Be Thou My Vision

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art;
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

These are the two verses of this hymn that are quoted on my calendar. Underneath them, where you would expect the author’s name to be, are these words - Irish Traditional.

Wikipedia has an interesting article regarding the origins of this hymn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Be_Thou_My_Vision The article explains

"Be Thou My Vision" (Old Irish: Rop tú mo baile or Rob tú mo bhoile) is a traditional hymn from Ireland. The words are based on a Middle Irish poem often attributed to the sixth-century Irish Christian poet Dallán Forgaill, although it is probably later than that. The best-known English version, with some minor variations, was translated by Eleanor Hull and published in 1912. Since 1919 it has been commonly sung to the Irish folk tune "Slane"

Of course, as we know, this hymn has other verses. However, it has been the first verse that has captured my attention this month.

January is traditionally the month when we might make resolutions, or plans for the future. We may think over ideas we’ve had and perhaps discuss them with others. We might even take the opportunity that a new year gives us, to re-evaluate our lives. You could say that all of these things are visions – visions of how we want our lives to be, the path we hope our lives will take.

Croxteth Country Park, Liverpool

1st January 2019

This first verse reminds us of something very important, something that we may have missed out of our resolutions, ideas, plans or re-evaluation. It reminds us that God should be our vision - 

Be Thou my vision. Thou my best thought, Thy presence my light.

How wonderful to be reminded of God’s presence with us during this coming year, guiding our plans, keeping us on the right path, giving us wisdom and courage and strength to face the joys and the challenges that this New Year holds.

Great Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be Thou my vision, O Ruler of all.

Liz x