Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing...
That's Your name, isn't it? The One Who holds all the blessings, all the gifts, all the grace? And isn't it the water of You that pours down, floods even the lowest part of me? I hadn't known You were The Fountain until I cupped my hands to catch Your grace. Now the water overflows, leaves me breathless and I know it's true. You're the Fount of Every Blessing.
...tune my heart to sing Thy grace...
I count the gifts, cup the hands and write music with a pen and a journal and a life. This is how You teach me to sing Grace, to live Grace. And this is how a language I couldn't even speak before becomes the only one I want to know.
...Streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise...
And one thousand gifts is only the beginning. The pouring down of Mercy, of Grace, of You--it never ceases. That's the gift I can't stop counting. There's no song loud enough but I'll sing it anyway and I'll make it a heart's song, a life's song--my life's song.
...Teach me some melodious sonnet, sung by flaming tongues above...
The truth is, even the Angels' Song isn't enough to sing Your Grace--because they don't know Your Grace. Only those who've fallen from Grace can ever know how deep and how wide and how beautiful is this Grace that reaches even us. And oh, have I fallen from Grace! But You keep reaching me even here, and a life that sings Grace--that's the one I want to live.
...Praise the Mount! I'm fixed upon it, Mount of Thy Redeeming Love...
How could I have known the cross on a hill would be both, a mountain of love and a fountain of blessing? How could I have known You'd be both, Redeeming Love and Fountain Grace? But I know it now and I never want to un-know.
...O, to Grace, how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be...
The debt to Grace never grows smaller, only greater. Every day, every faltering step, the Grace waters grow deep and slowly I am learning to swim in this ocean You pour down. There is no thanks, no song, no life that can repay what's owed. But that's the beautiful, glorious hope of Grace, of You. The Grace is freely given. You are freely given. The Fount of Every Blessing--it's You. You're the fountain and the blessing.
...Let Thy Goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to Thee...
And isn't this what I've wanted all along? To be bound to You? To be held firm even when the world shakes and I tremble and all I want to do is run? I started counting gifts to be free from the death-grip of ingratitude but now I know the sweeter gain--to be wrapped tight in Grace and held against the heart of You.
...Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love...
I know the wandering and the leaving. Oh, how I know it! And even as I plunge wholehearted into the Grace River, I know there'll always be a choice to stay or leave, to hold the course or take another path.
...Here's my heart, O, take and seal it, seal it for Thy courts above.
Oh, Jesus, yes! Seal my heart, seal my mind, seal every last part of me. Until the wandering and the leaving are no longer my native tongue. Until Grace is the language I live. Until You are the only One pouring out of my brokenness and marking the world with Redemption's stain.
Yes. Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing, come. Come and teach my heart, my life, my all to sing Your Grace.
683. Running errands in the pouring rain
684. Seven stops in three hours--every single thing checked off the list
685. Pair of ducks wandering the parking lot at my last stop, taking flight as I drive by
686. Catching up with a friend after long weeks apart
687. Surveying the treat display at Starbucks, choosing the free one I'll get next time
688. Sitting on the coffee shop's couch, crocheting and sharing life
689. Buying Easter candy for my parents
690. Strength for the hard days
691. Pizza for dinner
692. Strawberries for dessert
693. Meeting of the minds, ministry endeavors moving forward
694. Dishwasher arriving!
695. More space for cooking, fewer dishes to wash
696. Long-absent but still familiar sound of the dishwasher scrubbing things clean
697. Unexpected reiteration of the Truth about brokenness
698. Words coming in the middle of the night, lessons in brokenness finally becoming clear
699. New eyes to see that the brokenness can be sacred
700. New faith to believe that being broken can be a gift
701. The pouring forth of God through the cracks in our souls
702. Plans for future art projects swirling in my head
703. Counting out rows of stitches, envisioning something new
704. Photographs strewn across the floor, me giddy with ideas
705. The way color progression makes my happy, Happy, HAPPY!
706. Sun breaks at the end of a cloudy week
707. A little photo shoot in the yard, charting the growth
708. Spending a whole afternoon in the garden
709. Trimming away winter, letting spring take the stage
710. Moving plants around, finding new homes to make them happy
711. Garden perking up from the winter blues, beauty coming out of hibernation
712. First day of May!
713. Cloudless blue sky full of sun to start the new month
714. Morning trip to the store for plant pots and soil
715. Afternoon with hands in the dirt, new plants being born
716. Amaryllis the Giant becoming a whole family of amaryllis plants
717. Eight baby plants now crowding my room
718. My own object lesson in new life coming from the brokenness
719. Music--always music!
720. Familiar words turning into heart lessons unexpectedly
721. The Fount of Every Blessing--always You!
722. God Who tunes my heart to sing His Grace
723. The never-ceasing stream of His Mercy
724. Savior Who is both Redeeming Love and Fountain Grace
725. The way this chronicling of gifts, this knowing His goodness is binding my heart to His
726. Learning to sing the Grace Song--I've waited my whole life for this
My favorite hymn. I loved this post. I would love to invite you for dinner to meet the family. I'll send you a message on fb.
ReplyDeletea beautiful breath of fresh air - thank you, dear friend...
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