Happy Sunday! . . .

Color in the garden during the grey skies of winter.

Isn't that just the most delightful thing?

Harrison's confirmation brunch plant.

💜

And then, what catches your ear while glimpsing bits of color in the garden during the grey skies of winter? Chimes in memory of Ben given to me by our old neighbors, their boys grew up with Ben and Harrison. I do really love that chime and sometimes think it would be an interesting idea to compose a piece to the pitches that ring in the wind. 

Today I heard, "Then sings my soul . . . " drift out of the radio while sitting at the kitchen table. One of my fav, fav, favorites, so we'll take a closer look at the lyrics for our Happy Sunday.

"How Great Thou Art"

Well...first thing I've just learned while sleuthing online for more background is this hymn has a long, somewhat varying by source and interesting history. I think I've discovered that Wikipedia seems to reflect some of the little versions I saw elsewhere, including a book I have called, "Then sings my soul, 150 of the world's greatest hymn stories" by Robert J Morgan. And then it goes way beyond the few little places I checked out, seems pretty thorough to me and I found it very interesting. Essentially, a lot of people from a lot of countries around the world had their translations, musical arrangements, edits and additions onto the original 1885 poem written by Carl Boberg a 26 year old Swedish lay minister, poet and member of the Swedish Parliament.

His poem, "O Store Gud" - "O Mighty God" literally translated to English, said:

When I the world consider / Which Thou has made by Thine almighty Word, And how the webb of life Thou wisdom guideth / And all creation feedeth at The board. Then doth my soul burst forth in song of praise / Oh, great God, Oh great God!

 Here are the English lyrics in my 150 greatest hymns book, since that's closest to me right now.

O Lord, my God, When I in awesome wonder,

consider all the worlds Thy hands have made;

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, 

Thy pow'r throughout The universe displayed.

Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee,

How great Thou art! How great Thou art!

Then sings my soul, My Savior God to Thee,

How great Thou art!

How great Thou art!

When thru the woods and forest glades I wander,

And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees;

When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur

And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze.

Then sings my soul...

And when I think that God, His Son not sparing,

Sent him to die, I scare can take it in,

That on the cross my burden gladly hearing,

He bled and died To take away my sin.

Then sings my soul...

When Christ shall come With shouts of acclamation

And take me home, What joy shall fill my heart

Then I shall bow In humble adoration,

And there proclaim,

"My God, how great Thou art!"

Then sings my soul, My Savior God to thee, 

How great Thou art! How great Thou art!

Then sings my soul,  My Savior God to The,

How great Thou art!

How great Thou art!

Here's a version by the Statler Brothers, which is not my typical draw for listening, but I found it suprisingly appealing. Then, after sleuthing a little more I discovered the Statlers used to be named the Kingsmen but changed their name after another group, also named the Kingsmen recorded "Louie, Louie!" (Here they are at the Shindig in 1965) Ok, that's going to be that, check wikipedia for a Statler Brothers info too, another interesting stop for me tonight and which is why, once again...My Happy Sunday is about 12 hours later to post than a Happy Sunday post should be!  haha!

Have a Blessed Week!