Monday Meditation: Quietness

"Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted over the earth."
(Psalm 46:10)

"Be Still"

Greg Olsen

Painting courtesy/ Greg Olsen

Though gloom may veil our troubled skies,

And shades the plain o'erspread;

Though billows of the deep may rise,

Yet we lift up our head.

Jesus! If Thou be near to bless,

We shall not faint or fail;

For when Thou givest quietness,

No trouble shall prevail.

Thy quietness! 'tis not the calm

That spreads in vesper hours,

O'er earth's green vales, the dewy balm

Of nature's closing flowers.

'Tis not the calm the worldling knows,

In dreamy hours of pride;

Though, softly lapped in false repose,

He gilded shallop ride.

Thy quietness! no fount on earth

Hath ever proved its source;

No mortal skill revealed its birth,

Or traced its hidden course.

O Savior! Thou hast met the gale

On Thy unsheltered breast,

That we, the weak, the sick, the frail

Might joy in peace and rest.

Take every treasure but Thy grace,

And we Thy hand will bless;

Hide every comfort but Thy face,

Thy peace, Thy quietness.

"Quietness"
(1864)
Jane Fox Crewdson
(1808-1863)
British poetess & hymn writer