This is My Father’s World (ELW 824)
1 This is my Father’s world,
and to my list’ning ears
all nature sings, and round me rings
the music of the spheres.
This is my Father’s world;
I rest me in the thought
of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;
his hand the wonders wrought.
2 This is my Father’s world;
the birds their carols raise;
the morning light, the lily white,
declare their maker’s praise.
This is my Father’s world;
he shines in all that’s fair.
In the rustling grass I hear him pass;
he speaks to me ev’rywhere.
3 This is my Father’s world;
oh, let me not forget
that, though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world;
why should my heart be sad?
The Lord is king, let the heaven ring;
God reigns, let the earth be glad!
Devotion
This hymn has long been a favorite of mine. I think it was more the tune than the words until recently. But I have a memory of it when I was about twenty. There was a long, open space between my college dorm and the cafeteria and classroom buildings. One morning, as I was walking to breakfast, I realized I was singing “This Is My Father’s World” to myself. Where did this come from? Now fast-forward sixty-five years.
My husband and I bought four plus acres in the beautiful Driftless Area of NE Iowa. We built a home here which we named Anem Cara—that’s Celtic for Soul Friend. Here I have found a connection to nature that I never had before, and this is the Spirit’s doing. Bluffs, forest, deer, turkeys, thousands of birds, the Mississippi River. We thank them for sharing their home with us. It is a place of healing and resurrection. And sometimes I do sing, “This is my Mother’s World.”
Prayer
Creator God, may we each find an Anem Cara. Amen.