We Plow the Fields and Scatter (Evangelical Lutheran Worship 681)
1 We plow the fields and scatter the good seed on the land,
but it is fed and watered by God’s almighty hand,
who sends the snow in winter, the warmth to swell the grain,
the breezes and the sunshine, and soft refreshing rain.
Refrain
All good gifts around us are sent from heav’n above.
We thank you, Lord, we thank you, Lord, for all your love.
2 You only are the maker of all things near and far.
You paint the wayside flower, you light the evening star.
The winds and waves obey you, by you the birds are fed;
much more to us, your children, you give our daily bread.
Refrain
3 We thank you, our creator, for all things bright and good,
the seedtime and the harvest, our life, our health, our food.
No gifts have we to offer for all your love imparts,
but what you most would treasure—our humble, thankful hearts.
Refrain
Text: Matthias Claudius; Music: Johann A. P. Schulz; Public Domain
Devotion
“We have much to hope from the flowers.” Those words of Sherlock Holmes, in The Adventure of the Naval Treaty, came to mind when reading our hymn:
You only are the maker
of all things near and far.
You paint the wayside flower,
you light the evening star.
In the Holmes story, quite as an aside, Sherlock takes a moment to reflect on the goodness we find in nature:
Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers. All other things, our powers, our desires, our food, are all really necessary for our existence in the first instance. But this rose is an extra. Its smell and its colour are an embellishment of life, not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again that we have much to hope from the flowers.
His observations are a reminder to pause from our busy lives and take a moment to appreciate and rejoice in the Creator’s handiwork.
Prayer
We thank you, then, Creator, for all things bright and good. Give us grateful hearts and open our eyes to rejoice in the beauty you have spread in the world. Amen.