Mary + Her Mental Health

This hymn will be at my wedding.*** It will be at my funeral. This is my soul’s hymn.

Especially now, with so much to look on and be grateful, it’s become to me a prayer of thanksgiving.

What is even more powerful about this hymn is how poignant it is to our day. It’s about rejoicing while in constant confrontation with chaos, fear, destruction, and loss. It's about remembering. Some power in my heart leaps out in affirmation of all it says.

Notice the verbs in each verse: hear, hail, die, liveth, shake, clinging, lift, see, learned, springing, found...

I want to share it …I hope you’ll read it slowly. Happy Thanksgiving, all. Eat lots and be happy.

My life flows on in endless song;
Above earth’s lamentation
I hear the sweet though far off hymn
That hails a new creation:
Through all the tumult and the strife
I hear the music ringing;
It finds an echo in my soul—
How can I keep from singing?
What though my joys and comforts die?
The Lord my Savior liveth;
What though the darkness gather round!
Songs in the night He giveth:
No storm can shake my inmost calm
While to that refuge clinging;
Since Love is Lord of heaven and earth,
How can I keep from singing?
I lift mine eyes; the cloud grows thin;
I see the blue above it;
And day by day this pathway smoothes
Since first I learned to love it:
The peace of God makes fresh my heart,
A fountain ever springing:
All things are mine since truth I’ve found—
How can I keep from singing?

***To the chess-playing Nephite, of course.