Be Thou My Vision

 The eight century Irish hymn says,

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise.

Thou mine in inheritance, now and always.

Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,

High King of Heaven, My Treasure Thou art.[1]

This song has gotten under my skin in the most positive of ways recently, as I have seen God work His works in my life and in the church.

Standing firm in Christ against the assault of cancer has drawn me close to the Father’s heart and there I have seen in fresh new ways that there is no better way to live in this world than to live here in the life of Jesus.

As to the church, when it seemed that the story was over and that there would be no future, God’s Amazing Grace swallowed us up in the possibilities of God, and now we aren’t thinking about closing but about thriving into a new future.  The God who raised Jesus from the dead has spoken His life transforming Word.

I stand amazed again today watching God work and calling us into His work.  My prayer is borrowed, but it is mine,

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;


I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;


Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;


Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.[2]

Another prayer is borrow, too.  “Your kingdom come.  Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). 

                                   

The wind is blowing.

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[1] Verse 4, “Be Thou My Vision,” Irish hymn from 8^th century; translated from ancient Irish into English by Mary E. Byrne, 1905

[2] Verse 2, “Be Thou My Vision”