Psalm 65 - Wonders

(This is going to be a too-long-for-email…)

This Psalm. This translation. Wow.

I know I said I wasn’t going to share one of the Psalms in full from Norman Fischer’s translation but I feel I have to do it here. There’s no way I can just pull a small piece. This comes from Opening to You: Zen-Inspired Translations of the Psalms by Norman Fischer. Soak this in. (I’ve bolded a few lines that really spoke to me). Maybe read it aloud and let these beautiful poetic words sink deep.

For you praise waits in Zion
Vows pile up to be paid
All that lives readies to advance
To you who hears these words

I am weary of the world’s crookedness
And my own confusions--
You will straighten and correct it
With forgiveness wiping woes away

Happy are those you choose
Who approach you and dwell in your house
Who are satisfied with that happiness
The holiness of your house

Terrific deeds of rigthness are your answer to our words
You are the confidence of rock and sea
The faithfulness of mountains
Their might and majesty
Who guides the roaring of the seas
The pounding of the towering waves
The tumultous fortunes of nations

Thsoe who dwell in the outermost lands
Are awed by your daily wonders
The dawning of the morning
And the fading of the evening
They rejoice in as your body’s calling

Your thought of earth
Is the gathering of her waters
The enriching of her soils
Your brook runs with water
And so you prepare the harvest
That feeds life

Saturating her furrows
Smoothing her ridges
Softening her with showers
Murmuring the blessings
Of her growing

Your crown is the ample unfolding of years
Your body the presence in physical places
The pastures of the wildness distill it
The hills of the settlements disperse its joy
The meadows are clothed with flocks
The valleys mantled with grain
The people give voice to it with words
They murmur it, shout it, sing it out.

Goodness that was a gorgeous reimagining of this Psalm. As I read it, I had Rich Mullins’ songs, Calling Out Your Name and The Color Green running in my heart and mind. And what also kept going through my memory were some of the scenes of nature that have fed my soul through my photography. So without a lot of words, just images...here are some of them. All of them are without any human creation in them (save for Scout’s collar). So no bench, no boat docks, no buildings, just nature.

May these lift your spirit if you are weary of the worlds crookedness
May they help to wipe woes away (or at least put them at bay for a little while)
May they bring awe of the daily wonders around us
May they inspire your body to rejoice
May they feed your spirit
May they help to lift your joy and give you freedom to share joy
May they give voice to you to murmur, shout, and sing.

South Africa (2015)

Colorado

Ireland

Spain

Acadia National Park

And the rest within 30 minutes of my house (because you don’t have to go far)

And, of course, Scout

Grace, Peace, Love, and Joy,
Ed

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