{"id":13377,"date":"2024-04-03T22:50:21","date_gmt":"2024-04-04T02:50:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/?p=13377"},"modified":"2025-08-15T23:31:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T03:31:14","slug":"bluebells-and-a-creation-hymn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/?p=13377","title":{"rendered":"Bluebells and a Creation Hymn"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/2024-03-29-Bluebells4.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13378\" src=\"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/2024-03-29-Bluebells4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/2024-03-29-Bluebells4.jpg 600w, https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/2024-03-29-Bluebells4-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/2024-03-29-Bluebells4-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>My as-yet-unpublished book, <em>Praying with the Psalmists,<\/em> is about using patterns from Psalms in your own prayers. I want to make a habit of praying that way, using different types of Psalms.<\/p>\n<p>On Good Friday, before singing in a wonderful cantata in the evening, I walked among the bluebells at Bull Run Regional Park in the afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>So this is a perfect time to write a creation hymn.<\/p>\n<p>Creation Hymns in Psalms use the following key concepts:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>God&#8217;s Glory<\/li>\n<li>God&#8217;s Sustaining Care<\/li>\n<li>God&#8217;s Knowledge<\/li>\n<li>Creation&#8217;s Joyful Response<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You&#8217;ll find them in Psalms 8, 19, 33, 65, 95, 96, 104, 139, and 148.<\/p>\n<p>The key concepts give us an idea of what to talk about. I&#8217;m going to write a creation psalm about what a wonderful time I had out in God&#8217;s creation.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/2024-03-29-Bluebells10.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13380\" src=\"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/2024-03-29-Bluebells10.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/2024-03-29-Bluebells10.jpg 600w, https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/2024-03-29-Bluebells10-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/2024-03-29-Bluebells10-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Lord, I love the bluebells so much,<br \/>\nthe first flowers on the forest floor.<br \/>\nEach one has small beauty,<br \/>\nrewarding a zoom lens with a glimpse of perfection.<br \/>\nBut the fields together<br \/>\ngive sparkles of color as far as the eye can see.<\/p>\n<p>I love the way these flowers are wild,<br \/>\nnot cultivated like hothouse plants,<br \/>\nbut exuberantly filling every bit of ground<br \/>\noverflowing a space that tree leaves normally shade,<br \/>\nbursting forth before the leaves come back,<br \/>\nproclaiming with their brightness that Spring is on its way.<\/p>\n<p>And you gave me a glorious day to roam the trail,<br \/>\nto stop and stoop to capture one flower&#8217;s portrait.<br \/>\nSunshine streaming through the bare branches,<br \/>\nblue skies shining high above,<br \/>\nair brisk and clear,<br \/>\na perfect day for a ramble.<\/p>\n<p>And with the cantata choir to come,<br \/>\nsongs of your love go through my head.<br \/>\nAnd can it be that I should gain<br \/>\nan interest in my Savior&#8217;s blood?<br \/>\nAnd can it be?<br \/>\nAnd can it be?<\/p>\n<p>No humans tend these abundant blossoms,<br \/>\nthey fall under your tender care.<br \/>\nAnd if that is how God clothes the Spring blossoms,<br \/>\nthat appear only for a few weeks,<br \/>\nhow much more will my Father in heaven<br \/>\ncare for my needs?<\/p>\n<p>Lord, it&#8217;s hard to worry or fret<br \/>\nwhen walking the Bluebell Trail.<br \/>\nWith the river calmly flowing past,<br \/>\nthe small flowers dancing in the breezes,<br \/>\nthe brisk air filling my lungs,<br \/>\nthe happy children spotting critters,<br \/>\nthe sound of birds chirping in the trees high above,<br \/>\nit easy to imagine they&#8217;re all singing your praises.<br \/>\nAnd I can pause my busy life to join in.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/2024-03-29-Bluebells48.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13381\" src=\"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/2024-03-29-Bluebells48.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/2024-03-29-Bluebells48.jpg 600w, https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/2024-03-29-Bluebells48-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/2024-03-29-Bluebells48-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s the idea. Mind you, I&#8217;m partly posting this so you know your own psalms don&#8217;t actually have to be very good!<\/p>\n<p>Try it at home! If you&#8217;re really brave, post one you&#8217;ve written in the comments!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My as-yet-unpublished book, Praying with the Psalmists, is about using patterns from Psalms in your own prayers. I want to make a habit of praying that way, using different types of Psalms. On Good Friday, before singing in a wonderful cantata in the evening, I walked among the bluebells at Bull Run Regional Park in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-creation-hymns","category-praying-with-the-psalmists"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13377"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13377\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13383,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13377\/revisions\/13383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}