Out in the Fields with God

The little cares that fretted me

I lost them yesterday

Among the fields, above the sea,

Among the winds at play,

Among the lowing of the herds,

The rustling of the trees,

Among the singing of the birds,

The humming of the bees.

The foolish fears of what might happen,

I cast them all away,

Among the clover-scented grass,

Among the new-mown hay,

Among the husking of the corn,

Where drowsy poppies nod,

Where ill thoughts die and good are born-

Out in the fields with God

(Anonymous)

Learn to trust in God. Learn to go to Him who is mighty to save.... Tell the dear Savior just what you need. He that said, “Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not,” will not reject your prayer. But He will send His angels to guard you and protect you from the evil angels, and will make it easy for you to do right. Then it will be much easier than if you should try in your own strength. You may ever feel like this: “I have asked God to help me, and He will do it. I will do right in His strength. I will not grieve the dear angels that God has appointed to watch over me. I will never take a course to drive them from me.”—An Appeal to the Youth, 55, 56. TA 18.2

ROSES

Roses and delightfulness… roses and fairy-tale moments when I come out at the tender solemn dawn-time to the garden, and stand out, and throw my head far back and I look up, up… to watch the pale sky slowly changing, and flushing, and the garden smelling of roses—sunshine like globules of glories over green wet grasses, as marvelous unknown things start to take place in my heart. 

A wondrous quietness of the soul, a hush of the spirit, as Jesus’s precious presence is felt all around, and my heart stands still waiting for more—to be filled; to be the vessel in which his Holy Spirit dwells… right at that moment, here, in the garden, at the extraordinary unchanging majesty of the rising of the sun. 

All in You, Breath by Breath

Father, grant my heart’s desire:
All in You, breath by breath.
Make me, by Your wind and fire,
All like Christ in life and death,
Drawing from You alone
All I say, all I do,
Holy and all Your own,
Working, resting here in You.

Single-minded like Your Son,
All in You, breath by breath,
This I pray: Your will be done.
Have Your way in life and death.
Yours all my strength and time!
All my heart be Your home!
All, all You are is mine!
Father, may Your kingdom come!
Father, may Your kingdom come!
Father, may Your kingdom come!

WORDS:  Ken Bible
MUSIC:  Traditional Folk Tune and Ken Bible
© 2017 LNWhymns.com. CCLI Song #7102231.

BIRDS

The clouds are my family.  

When you cannot find me,

it is because my sisters

and brothers have called me.

We are singing circles of prayers about the earth...

~James McGrath (b.1928), "Bird," written in the 1970s, published in Dreaming Invisible Voices, 2009 

Job 35:11

Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the air?'

Job 38:41
Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God as they wander about for lack of food?

Psalm 50:11
I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are Mine.

Psalm 104:27
All creatures look to You to give them their food in due season.

Psalm 104:28
When You give it to them, they gather it up; when You open Your hand, they are satisfied with good things.

Psalm 147:9
He provides food for the animals, and for the young ravens when they call.

Matthew 10:29
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.

SUMMER DAYS

I sit on top of my days and count my hours in rose petals. Count them in quiet blessings too, and in the fact that though my feelings come and go, God’s love for me does not. 

The month of August has its own song to sing. A song that carries through its notes, the color of emeralds and the murmur of rivers, and the garden sits upon its minutes and sings a proper tune. The tunes and sounds of bees and wasps floating about the flowery clusters of the Virginia creeper, wild grasses swaying in midday breezes and the fire that solitude presses against my lips. 

August, is rose vases in the house and salmon and summer squash with basil and pineapple chucks. Happy, and blessed beyond dreams to be able to spend my hours here—under the breezes of August and the songs of summer days. 

I come to the garden alone
While the dew is still on the roses
And the voice I hear falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses.

Refrain

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.

He speaks, and the sound of His voice,
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing,
And the melody that He gave to me
Within my heart is ringing.

Refrain

I’d stay in the garden with Him
Though the night around me be falling,
But He bids me go; through the voice of woe
His voice to me is calling.

Refrain


Words: Charles Austin Miles (1912)

Look at the trees, look at the birds, look at the clouds, look at the stars... and if you have eyes you will be able to see that the whole existence is joyful. Everything is simply happy. Trees are happy for no reason; they are not going to become prime ministers or presidents and they are not going to become rich and they will never have any bank balance. Look at the flowers — for no reason. It is simply unbelievable how happy flowers are. ~Osho

I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes. ~e.e. cummings