love lesson #13 – all good things

You know how you sometimes hear a song in your head and just can’t let it go? The melody keeps playing, a constant background to your thoughts and ideas. For several days I’ve been hearing a song from the soundtrack of Godspell. It was actually an English hymn written in the late 1700s and set to music in 1800. But I associate it with a brightly clad group of stage performers singing from high school stages.

 All good gifts around us
Are sent from heaven above,
Then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord
For all His love.

Sweet lyrics reminding us that all good things come from God. No exceptions. No coincidences.

The first stanza is interesting:

We plough the fields, and scatter the good seed on the land;
But it is fed and watered by God’s almighty hand:
He sends the snow in winter, the warmth to swell the grain,
The breezes and the sunshine, and soft refreshing rain.

God does the watering. It goes on to say that God paints the flowers, and He feeds the birds. Seems like God is doing all the work. 

I know, I know. We plow and scatter, which is much like what we do today. Busy work. We run errands and drive carpools and grocery shop. We cook meals. We make beds. We toil. But God nourishes our labors with love. With  peace. With abundant joy. 

We are only able to do our busy work because we live on a canvas that God painted. In a world that God created. 

“Every good and perfect gift is from above.” – James 1:17 

Plowing and scattering is important. But let’s not forget to thank the master gardener.