Today, like every other day, we wake up empty
and frightened. Don’t open the door to the study
and begin reading. Take down the dulcimer.

Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.
— Rumi

Yesterday I flailed around the house trying to get myself out the door (oops no phone… oops…. ) and finally did – to take my old Bernina in for a lube and tune up. What a beautiful day for a drive. I saw so many things that jerked my head around.

Dropped off my machine and did some fabric shopping. Got some more dark/blacks for the growing pile o’new project. Got some other things just because I liked them. Got some blues, well, because you really can never have enough blues.

I’m learning a version of a hymn sung to the music of Sibelius’ Finlandia. There are various sets of lyrics out there including the original in Finnish , a welsh anthem, salvation army etc. This one is, according to Finlandia Hymn wiki, the united methodist version with lyrics by Lloyd Stone. LOL that alone makes me laugh a bit. There is a third verse but more Christian-related than I need it to be.

This is my song, oh God of all the nations,
a song of peace for lands afar and mine.
This is my home, the country where my heart is;
here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine;
but other hearts in other lands are beating
with hopes and dreams as true and high as mine

My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean,
and sunlight beams on clover leaf and pine.
But other lands have sunlight too and clover,
and skies are everywhere as blue as mine.
This is my song, oh God of all the nations;
a song of peace for their land and for mine.

I put this on the small pile of hymn/anthem-like songs that inspire me and turned to the business of learning it. I had a couple versions of the music: a live indigo girls copy in english and a couple by a finnish children’s choir sung in unison. So I could sing along in english or sing alongside finnish children. Probably sounds silly that it’s not a quick process for me to learn a song like this but it takes some time.

In the middle of this, I am struck upside the head by the line:

and skies are everywhere as blue as mine.

This has been a constant thought for me as I ponder the happenings in the world. If we only would take a moment to consider that we are all living under the same sky, with the same hopes for our children and ourselves and others. The same wish for a peaceful life in which to enjoy the sun and sky.

Anybody have any other hymn/anthem suggestions?