Rejoice In The Lord, Always, And Again I Say Rejoice!

The Bible Says

Rejoice In The Lord, Always, And Again I Say Rejoice!

by Charlie Grier

It is the morning of July 12, 2004. All the indications are that “Spring Has Sprung!” Sir Launfal’s poem describes the day perfectly, except he used the word “June.” Let me see if I still remember it well enough to quote it.

WHAT IS SO RARE AS A DAY IN JUNE? -- From “The Vision of Sir Launfal” by James Russell Lowell
What is so rare as a day in June? Then, if ever, comes perfect days. Then heaven tries earth if it be in tune And over it softly her warm ear lays. Whether we look, or whether we listen, We hear life’s murmur, or see it glisten. Every clod feels a stir of might— An instinct within it that reaches and towers, And groping blindly above it for light, Climbs to a soul in grass and flowers.
The flush of life may well be seen Thrilling back over hills and valleys. The cowslip startles in meadows, green. The buttercup catches the sun in it’s chalice, And there’s not a leaf, nor a blade too mean To be some happy creature’s palace.
The little bird sits at his door in the sun, A’tilt, like a blossom among the leaves, And lets his illumined being or’run With the deluge of summer it receives. His mate feels the warm eggs beneath her wings, And the heart in her dumb breast flutters and sings. He sings to the wide world and she to her nest. In the nice ear of nature, which song is the best?

There Seems To Be More Birds This Year
From my chair at the head of the dining room table, I can sit and watch the Purple Finch building nests in the old Martin House. Yellow Finch and other small birds spend time at the thistle-seed feeder. The blackbirds have pretty well taken over the sunflower seed feeder and race to see how quickly they can empty it; although at times they are assisted by squirrels and chipmunks. The Humming Bird Feeder is frequented not only by Humming Birds but by an occasional Baltimore Oriole.

My garden is looking good despite the late spring. This was one year when it paid to start the plants in-doors. Now that we are getting these beautiful rains, everything should do well.

I don’t plant a garden in order to have food on the table. The day may come when that will be necessary, but at present I plant a garden because I love to see things grow! I love the birds and all the things of nature! I don’t worship nature, but I see the hand of God in everything that grows! The Bible says,

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there in nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil---this is the gift of God. I know that everything that God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing can be taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him” (Ecc. 3:11-14 NIV).

America The Beautiful -- by Miss Katherine Lee Bates
O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber fields of grain, For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain! America! America! God shed His grace on thee And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet Whose stern impassioned stress A thoroughfare for freedom beat Across the wilderness! America! America! God mend thine every flaw, Confirm thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in law!
O beautiful for patriot dream That sees beyond the years Thine alabaster cities gleam Undimmed by human tears! America! America! God shed His grace on thee And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea!

“…In the summer of 1893, Miss Katherine Lee Bates, professor of English at Wellesley College, traveled from the East across the country to Colorado Springs, to teach there at a summer school. From the quickened and deepened sense of America’s destiny aroused in her by this journey came this hymn.

“We can see how the reflections of the scenes she passed are reflected in this poem . . . When she arrived at the “purple mountain majesties” of Colorado, she made her trip to the summit of Pike’s Peak, where one can gaze over the far expanse of spacious skies and the amber sweep of plains. “Then and there,” she wrote, “the opening of “O Beautiful for Spacious Skies” sprang into being. Soon afterwards in Colorado Springs, the poem was completed.”

The hymn tune was composed in 1882 by Samuel Agustus Ward.

--- Story of Hymns We Love by Cecilia Margaret Rudin, (John Rudin & Co, Inc., Chicago) p.72

Praise God from whom all blessings flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below; Praise Him above, ye heavenly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.