"How Can I Keep From Singing?" -- Mike's Hymn o' the Week for Friday, September 7, 2007

Sorry I didn't get this out earlier. Things have been crazy around here with the start of school, and getting into a minor car accident the other night, and suchlike. I hope to return to the blogosphere in full force very soon. Until then, I give you the following hymn. This one is different in that I have never actually sung it or heard it sung; the words are enough to move me, though, and that, I think, is the true beauty of hymns--it's in their lyrical content. Yes, of course the music is good, and in many ways exemplifies what modern music is lacking. But it's the lyrics that teach us good, true, beautiful things about God and ourselves and how we relate to God and the world around us. It is in that very sense that Lowry's words are beautiful to me even though I lack the musical experience of singing the song.

How Can I Keep From Singing?
By Robert Lowry

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 Christ is Lord of Heav’n 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 smooths
Since first I learned to love it:
The peace of Christ makes fresh my heart,
A fountain ever springing:
All things are mine since I am His—
How can I keep from singing?