With each passing year, my heart overflows with gratitude to God who has blessed me to be alive another year. This year, 2022, is especially meaningful in that I celebrate my eightieth birthday. As is my custom, I compose a poem to celebrate my birthday and give all glory, honor, and praise to my gracious Heavenly Father. Here is my composition for this year.
A psalm celebration for my Eightieth Birthday
June 17, 2022
By Reason of Strength
The days of our lives are seventy years;
And if by reason of strength they are eighty years,
Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow;
For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
Psalm 90:10 (NKJV)
By reason of strength that only comes from the Lord,
I have reached another milestone in my journey,
Sustained by the life-giving power of God’s Word,
As I proclaim great is your faithfulness toward me
And attempt one more time to thank you for my life:
For all you say I am and all I will become.
Praise God for countless blessings: for my lovely wife
And daughters and their families and heirs still to come
Who will honor and love and serve you all their days.
Though I have known you, may I know you even more,
While walking in wisdom, still numbering my days
As your favor abounds with greater blessings in store.
God, the Father of all grace, goes to any length
To protect and to provide by reason of strength.
“Dear God” by Smokie Norful captures the essence of what I attempt to express in my song of celebration:
Dr. J's Apothecary Shoppe 