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For the Beauty of the Earth

For the Beauty of the Earth
Words by Folliott Sandford Pierpoint, 1863, Music by Conrad Kocher, arr Ben Parks & Cameron Gray © 018 Rough Harbor Music

For the beauty of the earth,
For the glory of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies

For the beauty of each hour
Of the day and of the night,
Hill and vale and tree and flower,
Sun and moon and stars of light

CHORUS:
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This our hymn of grateful praise!

For the joy of ear and eye,
For the heart and mind’s delight,
For the mystic harmony
Linking sense and sound to sight

For the joy of human love,
Brother, sister, parent, child,
Friends on earth and friends above,
For all thoughts gentle and mild

For Thyself, best Gift Divine
To the world so freely given,
For that great, great love of Thine
Peace on earth and joy in heaven

Devotional Thoughts:
God gives us good things to tell us that He loves us. When we realize how much God loves us, it moves our hearts to grateful praise—we say, or sing, or even shout, “Thank you, God!”

But giving thanks to God is harder than we’d like to admit. The busyness, bustle, and distractions of life make it easy to forget to be grateful. Selfishness and discontent also make us blind to the good gifts God gives to us every day. The truth is, we are much better at coming up with a list of things we want than a list of things we are grateful for.

That’s why it is good to take time to practice. This song helps us remember God’s good gifts, and helps us practice saying, “Thank you, God!”

Verse 1 and 2:
Ever since you were born God has surrounded you with wonderful things as a way of telling you that He loves you. Right now, look around at the beauty of the earth, and the glory of the sky. Think about the different ways beauty comes out at different times of the day and night. Look at the hills and fields, the trees and flowers, the sun, moon and stars. What other things in nature make you feel awe or delight? Let’s thank God for His good gifts.

Sing:
For the beauty of the earth,
For the glory of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies;

For the beauty of each hour
Of the day and of the night,
Hill and vale and tree and flower,
Sun and moon and stars of light

Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This our hymn of grateful praise!

Verse 3:
Think about the miracle that you can hear and see, and that your heart and mind can delight in all the beauty around you! Isn’t it amazing that you can think and understand and learn? God gave you those things to tell you He loves you. Let’s thank God for His good gifts.

Sing:
For the joy of ear and eye,
For the heart and mind’s delight,
For the mystic harmony
Linking sense and sound to sight;
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This our hymn of grateful praise!

Verse 4:
God gave us families and friends to remind us that He loves us. Have you ever felt loved by your mom or dad or brother or sister? Have you ever looked forward to spending time with a friend? The love we feel for and from people is a gift from God. Let’s thank God for His good gifts.

For the joy of human love,
Brother, sister, parent, child,
Friends on earth and friends above,
For all thoughts gentle and mild;
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This our hymn of grateful praise!

Verse 5:
But out of all the good gifts God gives us, the very best gift is Jesus. You could say all the other gifts fit inside the one big gift of Jesus. In Jesus we find all the beauty of creation (Col 1:16-17), all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col 2:3), and all the joy of family and friendship (John 1:12; Eph 2:19). More than that, Jesus takes away all our sin, gives us all His goodness, and fills us with His Spirit to make us more like Him. Jesus is the biggest, widest, longest, highest and deepest way God could say, “I love you!!” (John 3:16; Eph 3:16-19).

Sing:
For Thyself, best Gift Divine
To the world so freely given,
For that great, great love of Thine
Peace on earth and joy in heaven;
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This our hymn of grateful praise!

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow!
Praise Him, all creatures here below!
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host!
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost!
Amen.