How Great Thou Art

I must have been five or six at the time. It is all a little hazy, but I remember sitting in children's church in the basement of the church we attended. They had books and props to use as visual aids for the songs that we would sing... For example, pictures of the same drawing of a child, each colored differently, were glued to popsicle sticks to use for the song 'Jesus Loves the Little Children'. It you had the honor of holding one, you thrust it upward as your appropriate color was sung: red, brown, yellow, black and white. It took concentration and good reflexes to hit it just right.

Most Sunday mornings, they took requests. While other little kids chose songs like the aforementioned and 'Jesus Loves Me', I inevitably would choose 'How Great Thou Art'. To this day, I can't quite figure out why they even had a flip-book with such a somber-sounding, old hymn in it for children's church... but they did.

Thinking back when I was older, I have to admit, I was a little embarrassed at my odd choice in song. I had the feeling that the adults and other kids got tired of me choosing that song every week.

It had been years since I had really heard (much less sung) that hymn, then one Sunday, a little over a year ago, it was sung for worship at the church we were attending at the time.

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 power throughout the universe displayed;

Then sings my soul...

It hit me. Even back when I was little, I loved nature. Soaking in his creation was communion with him. Nature was the base from which he began to build a relationship with me. No wonder I like this hymn.

When through the woods and forest glades I wander,

I 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...

Sometimes the things in the past are little love letters he gave us that he knew we wouldn't be able to read for a long time.