Thursday, March 08, 2012

Psalm 48: 1-3

Great is the LORD and greatly to
Be praised
In the city of our God.
His holy mountain, beautiful in
elevation,
is the joy of all the earth,
Mount Zion in the far north,
The city of the great King. NRSV

This poetry in praise of God is beautiful as recitation or in song. Every human being alive can attest to God’s kindness. Just to awake this morning and be able to stand flat footed, to have one’s faculties together and to behold the beauty of yet another day is a privilege that we should never take for granted. So this day, be thankful for all that you have. Thank you LORD for all that you have given me.

New mercies, each returning day,
Hover around us while we pray;
New perils past, new sins forgiven,
New thoughts of God, new hopes of heaven.
If, on our daily course, our mind
Be set to hallow all we find,
New treasures still, of countless price,
God will provide for sacrifice.
Old friends, old scenes, will lovelier be,
As more of heaven in each we see;
Some softening gleam of love and prayer
Shall dawn on every cross and care.
We need not bid, for cloistered cell,
Our neighbor and our words farewell,
Nor strive to find ourselves too high
For sinful man beneath the sky.
The trivial round, the common task,
Will furnish all we ought to ask;
Room to deny ourselves, a road
To bring us daily nearer God.
Seek we no more; content with these,
Let present rapture, comfort, ease—
As heaven shall bid them, come and go:
The secret this of rest below.
Only, O Lord, in Thy dear love,
Fit us for perfect rest above,
And help us, this and every day,
To live more nearly as we pray.

JOHN KEBLE