Wise words: Forbid

Forbid that I should walk through Thy

beautiful world with unseeing eyes:

Forbid that the lure of the marketplace should

ever entirely steal my heart away from

the love of the open acres and the green trees:

Forbid that under the low roof of workshop or

office or study I should ever forget Thy great overarching sky:

Forbid that when all Thy creatures are greeting the morning

with songs and shouts of joy, I alone

should wear a dull and sullen face:

Let the energy and vigour which in Thy wisdom

Thou hast infused into every living thing

stir today within my being, that I may not be among

Thy creatures as a sluggard and a drone.

And above all, give me the grace to use these beauties

of earth outside me and this eager stirring

of life within me as means whereby my soul

may rise from creature to Creator and

from nature to nature’s God.

John Baillie – A Diary of Private Prayer

I heard this poem for the first time at church on Sunday evening and just had gooseflesh running up and down my arms. How beautiful is it?! And what a wake up call to the way we approach life… I think I’m taking it and making it my own.