Recently, I've been getting seemingly random songs stuck in my head. Songs I haven't heard for years, on the radio or otherwise. So, this morning it was "Tis the Gift to be Simple". I remember learning this song in elementary school. I had a good music teacher - she taught us all kinds of folk music. So, I think I know why I got this song stuck in my head. It is lent and I am fasting from facebook (which has been great). I've also been reading through Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals which has been really drawing me closer to the Lord and his Word. It's wonderful to have something that makes me read the Bible in sequence and yet do more than that. I don't feel like it is something I'm just doing to do. I actually want to do it.
Anyhow, I am just grateful that God can speak to me through music. I needed to remember this song and sing this song because I'd been really wanting to move (even though there is nothing wrong with where we live) and I'd just so happened to find a comparable place to ours on Craig's list yesterday. It is also a mere three blocks away, sounds nicer to me, and I have been very tempted to look at it. Last night, our friend from small group prayed for us that we would find joy where we are at now (still having wisdom and direction for the future but really, truly finding joy in our every day). I think that was right on. I do enjoy my life. Some days are so packed with outrageous joy and meaning that I don't even have a single thought to do something like look on facebook or lust after a new kind of possession or achievement. Yet, I also often am looking forward to the future, with hope as well as anxiety, but still, I need to take joy in this day.
Here is the music, by Joseph Brackett:
| G | D7 | G |
| 'Tis the | gift to be simple, 'tis a gift | to be | free |
| D | A7 | D | D7 |
| 'Tis the | gift to | come down | where we ought to | be |
| G | D | G | D7 | G |
| And w | hen we find ourselves | in the | place | just | right |
| C6 | D7 | C | G |
| 'Twill | be in the va | lley of l | ove and de | light |
| D | G |
| When true | simpl | icity is gained |
| A7 | D7 |
| To bow and to bend we | shan't be a | shamed |
| G | D | G |
| To | turn, to turn | will | be our delight |
| Am | D7 | G | C | G |
| Till by | turning, | turning we | come r | ound right |
|
