"Ten thousand times ten thousand,
In sparkling raimant bright,
The armies of the ransomed saints
Throng up the steeps of light;
'Tis finished, all is finished,
Their fight with death and sin...
Fling open wide the golden gates
And let the victors in.
What rush of allelluias
Fills all the earth and sky!
What ringing of a thousand harps
Bespeaks the triumph nigh!
O day for which creation
And all its tribes were made!
O joy, for all its former woes
A thousandfold repaid!
O then what raptured greetings
On Canaan's happy shore'
What knitting severed friendships up
Where partings are no more!
Then eyes with joy shall sparkle
That brimmed with tears of late;...
Orphans no longer fatherless
Nor widows desolate.
Bring near Thy great salvation,
Thou Lamb for sinners slain;
Fill up the roll of Thine elect,
Then take Thy pow'r, and reign;
Appear, Desire of nations,
Thine exiles long for home,...
Show in the heav'n Thy promised sign;
Thou Prince and Savior, come."!!!!
by Henry Alford, 1867
Life is full to the top with blessings. For some future day I have reserved a post about the "ocean of grace" in which we swim. For the present, numbered among God's greatest gifts to me in my ocean of grace is a husband who truly loves me and is my nearest and greatest cheerleader. Our path in the course of this year has led us to an island in Cape Breton, which is itself an island in Nova Scotia. On this blessed island is a further blessing, the home we have been provided in this season, tucked away in the forest by the ocean. In this home, just outside our bedroom is a small library lined with select books, and in the library is a winding staircase into a rooftop cupola. For me that tiny cupola, softly carpeted, windowed from all sides, and from which I can see the ocean, is my nest into which I can climb to be with my Abba, in body and in spirit perched above the noise of the everyday. Today, October 14, 2010, he (my cheerleader) stood as a guardian over the hours of my day, knowing I had a great desire to spend quietly the first anniversary of my father's Homegoing. Such were my great blessings this day: that cupola, with my zealous soldier standing guard over my hours.
And what precious hours. As is obvious by the small number of posts over the past twelve months, there have been more thoughts than words in my life this year, and even more spirit-prayer than thoughts. Have I just been "stuck" in the loss of my father? No, but I have been stuck in the Refiner's fire, of which that loss has been part of the flame. Has this season been void of joys? By all means, not. Instead, I have more deeply discovered depths, and have found the precious Spirit of Christ had gone to those depths before me.
This year, I also "discovered" another mystery of Christ, as usual hidden in words I have read numbers of times through the years, but this time I was caught in the illumination of their truth --and oh! in its sharing may it be illuminated for you as well! I was reading in one of my very favorite books, the writings of the prophet Isaiah. In chapter seven is recorded an exchange between Isaiah and the king of Israel in which Isaiah instructed the king,
" 'Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God; make it deep as Sheol or high as heaven.' But Ahaz said, 'I will not ask, nor will I test the Lord!' Then he said ... 'Therefore THE LORD HIMSELF will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel...' "
Did you get that??!!! King Ahaz could never have dreamed of a sign that encompassed both heaven AND the grave, but our God did! And that sign was Jesus. Because of Jesus, and the way His life encompasses the deepest depths and the highest heights, this year has been a sacred one, of tears but also of celebration, of weakness but in the end of overcoming, of perplexity but even more of worship.
A weekend ago we experienced a day of enigma; I posted a facebook status that read something like "rain sun rain sun rain rain rain" ... and that was not nearly the extent of the extremes of the day. But as we compared notes the following day, the talk was of the rainbows one after another in succession throughout the day. Rainbows, covenant prisms of light that appear at the place where rain turns to sun, and sun shines through rain, and all is wrapped in the scope of our Abba's love and His all-encompassing plan.
And so I close the door on this day, and on this year, by once again scribing borrowed words. I have no knowledge of their author, Henry Alford, or the circumstances that inspired their writing more than a century and a half ago. But I do know that his words capture the rainbow overarching all the clouds that have passed through our sky--and still stand timelessly triumphant.
And just one more -- if you have read my blog at all you know that I am a lover of old treasures, so please bear with this eccentric affection! This hymn, sung by Enya, is so old as to be nameless, undated and in the public domain -- and captures the present melody of my own heart.
"My life flows on in endless song
Above earth's lamentation;
I hear the real though far-off hymn
That hails a new creation.
No storm can shake my inmost calm
While to that rock I'm clinging;
Since Love is Lord of heaven and earth
How can I keep from singing?
Through all the tumult and the strife
I hear the music ringing;
It sounds and echoes in my soul;
How can I keep from singing?
What though the tempest round me roar,
I hear the truth: it liveth!
What though the darkness round me close,
Songs in the night it giveth."
For rainbows, and for the upward call!
