Tune: ASH GROVE
I learned “The Ash Grove” at Pigeon Forge Elementary School in Mrs. Hester’s class… back when school children sang together every day. We didn’t have music education as such, but we had a song book provided by some local businesses – and they passed them out every morning, and we sang from them. I have always loved the rise and fall of the waltz-y Welsh melody, and was eventually pleasantly surprised to find out it was also a hymn tune!
Most days, I’m a morning person. I like to climb out of bed and get my day started. There is just something re-invigorating about the possibility of starting over… of hitting a ‘reset’ button and trying to do better this day than any previous day: to accomplish more with my tasks, be more creative with my output, and be more Christ-like in my human interactions.
As a hymnwriter myself, I know that there are blessed few words that rhyme with God. Doudney could have talked about dew that was fresh on the grass or the ground, but she was headed toward “the people of God,” so her choices were limited!
Fresh spirits – refreshed spirits – to begin every early morning: the Master has called us to face each day from its first moments with a sense of starting over because we have been graced with possibilities to improve… to be our best.
I’ve said this before, but my favorite song from JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR is the final chorus as the cast sings “Could We Start Again Please?” It applies to today’s hymnline, and based on the biblical account of the nature of God, the answer is an emphatic “Yes! Start again with spirits as fresh as the dew on the sod!”
“O blessed Restarter of all lives halted, Recharger of all spirits drained – do a wonder in my life this morning that I might make the very most of this day. Amen.”
Joseph Martin conducting his arrangement of this hymn
Diane Bish playing her organ setting of this hymn
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