Sunday Hymn: Be Thou My Vision

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

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.

Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
Thou my soul's Shelter, Thou my high Tower:
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven's joys, O bright Heaven's Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

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A bit of background about this hymn can be found here.
You can listen to this hymn here.
Two of my favorite recordings of it are by Selah, and by Sandi Patty on her new cd, "Songs for the Journey."
Information about the photo is in the comments.

Near the Cross

One of my first posts when I started my blog described my "not-so-quiet-times" each morning. Oh, how the Lord has used His Word to speak to me this morning, weaving the gospel message through my Old Testament reading where I found myself at the foot of Mt. Sinai, learning of the sacrifices to the New Testament reading where I sat with Christ at that final supper where He turned the Passover Meal into a remembrance of His atoning death. God used the perfect hymn to tie it all together for me this morning, and I just had to share its words with you.

Jesus, keep me near the cross; there a precious fountain,

Free to all- a healing stream- flows from Calv'ry's mountain.

In the cross, in the cross, be my glory ever;

'Till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river.

Near the cross, a trembling soul, love and mercy found me;

There the Bright and Morning Star shed its beams around me.

Near the cross! O Lamb of God, bring its scenes before me;

Help me walk from day to day with its shadow o'er me.

Near the cross I'll watch and wait, hoping trusting ever,

Till I reach the golden strand just beyond the river.

May the day and week ahead find you near the cross, my dear friend.

His Eye is On the Sparrow

This morning found me once again with my ipod, singing my hymns. I was listening to one of my favorites, "His Eye Is On the Sparrow" as I made my semiweekly trash day journey to the end of the driveway awhile ago. As I walked back up to come in through the garage, I noticed a tiny sparrow perched on the roof above the garage door. I stopped and stood there looking at her (I decided it was a girl!) and she sat with her head cocked to one side, looking at me. The song in my ears reminded me that at that very moment, while we were were watching each other in the cool of the morning, our Creator was holding both of us in His watchful gaze.

We both flitted off to continue feathering our nests and I thanked God for giving me moments like that. He is so faithful!

"I sing because I'm happy

I sing because I'm free,

His eye is on the sparrow...

and I know He watches me."

My Jesus, I Love Thee

I just wanted to share the hymn I sang during my quiet time this morning, and that is playing in my head today as my "soundtrack" for the day so far...

"My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine;

For Thee all the follies of sin I resign;

My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art Thou;

If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.

I love Thee because Thou hast first loved me,

And purchased my pardon on Calvary's tree;

I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow;

If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, 'tis now."

That last line is what is lingering in my mind the most. I have sung that to Him both aloud and silently, at so many different times in the midst of so many different emotions. What an appropriate thing to say to Him at any time, whether we're celebrating, grieving, sick, healthy, surrounded by loved ones or loney. "If ever I loved Thee..." His grace, mercy and love speaks to every single situation in which I'll ever find myself.

"Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love Thee..." John 21:15