Photo taken off the freeway near St. George, Utah on July 12, 2010
"Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy"Hymn No. 335
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Brightly beams our Father's Mercy from His Lighthouse evermore
But to us he gives the keeping of the lights along the shore
Let the lower lights be burning: send a gleam across the wave.
Some poor fainting struggling seaman you may rescue, you may save.
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My oldest daughter gave the Family Night Lesson yesterday and had us sing this Hymn as the opening song. I wasn't very familiar with this song, but her lesson from The New Era had a story about being a "light" or a bright beam to others, and suggested to read/sing the words to this song. The song suggests that we are to be a "lower light" for others, however, for us to be a "light", we need to be constantly looking to the "brighter .. or upper light" that comes from our Father in Heaven. Driving home from our trip this past week, we drove through a summer rainstorm. As the storm passed the sun broke through just before it set in the evening sky. Despite the not wanting to stop on the freeway to take a picture... the sun rays/beams where too beautiful to not capture these brightly beams from above.
Thanks for the reminiscence about Philip Bliss's gospel song, "Let the Lower Lights Be Burning." There is a dramatic true story behind the writing of it. You can read it on my daily hymn blog, Wordwise Hymns, today.
ReplyDeleteAnd if you’ll excuse a brief “commercial:” With the arrival of fall, we begin to think of the Christmas season up ahead. If you do not have a good book on the subject of our Christmas carols, I encourage you to take a look at mine, Discovering the Songs of Christmas. In it, I discuss the history and meaning of 63 carols and Christmas hymns. The book is available through Amazon, or directly from Jebaire Publishing. (Might make a great gift too!)