the cheek;

        you break the teeth of the wicked.

    [8] Salvation belongs to the LORD;

        your blessing be on your people! Selah

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm of David.

Mary: have Faith in God, God holds You in His Loving hands 🙏🏼 ❤️

  

Psalm Challenge Psalm 2

 Psalm 2

From ESV Bible:

The Reign of the LORD’s Anointed

    [1] Why do the nations rage

        and the peoples plot in vain?

Psalm 2:2-12

    [2] The kings of the earth set themselves,

        and the rulers take counsel together,

        against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, 

    [3] “Let us burst their bonds apart

        and cast away their cords from us.”

    [4] He who sits in the heavens laughs;

        the Lord holds them in derision. 

    [5] Then he will speak to them in his wrath,

        and terrify them in his fury, saying, 

    [6] “As for me, I have set my King

        on Zion, my holy hill.”

    [7] I will tell of the decree:

    The LORD said to me, “You are my Son;

        today I have begotten you. 

    [8] Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,

        and the ends of the earth your possession. 

    [9] You shall break them with a rod of iron

        and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”

    [10] Now therefore, O kings, be wise;

        be warned, O rulers of the earth. 

    [11] Serve the LORD with fear,

        and rejoice with trembling. 

    [12] Kiss the Son,

        lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,

        for his wrath is quickly kindled.

    Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

My Notes: 

I think some Bible verse is difficult to understand.

The Second Psalm is plain and simple.

Reflective of Modern Day Kings and Rulers,

Greed, Worshipping Money.

Struggles for Power.

They would do well to drop to their knees and

Abandon their Wicked Paths and Pray.

Will it ever be too late?

I believe so.

Mary

Psalm Challenge Psalm 1

 This began as an exercise in what the Psalms mean to Me.

A friend Robert Geiss tweeted His Challenge from Athens.

I lost track of Him.

Back to the Beginning.

From:

https://www.esv.org/Psalm+1/

Psalm 1.

The Way of the Righteous and the Wicked

1 Blessed is the man¹

who ^awalks not in ^bthe counsel of the wicked,

nor stands in ^cthe way of sinners,

nor ^dsits in ^ethe seat of ^fscoffers;

2  but his ^gdelight is in the law² of the LORD,

and on his ^hlaw he meditates day and night.

3  He is like ⁱa tree

planted by ^jstreams of water

that yields its fruit in its season,

and its ^kleaf does not wither.

^lIn all that he does, he prospers.

4  The wicked are not so,

but are like ^mchaff that the wind drives away.

5  Therefore the wicked ⁿwill not stand in the judgment,

nor sinners in ^othe congregation of the righteous;

6  for the LORD ^pknows ^qthe way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked will perish.

Mary:

My Interpretation is quite simple to decipher:

Be Good, Follow what is Morally Right.

You know it, of Course, When You See it.

Don’t Follow the Path of the Wicked.

You can recognize The Wicked only Part of the Time.

They often wear a disguise, a Mask, a Cloak to Fool You.

Learn to avoid being taken Hostage,

Mistakenly Paying a Robber,

Don’t follow them.

God will See You through.

Mary E. Gerdt

2/25/2024

Jesse

I asked My Chatbot Jesse to Review a Story I did.

The Story:

An Apple Year &

Interpretation of Psalm 101.

Afterwards,

Jesse’s thoughts.

Psalm Challenge 101

 

Psalm 101 

King James Version (KJV)

101 I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto thee, O Lord, will I sing.

² I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.
³ I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.
⁴ A froward heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person.
⁵ Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer.
⁶ Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me.
⁷ He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight.
⁸ I will early destroy all the wicked of the land; that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the Lord.

 

King James Version (KJV) by Public Domain

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Mary's notes:

101: The words of David, laying out his ideals, the ideal civilization,
Utopia.
Did not work out as planned,
the Darkness always seeps in amongst the cracks.
This week, posting another story,
about spring,
and death,
and how even when you try very hard,
some things are destined,
no all things are destined,
to die.


　
　
　
　
　
　
　
An Apple Year
by Mary E. Gerdt  
C 2013
all rights reserved



　

When I was in the second grade we went on a field trip to a farm. My childhood world was people, pavement, asphalt, stop lights, buildings, downtown small town US. Animals were squirrels and blue jays and crows nesting for the night before heading out to raid the corn fields of the flatlands of Illinois. But when we got off the bus (riding the bus was a treat for me in and of itself-I always walked to school), and smelled the fresh air and saw the animals and plants and fences, I knew this was the life for me. I wanted to live on a farm.
My Mom’s cousin Eleanor and Mom’s best friend Sissy, and Sissy’s Mom Dorothy were the other farmers that sealed my resolve to shake off the pavement and move to the peaceful side of life. “Don’t you just love livin’ with nature” Sissy said. “Yes” I said silently to myself as I read her Christmas card. 
Dorothy, Sissy and Eleanor are gone now. I would venture to say their farms may be gone too, with development pressures nipping at what is left of the rural life around Midwestern small towns.

 
So when my innocent eyes saw the farm that my husband Fred grew up on, it was love at first sight for me. In a strange way I felt we belonged there even early on, although we would not move there until years later. I imagined all the things that must have happened there and turned out to be wrong about many of them. When I looked from the outside it seemed so simple, so loving, so orderly.
On our journey on our piece of the family farm, I have learned nothing is as it appears, nothing can be predicted, and nothing worth having is easy. We gave up a fortune for my dream of a farm. We gave up our peace now (then) for peace of the future (now). We flew by the seat of our pants and, along the way, Fred developed high blood pressure and diabetes. My doctor discovered I have had Multiple Sclerosis which I have feared for some years. Stress makes all these conditions thrive.
Somehow these health problems helped us focus away from the material world. When we look for the good in all these experiences, that is a part of it. It made us ask: what is all this but money and property? Nothing. Where can we go from here? Right through it, a friend suggested. Where else?







　
 
I know this is not the kind of story that recounts how we went on a vacation this year (because we did not), or that our children were successful in school (they are too old), or that we had a great year at work in our dream jobs (come on, is that ever really true anyway?). 
This is the kind of story meant to tell you what really matters in the world. 
When we saw the front yard tulips blooming in the spring, we couldn’t help but think of Ed and Augusta, Fred’s uncle and aunt who lived here. The tulips Augusta planted years ago have bloomed sporadically, usually a pretty sad showing of a tulip here and there, like they do when they finally fade forever. But this spring, the first after Augusta died, we saw more tulips and they were brighter than ever. They seemed to bloom forever. More colors. 







It was a sign, I had to think, a message from Augusta. After Ed died we have referred to a particular local vulture as Ed. The vultures roost in the maple woods out back and circle all summer on the thermals on this bluff where we live. We imagined after Ed died he would have preferred to be a large bird soaring high overhead freed from the manmade obligations he found so tedious. Now fully at one with nature.
When Fred and I first moved to the family farm house, we were hopeful of the apple trees. They are large old trees in the yard. We explored restoring them but the neighbor said they never produce apples, they would die if you pruned them, and they were dying now.
You can’t. You won’t. It doesn’t.

 
So, much to our surprise two years later the apple trees bloomed and they produced apples. Was that a miracle? Spite at the neighbor? Or hope?
My scientist brother explained when apples are left to be wild, meaning not pruned, they produce every other year. He would know that. It made me relieved. We don’t prune and get apples every other year. In 1998, the ice storm pruned them for us. Like a bomb went off, our yard looked completely disturbing to us, a foreign appearance.
A few days after I turned forty, we were cleaning brush and I fell and broke my arm.　 Those apples again. I was seeing my connection to nature, like Sissy said. The apple trees broke and my arm broke: like a twig, my arm snapped.
Along now I began to wonder: Where did I come from? Why did I always seem at war? Why did I have scars on my face where I had not been cut? What was my former life? How could I be so detached from nature when I know only a few short generations ago I plucked and killed chickens to eat, I scrounged for food in the woods and washed in a creek.  
Everyone did.
I wondered what my homeland had looked like? What plants did we have to eat? How did they survive the harsh weather? Is that why I am so attracted to Vermont?  
I became sure I was a product of war, destined to reincarnate as warrior. Westphalia, Prussia was listed on the family tree my mother had made. My Internet search told me that Prussia was one of the last strongholds of paganism. Were our family members the pagans? Or the warriors? Or, somehow, a cross, tormented at times by two opposing worlds. I believe I am a product of both.

 
This house we live in is like a castle. I now call it Castle Rock. Hard as a rock, built on a stony hill. I imagined us living in such a stony German castle, thinking I had been here before.
Fred's family came from Prussia too.
This year, we finally trimmed the loose ends, patched and sewed up the tattered holes in our life and prepared for our new life together, here on what is now, finally, our farm. We were able to smile a little when the apple trees bloomed in such a profusion we worried it would finally be their last year. And when the apples came, they came on stronger than ever. Even our sad out of place zone five red and golden delicious apple trees that the neighbor said we planted too close together, bloomed and produced many scabby but sweet pretty apples.
In fact, many things about this year were special. The flowers never bloomed so well, the vegetables never tasted so good, and the pain was never quite so deep. The bad with the good. Mother Nature trying to cheer us up, balance the scales, sweeten our sour taste, to show me that nothing comes without a price. Nothing lives without dying. 
The trees do watch us and try to cheer us up when all looks lost. 
Do you believe?
So, although we have had a rough course to travel these past years, this experience has clarified a few things for us.
　

 
I can see things now from the apple trees’ perspective. We let them live all these years and have not pruned them, nor doubted their ability, nor made them conform. I believe they are grateful to us for that. We delight in watching their flowers in spring, growing apples some years which the deer gobble up during hunting season, the squirrels all year jump from tree to tree chased by our feral cat pride. In the spring, we pick up fallen branches and Fred cuts the bad limbs when he can reach them and his limbs allow him.
Different birds cycle in all year. Some in the winter eating bugs, cedar waxwings fly though on their migration and eat the blossoms, swallows return from the warm south and play catch with falling blossoms. Chickadees beg for food and follow us throughout the yard.
We are now “reduced” (or advanced enough) to see signs from nature around us. Were we just looking for a sign anyway? That we belonged? Does it matter? What do the apple trees think?
If the apple trees could speak, they might say:
Believe in nature. It is real.
Believe in love. Love is everything.
Bloom when you are happy.
Be who you were meant to be.
　

 
Don’t cry for apples not here this year. Next year you may get more than you dreamed of.
When someone you love dies and you were not able to express to each other how you really feel, look outside and there may be a flower blooming where there were none last year and let that be a sign to you. What could it hurt?
Go make friends with an apple tree.
When you wonder whether you should do this or that, better to at least just do something.
When you think life is fair, you must have been listening to a fairy tale.
Think about the poor old apple trees, scarred and old and gnarly and alive, ready to please us like a puppy dog, watching us all these years struggle to be ourselves and find our own way, now rewarding us with flowers and apples like we are the puppy. 
And smiling in their own way.







Jesse’s Interpretation ❤️


Thank you for sharing your interpretation of Psalm 101 and your personal story. It seems that you have connected the themes of the psalm, such as seeking a perfect way, avoiding wickedness, and upholding justice, with your own experiences and reflections on life. The psalmist expresses their commitment to living a righteous life and their desire for God’s presence. Your personal story reflects the challenges and lessons you have learned, finding meaning in the cycles of nature and the pursuit of what truly matters. Overall, it’s a unique and personal interpretation of the psalm.

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Psalm Challenge Flashback

Twitter is an interesting place.

and so is East Texas...

Gotta LOVE East Texas!!! pic.twitter.com/wcw0trqWQj

— Shirley Chapman (@Dunroamin4ever) October 20, 2015

Psalm Challenge...150...the final

The final Psalm...

Psalm 150

Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)

150 Praise ye the Lord in his holy places: praise ye him in the firmament of his power.

2 Praise ye him for his mighty acts: praise ye him according to the multitude of his greatness.

3 Praise him with sound of trumpet: praise him with psaltery and harp.

4 Praise him with timbrel and choir: praise him with strings and organs.

5 Praise him on high sounding cymbals: praise him on cymbals of joy: let every spirit praise the Lord. Alleluia.

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Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)by Public Domain


My notes: I joined the Psalm Challenge started by a German blogger who lives in Greece.
I read the entries, week after week.
From Israel, Canada, all over.
So midway I started studying each psalm.
Then I added my comments,
correlated,
never knew there were so many versions.
never knew bibles may have copyrights ? huh?
I became the only one after awhile which turned into my journey
the Psalms say so much about life,
Hardships, trials, despair, faith, triumph,
Finding the light
In the dark.

I heard this song yesterday on the radio live from NYC via wifi/dsl
44 years after Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated,
and Sam Moore was singing his heart out
for a lost friend.
I wanted to see the video
and found it.

All last night and today I was fighting the html
finally able to post this yt link,
I liked when Rosanne Cash said her father read the Psalms.
Psalms, songs, music, lyrics,
harps,
angels,
voices
faith
praise,
hope,
love.