Love, love, love hymns.
I think it’s because I am a word person. I write. I read. And words are a big part of who I am. And hymns are words — beautiful words saturated with the glorious truth of the gospel, which is a message I need to hear over and over and over and over again, because I forget so easily.
Neither Tim nor myself were particularly blessed with musical talent (although I suspect that I could have been had my parents not let me decide to opt out of piano lessons at age 6; and Tim has rhythm), but I want to be a family that sings hymns. I want my kids to know the words to hymns and to sing them with us. I also want to find an artistically-inclined friend or person to transcribe the lyrics to hymns loved by Tim and myself (Before the Throne of God Above, Be Thou My Vision, Jesus I am Resting, among others) in some kind of pretty way so we can frame them and hang them around our house.
It just amazes me how much hymns speak to my heart. I downloaded the newest Road Sessions EP from Matthew Smith (of Indelible Grace) off of NoiseTrade and was blown away by this hymn in particular (although all 5 songs on the album are beautiful):
Calmer of my troubled heart
Bid my unbelief depart
Speak, and all my sorrows cease
Speak, and all my soul is peace.
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Comfort me when e’er I mourn
with the hope of Thy return
And til I Thy glories see
Help me believe in Thee
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Such a simple song, but it so perfectly expresses what I so often feel. My heart is often troubled, I struggle with unbelief. And it is my prayer that God would comfort me with the thought of Christ’s return to reign on the earth and to finally finish making all things new, including myself. And boy, do I need help believing. And, it is such a comfort to know that the Spirit enables me to believe in Christ, and will give me the faith to endure to the end.
Beautiful. That’s all I can say.
