Christ My Song - 463
Fill thou my life, O Lord my God - Life's praise
(Horatius Bonar/Johannes Thomas Rüegg)
Life's praise.
1. Fill thou my life, O Lord my God,
in every part with praise,
that my whole being may proclaim
thy being and thy ways.
Not for the lip of praise alone,
nor even the praising heart,
I ask, but for a life made up
of praise in every part. (PDF - Midi)
2. Praise in the common things of life,
its goings out and in,
praise in each duty and each deed,
however small and mean.
Praise in the common words I speak,
life's common looks and tones,
in intercourse at hearth or board
with my beloved ones.
3. Not in the temple-crowd alone,
where holy voices chime,
but in the silent paths of earth,
the quiet rooms of time.
Upon the bed of weariness,
with fevered eye and brain;
or standing by another's couch,
watching the pulse of pain.
4. Enduring wrong, reproach, or loss,
with sweet and steadfast will;
loving and blessing those who hate,
returning good for ill.
Surrendering my fondest will
in things or great or small,
seeking the good of others still,
nor pleasing self at all.
5. Fill every part of me with praise;
let all my being speak
of thee and of thy love, O Lord,
poor though I be, and weak.
So shalt thou, Lord, from me, even me,
receive the glory due,
and so shall I begin on earth
the song for ever new.
6. So shall each fear, each fret, each care,
be turnèd into song,
and every winding of the way
the echo shall prolong.
So shall no part of day or night
from sacredness be free,
but all my life, in every step,
be fellowship with thee.
Horatius Bonar, Hymns of Faith and Hope III, 1878, 101-102.