“For the Beauty of the Earth” has always been one of my favorite hymns. I thought about what a beautiful devotion could be made by playing this hymn with a slide show of pictures. Oh, the pictures, which ones to use? Nature shots of the beauty of the earth would be no problem. We are nature lovers. The question was how to narrow down the selection. “For the love which from our birth” -- That was easy, my daughter in her hospital bed holding her new born son with her older children curled up beside her, a love radiating that you could almost touch... or maybe a picture of our newborn twin granddaughters sleeping peacefully side by side--hand in hand. “Brother, sister, parent, child”--our teenage grandson standing hand in hand with his little sister as he coaxed her into the ocean, or maybe her gazing up at him with adoration as he posed in his cap and gown after graduation. But, I missed that one--it was a ‘mind’ picture (a memory). Reality started to set in...I am not very ‘tech savvy’. This project was way beyond my computing skills. Then it occurred to me that although my pictures have special meaning for me, everyone has pictures that they could use to illustrate this hymn. I think that when we take pictures we are often trying to capture our blessings from God. We all have many blessings, and we often forget to thank Him for them. So here is the hymn, you supply the pictures (blessings). Read through it and think about all the pictures stored away in boxes and albums, the pictures stored on your computer, and all those ‘mind pictures’ that you missed capturing, but will never forget. Then go back and sing (you know the tune) and let your mind supply your own personal slide show. And when you get to the end, sing with joy and thankfulness, “Lord of all to thee we raise, this our hymn of grateful praise."
For The Beauty Of The Earth Hymn
For the beauty of the earth,
For the beauty of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.
For the beauty of each hour
Of the day and of the night,
Hill and vale, and tree and flower,
Sun and moon and stars of light,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.
For the joy of human love,
Brother, sister, parent, child,
Friends on earth, and friends above,
Pleasures pure and undefiled,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.
For each perfect gift of thine,
To our race so freely given,
Graces human and divine,
Flowers of earth and buds of heaven,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.
For thy Church which evermore
Lifteth holy hands above,
Offering up on every shore
Her pure sacrifice of love,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.
(words by Folliot Pierpoint 1864: music by Conrad Kocher 1838)
Margaret Williams
No comments:
Post a Comment