aging – hymnsandbooks

The finest detail of our lives – a hymn as we age… (Matthew 10: 24-39)

The finest detail of our lives – a hymn as we age… (Matthew 10: 24-39)

1	The finest detail of our lives 
	is held by God with care and grace, 
	while every chance and change that comes, 
	our loss of hair, lines on our face, 
	can signal wisdom time has borne, 
	within each context, in each place.

2	Yet grace and hope and love remain, 
	as faith is nurtured till mature.
	Though we can know both scorn and hurt, 
	while held by God we stand secure; 
	God is the centre of our hope 
	as long as love and life endure.

Andrew E Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2015 © Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England copyright@stainer.co.uk . Please include any reproduction for local church use on your CCL Licence returns. All wider and any commercial use requires prior application to Stainer & Bell Ltd.
Metre: 8 8 8 D Tune: ABINGDON
Created by HymnQuest.com

Slow sailing – reflecting on aging

In age, so often, life, it seems,
is like a leaky boat.
Our forward progress slows and swings
with the tide,
its ebb and flow.
For want of caulking
bilges seep and timbers creak
with every swing and turn
but still we cut between the waves,
while tacking with the flow.
And though it may seem strange to some
who wish to race ahead,
the more I travel now, I think,
I’d rather travel slow.
The harbour will come soon enough,
to moor and come to rest,
for now a passage,
calm and slow,
would seem much better blessed.