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.
Purdy!!