These are the lyrics of a song I just finished writing today:
Your irrevocable grace
Your merciful design
To make a love covenant with me!
For my unfaithfulness
You'd take the death penalty.
Unbounded tension and relief:
An undeserved way out for me,
And the undeserved suffering of my Ever-Faithful God.
This is more than anyone else would offer me
Far beyond what any false god would give
The angels marvel and the universe sings
Of Your passion unmeasureable for me.
Unbounded holiness and joy
You are the Lover of my soul
I long for You, and I will not rest until I see Your face.
What profound a peace is this:
It is finished; I am free!
The Earth trembles from its deepest hidden places...
My resurrected Jesus is my Solid Rock and Rest.
Unbounded power over all
You send Truth out to bring me in
There's no place in all the world
Where I cannot see Your dance of love for me.
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Sunday, 31 January 2010
Thursday, 6 November 2008
Be Still My Soul
I believe this hymn is dearer to me than any other. It speaks to me so deeply... God's great and precious promises bring me to his arms in tears.
Be Still My Soul
by Katharina Amalia Dorothea von Schlegel, 1752
(translated from German to English by Jane Laurie Borthwick, 1855)
"Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change, He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.
Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake
To guide the future, as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know His voice
Who ruled them while He dwelt below.
Be still, my soul: when dearest friends depart,
And all is darkened in the vale of tears,
Then shalt thou better know His love, His heart,
Who comes to soothe thy sorrow and thy fears.
Be still, my soul: thy Jesus can repay
From His own fullness all He takes away.
Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on
When we shall be forever with the Lord.
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past,
All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.
Be still, my soul: begin the song of praise
On earth, believing, to thy Lord on high;
Acknowledge Him in all thy works and ways,
So shall He view thee with a well-pleased eye.
Be still, my soul: the Sun of life divine
Through passing clouds shall but more brightly shine."
Be Still My Soul
by Katharina Amalia Dorothea von Schlegel, 1752
(translated from German to English by Jane Laurie Borthwick, 1855)
"Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change, He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.
Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake
To guide the future, as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know His voice
Who ruled them while He dwelt below.
Be still, my soul: when dearest friends depart,
And all is darkened in the vale of tears,
Then shalt thou better know His love, His heart,
Who comes to soothe thy sorrow and thy fears.
Be still, my soul: thy Jesus can repay
From His own fullness all He takes away.
Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on
When we shall be forever with the Lord.
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past,
All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.
Be still, my soul: begin the song of praise
On earth, believing, to thy Lord on high;
Acknowledge Him in all thy works and ways,
So shall He view thee with a well-pleased eye.
Be still, my soul: the Sun of life divine
Through passing clouds shall but more brightly shine."
Friday, 7 March 2008
Untitled song - 3.3,7,8.08
My grip is weakened by long months,
A long winter of holding on.
You looked into eyes that could not keep meeting your gaze,
Told me to let go of those empty promises.
Your voice was clear:
"You cannot serve two masters.
You cannot hold my hand in one of yours,
And hold an idol in the other."
As all my little gods betray me,
I remember prayers of happier days-
I told you, "Make me holy, whatever the cost,"
Said, "I want to be like Jesus!"
I thought I could hold onto these idols,
But it was like grasping wind;
Now I'm left standing alone before you.
You are a Dangerous Refuge;
Before your face I fall on mine.
I have no strength left to fight,
I run weeping into your embrace.
I cling to you, weak as I am;
You speak to me gently:
"I'll let nothing separate you from my love-
for I'm the I AM. I AM. I AM."
A long winter of holding on.
You looked into eyes that could not keep meeting your gaze,
Told me to let go of those empty promises.
Your voice was clear:
"You cannot serve two masters.
You cannot hold my hand in one of yours,
And hold an idol in the other."
As all my little gods betray me,
I remember prayers of happier days-
I told you, "Make me holy, whatever the cost,"
Said, "I want to be like Jesus!"
I thought I could hold onto these idols,
But it was like grasping wind;
Now I'm left standing alone before you.
You are a Dangerous Refuge;
Before your face I fall on mine.
I have no strength left to fight,
I run weeping into your embrace.
I cling to you, weak as I am;
You speak to me gently:
"I'll let nothing separate you from my love-
for I'm the I AM. I AM. I AM."
Sunday, 30 December 2007
Refuge
These are the lyrics to a song I just wrote...
When I'm running away and scared
And all, it seems, is hopeless
When there's nowhere I can hide myself
And I know I can't just sleep it away
Then you remind me that
You're always here
I'll hide myself in you
My Refuge and my Peace, my Peace.
When I'm panicked and overwhelmed
With life's expectations and responsibilities
When I'm grieving and lonely and broken
And no-one's left to comfort and hold me
When guilt and failure overtake me
And break like a crushing wave over me
I'll hide myself in you
My Refuge and my Peace, my Peace.
When I'm running away and scared
And all, it seems, is hopeless
When there's nowhere I can hide myself
And I know I can't just sleep it away
Then you remind me that
You're always here
I'll hide myself in you
My Refuge and my Peace, my Peace.
When I'm panicked and overwhelmed
With life's expectations and responsibilities
When I'm grieving and lonely and broken
And no-one's left to comfort and hold me
When guilt and failure overtake me
And break like a crushing wave over me
I'll hide myself in you
My Refuge and my Peace, my Peace.
Saturday, 13 October 2007
Creativity - 3.18.06
My favorite thing to do is to create. I love writing, painting, making music, and anything else that I can be original with. I usually feel closest to God when I am creating. For me, creating and worshipping nearly always go together. I wonder at the two strong feelings of longing and fulfillment that I experience when I create. It fascinates me that I can experience both of these feelings simultaneously. What I find even more amazing is that, in reality, these two emotions in my heart are my longing for God and my fulfillment in him. Yet I will never have a complete sense of fulfillment until I am in heaven with my God. All our feelings of longing and fulfillment are produced when we experience beauty. Every beautiful thing we can see, hear, smell, taste, and feel is merely a reflection of God, the Source of beauty. When we experience beauty, we feel a longing for the source – a longing to be inside the source, because only in Christ The Source Of Beauty can we find total fulfillment.
God is wonderfully creative. He has filled his creation with magnificent variety. There are millions of different kinds of seashells and insects and fishes. No two snowflakes are alike, and no two sunsets are alike. No two people are alike. And there is more variety than that. God has woven playfulness and restfulness into his creation. God has made the universe and filled it with light, and given us eyes to see the light. More than that, he has enabled us to see colors. I am so thankful to live in a world of color rather than one of merely black and white! There is variety in the seasons and the weather patterns, in the nebulae and the galaxies. Just take a moment to look up at the sky and see the different types of clouds or all the different constellations. These things are no accident! God has created these things to be the way they are for specific purposes. I want to use my creativity for specific purposes too – first of all for the worship, enjoyment, and glory of my Creator. I also want to use it to encourage and build up others, especially other believers. I want to use it to learn more about God, life, other people, and myself. I want to use it to teach and exhort people. I want to use it to help me sort out my many confusions and to put into words and visual art my thoughts, struggles, and triumphs.
All creativity comes from God the Creator – we can create nothing apart from him. Because creativity is a part of God's image that he has given to us, it should be used for redemptive purposes. When I write, I love combining words having to do with the effects of the Fall with words of redemption to make beautiful poems, stories, song lyrics, and even school papers. I see beauty in God's redemptive plan, and I seek to reflect it in all my art. It is most important that God's children, of all people, be the ones using the creativity God has given them. We should make ourselves more aware of beauty. We should come to the point where we frequently stop in the middle of our busy lives to be still and look at the beauty of the universe around us.
True beauty is a mysterious thing. It flows exactly opposite the world's strong current. If it weren't for the grace given by God, the world would only be a place of the destruction of beautiful things. "Common" grace is a thing that God has given to all his creation – even to those who are not his children. It is the ability and desire to do good things, and the enjoyment of good things. Yet there is a higher grace – a grace given only to the children of God. One of the wonderful things about this grace is that it opens a person's spiritual eyes to spiritual beauty. I have seen the beauty of a Servant's heart – a thing that the world cannot understand. Even we the children of God cannot fully comprehend it. I am fallen, but I have been made a daughter of God, so that the Holy Spirit is transforming my view and giving me an increasing understanding of the beauty of the Servant's heart. He is daily maturing me into what I already am. Because I have been redeemed, God sees me as beautiful – all the time. I honestly don't understand this. I'm not even sure I believe it. God says it’s true – he says so in his infallible Word, but I still have a hard time believing it whenever I am feeling full of guilt (as I often am). I do have a desire, however, to understand and believe this.
Since creativity is a part of God's image, and humans are the only ones in creation that are made in his image, humans are the only ones in creation that can appreciate creativity. Creativity is deeply woven into our souls – another thing that only humankind possesses. Western culture tends to suppress creativity, despite its claims for the opposite. As a result, the older we get, the more we lose our creativity. It can only be regained with frequent and dedicated practice. I do not want to allow my creativity to be suppressed. I don't want that part of my soul to go ignored by me or anyone else. I can practice creativity in everything from my clothing to my paintings to my speech.
God is wonderfully creative. He has filled his creation with magnificent variety. There are millions of different kinds of seashells and insects and fishes. No two snowflakes are alike, and no two sunsets are alike. No two people are alike. And there is more variety than that. God has woven playfulness and restfulness into his creation. God has made the universe and filled it with light, and given us eyes to see the light. More than that, he has enabled us to see colors. I am so thankful to live in a world of color rather than one of merely black and white! There is variety in the seasons and the weather patterns, in the nebulae and the galaxies. Just take a moment to look up at the sky and see the different types of clouds or all the different constellations. These things are no accident! God has created these things to be the way they are for specific purposes. I want to use my creativity for specific purposes too – first of all for the worship, enjoyment, and glory of my Creator. I also want to use it to encourage and build up others, especially other believers. I want to use it to learn more about God, life, other people, and myself. I want to use it to teach and exhort people. I want to use it to help me sort out my many confusions and to put into words and visual art my thoughts, struggles, and triumphs.
All creativity comes from God the Creator – we can create nothing apart from him. Because creativity is a part of God's image that he has given to us, it should be used for redemptive purposes. When I write, I love combining words having to do with the effects of the Fall with words of redemption to make beautiful poems, stories, song lyrics, and even school papers. I see beauty in God's redemptive plan, and I seek to reflect it in all my art. It is most important that God's children, of all people, be the ones using the creativity God has given them. We should make ourselves more aware of beauty. We should come to the point where we frequently stop in the middle of our busy lives to be still and look at the beauty of the universe around us.
True beauty is a mysterious thing. It flows exactly opposite the world's strong current. If it weren't for the grace given by God, the world would only be a place of the destruction of beautiful things. "Common" grace is a thing that God has given to all his creation – even to those who are not his children. It is the ability and desire to do good things, and the enjoyment of good things. Yet there is a higher grace – a grace given only to the children of God. One of the wonderful things about this grace is that it opens a person's spiritual eyes to spiritual beauty. I have seen the beauty of a Servant's heart – a thing that the world cannot understand. Even we the children of God cannot fully comprehend it. I am fallen, but I have been made a daughter of God, so that the Holy Spirit is transforming my view and giving me an increasing understanding of the beauty of the Servant's heart. He is daily maturing me into what I already am. Because I have been redeemed, God sees me as beautiful – all the time. I honestly don't understand this. I'm not even sure I believe it. God says it’s true – he says so in his infallible Word, but I still have a hard time believing it whenever I am feeling full of guilt (as I often am). I do have a desire, however, to understand and believe this.
Since creativity is a part of God's image, and humans are the only ones in creation that are made in his image, humans are the only ones in creation that can appreciate creativity. Creativity is deeply woven into our souls – another thing that only humankind possesses. Western culture tends to suppress creativity, despite its claims for the opposite. As a result, the older we get, the more we lose our creativity. It can only be regained with frequent and dedicated practice. I do not want to allow my creativity to be suppressed. I don't want that part of my soul to go ignored by me or anyone else. I can practice creativity in everything from my clothing to my paintings to my speech.
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