Bless the Lord, O my soul
O my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before
O my soul
I'll worship Your holy name
The sun comes up, it's a new day dawning
It's time to sing Your song again
Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me
Let me be singing when the evening comes.
We sang this song at the beginning of worship today. You probably know it. There are a couple more verses to it. It struck me as not being unlike the John Baillie prayer for this morning, praying,
"For there is practically nothing that I have the power to make happen.
I'm not even here by my own will, and it won't be by my own will when my days are done.
Of all that comes to me this day, very little will be what I have chosen for myself....
It is you who keeps in your hand the threads of today's life and who alone knows
what lies before me to do or to suffer. But because you are my father, I am not afraid.
Because it is your Spirit that moves in my heart, I know that all is well."
What so resonated with me was waking to the new day to "sing Your song again." Yes, that is so true, in whatever way we do sing that song. Then "Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me/Let me be singing when the evening comes." Of course, most days blessedly pass without great personal or world tragedies, and it is not so hard to still be singing the Lord's song. But even exhaustion, impatience, and frustration can silence the song. Then there are the rare days when tragedy really is part of it.
I think it's pretty challenging to say, as Baillie does in the above prayer, "But because you are my father, I am not afraid. . . . I know that all is well. I once wondered how it must be for believers who have died are are waiting to perhaps be aware, as a great cloud of witnesses, of the difficulties and horrors or just everyday trials that are happening to their loved ones on earth. The thought occurred to me then, whether prompted by the Lord or not, that they did not fret and feel anguished because they now trusted completely in God's acting in history for His purposes. How I wish I could have that perfect faith now, and truly believe and live on the reality that, "I am not afraid.... I know that all is well." I do pray for that kind of faith and hope for it as I try to live in to the kind of belief that trusts "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him...." (Romans 8:28)
NO, we did not have any snow day last week even after their prediction of 4-5 inches of snow, none of which materialized. But on Wednesday we had a two-hour delay due to some icy rain. The picture below is the little courtyard outside my library windows with an icy tree and some icy grass, which are probably really hard to see anyway. However, delays are always welcome since they make a more leisurely morning.
Otherwise, it was a busy week at school with much to do. Here is a picture of my news team and Woody the Owl, our mascot. Last week was a big week for our Positive Behavioral emphasis program being touted and reinforced, so Woody came on the news (a 6th grade girl) to drum up enthusiasm. It gives you a little idea of what our studio is like.
However, Saturday morning did come, and that is mostly the one day a week when we have a leisurely morning, loafing in bed later and wearing pjs for half the day. I treated Steve to breakfast in bed. He is often the one who gets it for me!
Later in the day we took a walk into the park. You can't see it from my picture, but the sun was really pretty behind the trees as it set with golden and rose tones.
We ended the day with a trip to Tysons Mall to update my phone. Of course, I would never have done it on my own, having mall-phobia, but with the support of Steve, I was able to accomplish the task, which nevertheless took a couple of hours. I warned him before we went that it would take a long time. Sigh.
And now a new week has started, and we pray for it to be blessed. Jubilee will happen this coming weekend. The plan is for us to both go, but I'll be driving up and following Steve who needs to go a bit earlier on Friday. Visions of Vocation will be making its first appearance in a public setting there, and that will be exciting and satisfying. We are waiting any day to receive our box with the finished book in it.
