I Am Thankful For What They've Done For Me

September tenth was my parent's Twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. And I was reminded again how much I owe them for where they have brought me in life. I am constantly in awe when I remember just how much your life can be shaped by those to whom you were born. If there were no God, I could only say this thought would be depressing since all of us had no say whatsoever in the matter; but in light of the fact that there is a God and each one's birth is sovereignly appointed by Him for a good and glorifying reason. We can rejoice instead of bemoan our fate!  I happen to have two imperfect yet very godly parents. The impact they have had on my life for good is tremendous and I am so thankful. I'm thankful that I have never heard them fight in my entire life; I have never heard my mother nag my father even the tinniest bit; our parents were always careful never to go into debt we have never had any since the day they joined hands; even though when they married they didn't have much counseling from experienced parents, and homeschooling was not well known at the time they started, they decided to home school us anyway. They have established hymn singing in our home since the first child was born, and we have sung at least one hymn every normal evening of our lives together as a family since then. All these things and much more I am thankful for my parents doing for us.
In honor of them, this year I wrote a song which I and my brothers sang for them on the tenth. I haven't got the tune posted up any where but I want to share the lyrics with you all.
   This song is dedicated to my parents

Thank you Father, Mother,

For joining heart to heart,

Though it was never easy,

Yet still you did your part.

O thank you Father, Mother,

You strove to do your best,

You gave us all each other,

For this you will be blessed

Refrain

You fought the uphill battle,

You sailed a stormy sea;

You gave up friends and money

For Christ and family.

Thank you Father, Mother,

Your prayers though prayed in pain,

Each tear shed for our welfare,

Was never shed in vain.

Oh thank you Father, Mother,

You’ve shown us God above,

By working with each other,

You’ve mirrored his great love.

Refrain

Thank you Father, Mother,

 Imperfect though you were,

 By loving still each other,

You showed us sin’s best cure;

That love with out condition,

Can blot out any sin,

And though you often stumbled,

Examples you’ve still been.

Refrain

Than you Father, Mother,

These five and twenty years,

 You’ve lived with one another,

 Through joy and love and tears;

You work is not yet over,

 Your journey’s not yet done,

So still you’ll walk together,

Until the fight is won.

Refrain(for verse 4)

You’ll win that uphill battle

You’ll conquer stormy seas,

You’ll give up wealth and comfort,

 For Christ and family.

I love you Daddy and Mommy!

Our God Shall Come

I stumbled across this video on a friend's blog. They sing really well. The song is lovely too.

O God Thou Art the Father

Yet another stunningly beautiful old hymn, written, surprisingly enough by St. Columba. The tune is a traditional Irish melody. Another one of my favorites.

Text: St. Columba, c.521-597
Tr. Duncan Macgregor, 1854-1923
Music: Traditional Irish Melody

Father, We Praise Thee

This is a song most of you have probably never heard of. I know I never would have heard it if it hadn't been for an obscure CD that I don't even know how it was picked up but that we have had in our family for as long as I can remember. This hymn is one of the most beautiful I have ever heard. It can be sung slowly or very quickly and still sound pretty well. The tune is what we now know as plain chant, this one is, I believe, of French origin.

Text: Attr. to Gregory the Great, 540-604
Tr. Percy Dearmer, 1870-1936
Music: La Feillee's "Methode du Plain-chant," 1782

Of the Father's Love Begotten

This hymn has such a beautiful tune whose ambiance sends you back to tall vaulted cathedrals and with the haunting but beautiful strains of the organ filling every nook and cranny. The words are those of the olden days, rhyming yet full of meaning. I hope you enjoy this lovely rendering of the hymn in four part harmony.

Lord Jesus, Think on Me

   Here is beautiful old hymn I think you all will enjoy. It was written in about three hundred BC. and the music was written in the fifteen hundreds. It's amazing how beautiful music can be without any instruments.

Independence Day--America the Beautiful

Oh Beautiful for spacious skies.... so begins Katherine Bates' beautiful hymn. Have you ever stood on top of Pikes Peak? I haven't but that's where the author stood when moved with awe at the majestic panorama open below her. I've never stood atop Pikes Peak but I have stood and looked out from many other mountain vistas and felt the awe Mrs. Bates must have felt. The stirring music in this song that makes your heart swell within you and makes you want to belt out the song with all that you have in you, was composed by Rev. Samuel A. Ward.  The reason I decided to post this song instead of the National Anthem, is because I wanted to share the original verses of this song with you. They're not what we're used to. But I like them better. First listen to the video, which is a lovely rendition of the song and then read the lyrics below.


   
                               

O beautiful for halcyon skies,

For amber waves of grain,

For purple mountain majesties

Above the enameled plain!

America! America!

God shed His grace on thee,

Till souls wax fair as earth and air

And music-hearted sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet

Whose stern, impassioned stress

A thoroughfare for freedom beat

Across the wilderness!

America! America!

God shed His grace on thee

Till paths be wrought through wilds of thought

By pilgrim foot and knee!

O beautiful for glory-tale

Of liberating strife,

When once or twice, for man's avail,

Men lavished precious life!

America! America!

God shed His grace on thee

Till selfish gain no longer stain,

The banner of the free!

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

Till nobler men keep once again

Thy whiter jubilee!

America! May it always remain free. Men fought and died for our freedom. Let's not become complacent about it and let the government take it away from us! God has blessed this country From the Pilgrim fathers who first came here seeking for freedom to worship The Lord, to the great George Washington who loved his country more then he loved his own peace and quiet and led the continental army to victory, down to the millions of young men who fell on the beeches of Iwo-Jima in defense of America's freedom. 

    America! May God continue to shed his grace on thee!