Psalms and Old Rings

I wear these rings now on my right hand. The tiny ring was the wedding ring my Granny wore, but only after she lost her own ring and so wore her mother's. This, then, originally belonged to my Great-granny, and I'd reckon she married in the 1880s (or the 1870s) and its worn-ness and thin-ness show its age.

The other ring belonged to my Grandpa, spoken of in this blog post. He and my Granny married in 1932, and the ring dates either to that year or possibly even earlier. This signet ring has my Grandpa's initials etched into the gold, but age has faded the lettering, and it's barely visible now. 

To look at, it's not much of a ring. Neither of them are. Yet, both rings are so precious to me because I absolutely adored my Grandpa, and I am named after my Granny who had gone Home to be with the Lord before I was born.

In more recent times, my Mum wore these rings on her right hand until she went Home. And now they are mine.

I often look at them and 'see' my Mum's hand. My hands are so like hers - they ain't the prettiest! - and honestly, my hand wearing these rings is like an image of Mum's hand over the years. On a recent evening, as I sat in church at the Midweek meeting, I happened to look down and see my hand. I saw my hand and my rings, but my mind saw my Mum's hand; I saw my Grandpa's ring, my Granny's ring.... and just for a moment, my mind zoomed through the years, and I was connected with them all. It was for the tiniest of moments but just then I didn't see a chubby, lined, unelegant finger and two inexpensive rings. Rather I caught a glimpse of where these rings had previously been: on the fingers of people I loved more than I can say. 

I saw the rings in a new light.

As always, these things are 'better felt than tell't', so I'll refrain from attempting to describe the feeling any more than that.

The feeling I had reminded me somewhat of how I feel so often when I read the Psalms. The Psalms (unlike the rings) are truly and actually precious, but along with their inherent preciousness, I often feel an overwhelming connection with my Saviour whilst reading them. 

Not only are so many of the Psalms directly speaking of Christ, but I also imagine Him reading and singing the Psalms whilst He lived a pilgrim on this earth. There is barely a Psalm that doesn't make me think of how He would have felt reading it. I wonder how often our Lord went off on His own to read a Psalm that would comfort Him, encourage Him, and strengthen Him.

Think of Christ reading these words during His time on earth:

"I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills

from whence cometh my help?

My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.

He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.

Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.

The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.

The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.

The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore."

What encouragement and strengthening for the Saviour! Little wonder He could sleep in a stormy boat, when He knew that the One who kept Him neither slumbered nor slept. We would do well to mirror Christ's trust and sleep easy, knowing that our Lord neither slumbers nor sleeps.

Or what about these words from Psalm 3:

4" I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. 

5 I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the Lord sustained me."

What faith Christ could have! And what faith we can have, when we are in Christ! 

What about these words from Psalm 119:151

"I beheld the transgressors, and was grieved; because they kept not thy word."

No wonder our Lord was 'a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. How we are grieved when we see the wickedness of our culture - but how much more Christ was, when He is of purer eye than to behold sin.

*            *            *

Of course, there are the well known Messianic Psalms, which speak in such depth and detail of the sufferings of Christ. Psalm 22 and Psalm 69 are painful to read - the agonies and humiliation of our Beloved..... we are given such insight into His sufferings - more than in the Gospels because in the Psalms, we hear his heart and His thoughts.

His own words in these Psalms give us a taste of His unspeakable agony and suffering. Surely we never love Him more than when we read of His suffering for us.

And then we imagine Him reading and singing these words as a boy. As He got older, He would have understood more and more of the reality of what these words meant. 

*            *            *

And then, we have Psalms that almost burst our hearts - not with agony, but with joyous praise! 

Like here, in Psalm 24:

Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.

8 Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.

9 Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.

10 Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory.

Doesn't your heart burst!

Have a listen.... and worship!

*            *            *

For the past year or so, I've been reading one Psalm each morning, and writing down a portion of that Psalm. Sometimes, I write one verse; and other times, I write a few verses, or a whole section. But before I write anything, I tend to read the Psalm three times.

1. I read the Psalm. 

2. I read the Psalm, imagining Jesus reading the words. What do I think when I imagine Jesus reading these words? When can I imagine the words comforting Him? Encouraging Him? Teaching Him? Opening His own understanding?

3. I read the Psalm from my own perspective. What encouragement is there for me? What lessons are there here for me? What do I learn of Christ in this Psalm? What do the words teach me about my own Christian life?

*            *            *

Again and again, when prayer is hard, I 'pray the Psalm'. Countless of them are wonderful to simply pray back to God. He is the Author, and He loves to hear His own Word being spoken back to Him. Our old minister used to say: 'God loves to hear you say, 'Thou hast said.....'!

Truly, the Psalms speak about Christ, they speak to Christ, and they were read and sung by Christ.

We can't hope for more connection with our Saviour than that! It's no wonder we love them so much.

July's Trip to Lewis II

Before the photos, I want to have another wee look at Psalm 105. This is what I posted in yesterday's post:

1.O give thanks unto the Lord; call upon His name: make known His deeds among the people.

2 Sing unto Him, sing psalms unto Him: talk ye of all His wondrous works.

3 Glory ye in His holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord.

4 Seek the Lord, and His strength: seek His face evermore.

5 Remember His marvellous works that He hath done; His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth;

6 O ye seed of Abraham His servant, ye children of Jacob His chosen.

7 He is the Lord our God: His judgments are in all the earth.

8 He hath remembered His covenant for ever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations.

What I noticed was the number of times the psalmist mentions 'Him', 'His', and 'He'.

You see it? It's all about HIM! And when we take our eyes off ourselves, and look firmly to Him, then we see with the proper perspective. Instead of seeing all of life through the lense of our trials - as we're prone to do, rather we see the whole of life through Him. And when we do that, our blessings are easy to find, and a joy to behold.

Our trip home to Lewis had another blessing other than the beaches, the weather, and time with Caleb. We also got to spend time with DR and his fiance, Diana. Soon, it'll be their own wedding, but last week, they were attending the wedding of friends, so I took the opportunity to grab some photos in Marina's garden between the marriage service and the reception.

Because her future mother-in-law was right there, Diana did the decent thing and told DR he was holding her much too close.

Yeah, she looks like she really doesn't like that, DR. 


Hmmhm...

Decorum was restored ....

And I couldn't but think how lovely it is that DR chose someone just like his Mum to be his wife. You know, tall and slender and elegant. Yup, just like me.

Just what you all were thinking too, right?

Yes, thought so.

It wasn't long before their attention was taken elsewhere. What on earth could be more worthy of their attention than me??

Ah, it's the wee fella. I can easily live with coming second to him...

It really is such a joy to me to see DR at this stage of life. The first stage of his studying is complete, and the second part is beginning; he has employment, as well as his 'other job' with the Fire Service; he has a home; and he has Christ above everything. These are wonderful blessings and enough for a lifetime of praise and thanksgiving, but it truly makes this Mum's heart glad to see him engaged and soon to be married to a girl who so clearly loves him, and is adored in return. 

Marriage is such a wonderful gift, and the most beautiful picture of Christ and His church. We will see so much more fully its meaning in Eternity, but even what we do see here - through a glass darkly, admittedly - makes our heart soar in thanksgiving to God for such a blessing. 

And so, in the sentiments of the Psalm (above), I will give thanks to the Lord, I will speak of His wonderful deeds; I will remember His marvellous works, and my heart will rejoice in seeking Him.

He is worth talking about! In fact, I'm going to copy out the Psalm again, and highlight these divine pronouns, just to draw our attention, once again, to Him!

1.O give thanks unto the Lord; call upon His name: make known His deeds among the people.

2 Sing unto Him, sing psalms unto Him: talk ye of all His wondrous works.

3 Glory ye in His holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord.

4 Seek the Lord, and His strength: seek His face evermore.

5 Remember His marvellous works that He hath done; His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth;

6 O ye seed of Abraham His servant, ye children of Jacob His chosen.

7 He is the Lord our God: His judgments are in all the earth.

8 He hath remembered His covenant for ever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations.

July's Trip to Lewis

You know, sometimes when we go through a time of trial, our trial becomes so all-consuming that all our blessings are seen through the light - or darkness, rather - of that trial. And so, instead of counting our many blessings, which are greater than we can articulate and more numerous than we can count, we mope and weigh down our heart with our woes and our afflictions.

I was reading Psalm 105 yesterday, and these words sprung off the page and into (I hope) my heart:

1.O give thanks unto the Lord; call upon His name: make known His deeds among the people.

2 Sing unto Him, sing psalms unto Him: talk ye of all His wondrous works.

3 Glory ye in His holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord.

4 Seek the Lord, and His strength: seek His face evermore.

5 Remember His marvellous works that He hath done; His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth;

6 O ye seed of Abraham His servant, ye children of Jacob His chosen.

7 He is the Lord our God: His judgments are in all the earth.

8 He hath remembered His covenant for ever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations.

With this in mind, I am going to write a couple of blog posts about our recent trip home. 

Home is the Isle of Lewis. Obviously.

The posts will be weighed in favour of photos rather than of words, and when you see the photos, you'll understand why:

Catherine, Caleb, and I took a trip to Harris along with my sister, Marina, and my niece, Iona.

To say we were almost bowled over by the beauty of God's creation around us is an understatement. Here, Catherine and Caleb and looking out on Loch Seaforth, enjoying the peace and tranquility it affords.

Erm, hang on. Did I say peace and tranquility? And did you actually believe me, considering I'd already told you my sister was with us.

Really, shame on your naivety.

I call it 'youngest child syndrome', and many of you not-youngest-siblings will agree that the condition is widespread and is utterly non-treatable.

This wee fella. What can I say? Other than that I love him so very, very much.

Honestly, almost around every corner, we ooh-ed and ahh-ed at the beauty before us. The weather was gorgeous - about 25C (77F), with a gentle breeze to keep away midges and, as you see, stunningly blue skies. In other words: perfection.

There is no doubt that our wonderful Creator, who showered such delights on us, is a God of design and beauty and kindness. What therapy for mind and soul these views are!

We stopped off at Horgabost, had our picnic lunch on the machair, and then enjoyed a couple of hours on the sands.

As you see, even on the most perfect of days, our island beaches have plenty space for all visitors. Crowded beaches are not something we know anything of in Lewis or Harris!

Caleb was flying high, enjoying the attention, undoubtedly, more than the scenery. 

And surrounded by all of us, attention was most certainly not in short supply.

How could it be, when he is such an adorable bundle of utter joy?!

Did I mention joy? Yes, I have so many blessings to bring joy to my heart, and of temporal blessings, this wee guy is most certainly a big part of that.

"And no matter what kind of face you put on, young man, Granny is still going to smother you in love and hugs and kisses."

Aye, probably even when you're a teenager. Now, wont that be fun!

Some of the Psalms Mum Loved

"The Lord will give His people strength,

and with peace bless them all."

                                                                           Psalm 29:11 (Scottish Metrical Psalms)

These words came with such force to Mum in December '16, when she was down in a Glasgow hospital having some tests done. Mum had had some rather unpleasant tests and was, without doubt, anxious about their results. Indeed, the result of these test was what gave us all the news in that first week of January this year that she had terminal cancer.

However, during that day or two in Glasgow, the Lord spoke these words into her heart. She wasn't even aware she knew a Psalm with these words, and to begin with, she had no idea where the words were to be found. 

But she soon found them....

...and circled them in her Bible.

*      *      *

Mum read from this Bible every day, and the Psalms (as you can see!) were frequently visited.

 

See all the notations at the end of each Psalm? As she systematically read through the metrical Psalms, she drew a wee tick - or number, or line, or circle, or stroke! As you can see, Mum was pretty much running out of marks to use, so frequent was her readings of these wonderful words from God's Word.

Here were some of her favourites:

These words: 

"And by my God assisting me,

I overleap a wall"

                                                       (Psalm 18:29b)

were made very precious to Mum both before she first sat at the Lord's Table for the first time, and then before an operation she was having in 1987.

*      *      *

Now, do you remember me posting in the past about my Mum's auntie Catriona? Read here to get a fuller story of her emigration, and her eventual passing in BC, Canada. Well, these verses were made very precious to Auntie Catriona in her loneliness and her heartache.

"Teirgidh iadsan 's thèid iad às

ach mairidh tusa, Dhè:

Seadh teirgidh iadsan 's gabhaidh seach

mar eudach sean gu lèir.

Feuch caochlaidh tu mar thrusgan iad,

is caochl'ear iad gun cheist'.

Tha thus' a mhàin gun chaochladh ort,

's do bhliadhnaidh buan am feast'.

                                                                                     (Psalm 102:2627, Gaelic)

Mum has these circled in her Bible too, with a reference to Auntie Catriona. It's quite a thought that they are now together.

Quite a thought, indeed.

*      *      *

One more:

Since Mum became ill, these words at the beginning of Psalm 77 became a constant favourite too. She asked me to read them to her time and time again over these past months. She would say, 'Read them in Gaelic. They have so much more power'.

"Dh'èigh mi ri Dia gu h-àrd le 'm ghuth,

dh'èigh mi le m'ghuth gu h-àrd;

Is thug e, 'nuair a ghlaodh mi ris,

sàr-èisdeachd dhomh gun dàil."

She would say to me, 'Oh, Anne, 'dh'èigh mi ... dh'èigh mi gu h-àrd. Agus dh'èist e.....gun dàil'

*      *      *

On the night Mum passed away, as we left Bethesda Hospice in the early hours of the morning, these were the words that hit me so strongly:

 The storm is changed into a calm

at His command and will;

So that the waves, which raged before,

now quiet are and still.

Then are they glad, because at rest

and quiet now they be:

So to the haven He them brings,

which they desired to see.

                                                                Psalm 107:29, 30

When I looked through Mum's bible, she had already circled these words. They'd obviously meant something to her (at different times - notice the different pens used), and now they'd spoken to me about Mum.

God's Word is so precious, and surely the Psalms are truly an 'anatomy of the soul', as John Calvin called them. How many souls - in times of great joy and in times of great sorrow; in times of thanksgiving, and in times of pleading  - resort to the Psalms and find comfort there?

We are still in times of sorrow, of grieving, of pleading, and yes of thanksgiving too. Whilst Mum has few of these emotions now, we still crave comfort and encouragement from the Psalms she knew and loved so well.