There's A Land Far Away

I was delving into the hymnbook this evening and reacquainted myself with this gem.  I hope it will soothe your soul like it did mine...

There's a land far away 'mid the stars we are told,
Where they know not the sorrows of time,
Where the pure waters flow, thro' the valleys of gold,
And where life is a treasure sublime:
'Tis the land of our God, 'tis the home of the soul,
Where the ages of spendor eternally roll,
Where the way-weary traveler reaches his goal,
On the evergreen mountains of life.

Here our gaze cannot soar to that beautiful land,
But our visions have told of its bliss,
And our souls by the gale from its gardens are fanned,
When we faint in the deserts of this;
And we sometimes have longed for its holy repose
When our hearts have been rent with temptations and woes,
And we've drank from the tide of the river that flows
From the evergreen mountains of life.

Oh, the stars never tread the blue heavens at night,
But we think where the ransomed have trod,
And the day never smiles from his palace of light,
But we feel the bright smile of our God:
We are traveling home through earth's changes and gloom,
To a region where pleasures unchangingly bloom,
And our guide is the glory that shines through the tomb,
From the evergreen mountains of life.

~~James G Clark

I was singing this at the piano and when I got to verse two the music got very wobbly because suddenly there were tears.  How many times have our hearts been "rent with temptations and woes" and we've felt so faint, but suddenly there was the "gale" from that land beyond that fanned our weary spirits?  And notice how it says "gale".  I love that!  Not a wisp of air now and then, or even a light breeze that just teases, but a gale!  Like when you are outside working and you are so hot you think you just might perish, but then, there it is---a delicious heavy breeze that cools you down and makes you feel you can continue working.  Those old Christians knew what it was all about!  I love to get into their hymns and "listen" to them talk about this road and its trials all held up against the backdrop of eternity and God the Almighty.  They knew the road was hard---notice how they don't gloss that over.  But they also knew that what lay at the end of the road would be completely worth the struggle, and, most important of all, they knew The One who had the Strength to get them there.

So that's where I've been today---getting my soul fanned by the gale.  How 'bout you?  =)