Violet

You have got my heart on a string.

I haven’t even met you and you

You have got my heart on a string.

You are brightening my senses

Ignoring all my defenses

You have got my heart on a string.

You’ve a name that makes me think light,

Posies and roses, sun-beams bright

Wonderland, daisy chains, starlight

And beautiful indigo night

You have got my heart on a string.

I haven’t even met you and you

You have got my heart on a string.

You are brightening my senses

Ignoring all my defenses

You have got my heart on a string.

Your walk is noble, full of grace

Hold your head high as faith you chase

Fill up a room yet take no space

Til all can see the better place

You have got my heart on a string.

I haven’t even met you and you

You have got my heart on a string.

You are brightening my senses

Ignoring all my defenses

You have got my heart on a string.

The moon calls birds to fly, depart

Violin strings that pull a heart

Love’s the grace that feels like a dart

My bond with you will never part

You have got my heart on a string.

I haven’t even met you and you

You have got my heart on a string.

You are brightening my senses

Ignoring all my defenses

You have got my heart on a string.

For Violet Alice Smith born September 6, 2015

Top Ten of 2012

The end of one calendar year and the beginning of another is a good time for me to look back and consider how I have grown through the year. That means looking through the blog posts of the past year and seeing what I have been thinking and writing about in 2012. After a quick perusal I came up with the following top-ten list. These are a few of my favourite posts in a, close to, tenth to first favourite order.

10. Our Time is a reminder of how grateful I am for the incredible blessings of my life. Thank-you Father for the place and time in which I live.

9. Don't Miss Your Life is the title of a song that came out on Father's day last June. It reminds all of us of the important things in life.

8. Prayer Changes Things is a bit of a confession that I am an experimenter at heart. The three styles of prayer represented in this blog show how I have spent a life-time in the laboratory of prayer.

7. Observation is all about science and the mystery of how God has put the universe together.

6. Contact is another excursion into exobiology and musings about the expanses of our universe. It reminds us that both theology and science must search for truth.

5. Dark Knight shows how deeply God has built self-sacrifice and resurrection stories into the fabric of our culture.

4. Adam and Genetics celebrates the completion of a degree and introduces a controversial yet widely held perspective on genetics and theology.

3. Higgs and Bosons pays homage to the biggest scientific discovery of the year and what certainly should have been the newsmaker of the year (contrary to what you will read about the Canadian Press newsmaker of the year).

2. Spiritual Inertia is short and to the point but reveals a quote that finally gave me the language to describe a principle of spiritual growth that I have experienced all of my life.

1. Pacing the Cage relates the lyrics of Bruce Cockburn's classic song and reminds me that I can never rest on yesterday's successes. Next year I will continue to seek to grow and develop as a person and a writer.

Together these blog posts show the spiritual journey of 2012 but there is one more event that has changed the man I am. This is also the year in which our first grandchild was born. He is certainly one of the best things that has happened to us in this year; and in our lifetime. Spending Christmas with him and his parents, cuddling his ten pound body into my shoulder, and praising God for his birth have been a beautiful way to end 2012. His small body reminds us of another tiny baby who came into the world with "fragile finger sent to save us; tender brow prepared for thorn; (and) tiny heart whose blood will save us."1 May our memories of 2012 help us become the people whom God is calling us to be. Happy New Year.

1. Chris Rice, "Welcome to Our World."

Words for a Grandson

Welcome to the world little man. You have already made a mark on my life. I have become a grandfather; you a grandson. We get to explore this relationship together and I have a surprisingly intense desire to excel at grand-fathering. From a biological perspective, you and I share one quarter of our DNA. I hope you got all of the good bits. Yet, even if you did get some of my less desirable traits, you need to know that biology is not destiny.

I am 52 and you are new-born. I pray that when you have experienced more of this life you will come to love life as much as I do. This world is so amazing and has so many things for you to learn and explore. I want to encourage you to never stop asking questions and never stop learning. I hope that you will become a student of the world and explore it with philosophy, science, mathematics, and theology. Never be afraid of truth; for all truth is God's truth.

I pray that you will find the God who created this universe. I pray that you will have a long and happy life. I also pray that you will take risks in this life and never settle for the "safe" zone. Go ahead and make some mistakes; God knows that I have. I pray that whatever you may experience in this life, you will live it with peace, and joy, and bravery.

I pray that you will go for walks in the rain and the snow; get cold and wet but love the experience. I pray that you will fight for those smaller than you; poorer than you; sicker than you; more alone than you. I pray that you will enjoy life: play music, sing, write poetry, climb mountains, drink fine wine, enjoy rich food, appreciate a loaf of bread, find love, get your heart broken, and discover a good woman to love and marry.

I pray that you will appreciate the heritage of all of your ancestors who have gone before you. You have more than a little Celtic blood and even a Celtic name to go along with it. I pray that you will live with a sense of your own mortality, so that you might live well and appreciate this life. I pray that you will live life to the fullest every second of your existence in this world. I pray that you will look forward to a life beyond this one.

Welcome, Clayton Keith Smith (born November 6, 2012).