“For the joy of human love… for all gentle thoughts and mild.”

“For the joy of human love… for all gentle thoughts and mild.”

Hymn: “For the Beauty of the Earth” – Folliott S. Pierpoint (1835-1917)
Common Tune: DIX

Unless you are a hermit or a real loner, you will agree with this hymnline because few of us can exist without some kind of human affection – from spouses, family members, close friends, folks at church, people with whom we work, etc. We know the warming effect of someone’s entrance into the room and that racing-forward smile when you greet someone special at the airport… just outside security, of course!

I think it is a universal emotion: love. While all cultures do not base their marriages on love, those people MUST have others they care about and enjoy – someone without whom they could hardly exist. This world-wide finding joy in the reciprocated fondness for another human is at the heart (no pun intended) of our relishing this life promised to us in abundance.

In these joy-based relationships, we don’t fear one another. Instead we have gentle thoughts and mild reactions. This gentleness and this mildness are peaceable, calm, kind, pleasant; one of the synonyms is “easy-going.” In other words, we don’t have to constantly work to keep these affiliations intact; such connections become a natural part of who we are and who THEY are.

Some of us have found a life-mate whose presence brings us this kind of joy. We are fortunate indeed to have joined our lives with theirs... and in some cases attached ourselves to the larger loving pool of their family. Some have bound themselves through other means and avenues of friendly interaction. If you fall into either of those categories, you need to sing with confidence the line which follows in this text: “Lord of all, to thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise” – because these loving relationships are God’s provisions, and they have been rationed out in just the right proportions to keep us ever happy and ever blessed.


Hear This Hymn Sung