’Tis the last rose of summer
Left blooming alone;
All her lovely companions
Are faded and gone;
No flower of her kindred,
No rosebud is nigh,
To reflect back her blushes,
To give sigh for sigh.

I’ll not leave thee, thou lone one!
To pine on the stem;
Since the lovely are sleeping,
Go, sleep thou with them.
Thus kindly I scatter
Thy leaves o’er the bed,
Where thy mates of the garden
Lie scentless and dead.

So soon may I follow,
When friendships decay,
And from Love’s shining circle
The gems drop away.
When true hearts lie withered
And fond ones are flown,
Oh! who would inhabit
This bleak world alone?

“If someone’s offering is a fellowship offering…he is to present before the Lord an animal without defect.”

What is our fellowship offering to the Lord? Probably the time we spend in corporate worship (usually Sunday morning). When we bring this offering of our time, our presence, our minds, our spirits and place it before the Lord are we bringing the best we have to offer?

If you have a group gathered to worship God at any given place and time, God is calling each of those people into fellowship in a different way. Some will be called to worship by singing, some by listening, some by speaking, and some by serving. Each of these people needs to put the effort in to make their offering of fellowship the best it can possibly be.

But there are other offerings of fellowship that we sometimes fail to notice. The young parents bringing in their child who starts screaming half way through the prayer is worshiping through parenting. The middle aged couple focusing on God’s voice is worshiping through meditation. The farmer who worked tirelessly for the last month planting his crops who falls asleep during the service is worshiping through being present.

God calls each of us to present a different fellowship offering. If we present our offering to the best of our ability; if we present our offering without defect, then we have followed God’s call.