"Begin, my tongue, some heavenly theme, and speak some boundless thing."

"Goober" - Elizabeth Ann Lanham

"Begin, my tongue, some heavenly theme, and speak some boundless thing."
Hymn: “Begin, My Tongue, Some Heavenly Theme” – Isaac Watts (1674-1748)
Common Tune: MANOAH

I’m most often trying to get my tongue to stop! I sometimes think the letter from James was assigned to me; in that short book, there are six references to keeping the tongue under control.

Here, Isaac Watts calls upon the tongue to express praise and to tell of God’s faithfulness and power, pointing out the flip-side of the negative uses of the tongue.

Most hymns are addressed to God, to believers, to non-believers. Occasionally we come across one addressed to a Rock of Ages or to ourselves (Be Still, My Soul). This one is more unique because it is addressed to a body part! We are actually singing this hymn to our tongue!

There are many heavenly themes: kindness, grace, hope, encouragement, healing, assistance, etc. So beyond calling our speech patterns to the on-going praise of God, we are also reminding ourselves to start speaking words of kindness, grace, hope --- all of the above!

At some point in my ministry – probably too late – I made a blatant commitment to never intentionally say anything hurtful to anyone. The important key in that mantra is not to hurt someone “on purpose”, because as hard as we try, we are going to occasionally hurt someone with what we say. But if I set out to damage you with my speech, I am counter to the nature of Christ.

All of us who write would love to capture just once “some boundless thing” – a turn of phrase that encapsulates some profundity in a way that expresses it best. We all want to have an “All we have to fear is fear itself,”  “Ask not what your country can do for you,” or “I have a dream” phrase that sticks in the mind of all who read/hear it... forming our speech (tongue) into a group of words whose theme might be boundless - eternally remembered.

For most of us though, I guess we need to put the brakes on our not-so-positive tongue and release our tongue of blessing to glorify God, exhort our fellow pilgrims, and make stronger attempts at saying something worth remembering.

Ready? Set? Begin.

This Hymn (MANOAH tune)