Oswald Chambers wrote that the call of God is like the call of the sea. Both are imprinted deepwithin our spirits and the only way their voices are quieted is by my response.
All bird song moves my spirit, but the cry of the gull does something more, deeper, causing an actual physical sensation. How I love the sea. That love began in childhood and carries on. At present we live about 70 miles inland from the Pacific Ocean. Sometimes after a storm, as we had last night, sea gulls will be blown in. So it was that one lone gull greeted me this morning. Today's demands prevent a drive to the sea and that always makes me sad. The sea is the only place where my mind is quiet, truly at rest, silent.
So with that said, I, in part understand the Call of God in our lives. It is only in responding, going There that our spirits become quiet, at rest. Answering the First Call that brings us to Faith is one thing. It is responding to the daily call, to be still before Him, to desire and practice His presence where we fail. We are ever propelled onward by the tyranny of the urgent, by flutter and flurry.
What about Irish Music you ask, Dear Reader? It's those musical instruments, the pipes, the flutes, the strings gently awakened by the human touch, breath, with a haunting beauty that breaks the heart, penetrates to the back wall of the soul and somehow make the spirit soar.
Add to those sensitive words of a poet and there is no keeping the soul earth-bound.
Recently, the Son-of-my-heart sent me the words of a Stuart Townsend hymn. The words of which are the sea gull call of my soul. It answers today's longings, to know my God deeper, to truly rest and find my All in Him, to be wholly satisfied in Him, to acknowledges and delight in my hope. And not just with lip service.
The last phrases of each of the verses speak with the loudest whispers:
"...I stand in Christ with sins forgiv'n
And Christ in me the hope of heav'n
My highest calling and my deepest joy
To make His will my home.
...He whispers courage in my ear
For I am safe in everlasting arms
And they will lead me home.
...And eve'ry longing satisfied
Then joy unspeakable will flood my soul
For I am truly home."
My thanks to Mr. Townsend and sincerest apologies to him for fragmenting his masterpiece.
You can thrill to his singing his own composition on the following:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyMWBx6vvJo&feature=related
I Have A Hope.
I must be my mother's child! How I love the sea, how much I miss it, and those silly gulls.Irish Pipes did you say?
ReplyDeleteBeautiful song!! Must learn that one!
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