“Be Thou My Vision,” ELW 793
1 Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
naught be all else to me, save that thou art:
thou my best thought both by day and by night,
waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.
2 Be thou my wisdom, and thou my true word;
I ever with thee and thou with me, Lord.
Thou my soul’s shelter, and thou my high tow’r,
raise thou me heav’nward, O Pow’r of my pow’r.
3 Riches I heed not, nor vain, empty praise,
thou mine inheritance, now and always:
thou and thou only, the first in my heart,
great God of heaven, my treasure thou art.
4 Light of my soul, after victory won,
may I reach heaven’s joys, O heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
still be my vision, O Ruler of all.
Devotion
God invests a lifetime with each of us, trying to unwrap us, seeking to uncurl us from the fetal position we assumed in the womb. The older theologians spoke of sin as being incurvatus in se, curved in on ourselves.
And it is God's goal to open us up. Open us to God, to the world, to our neighbors.
This is no abstract speculation. Ponder, even for a moment, how natural it is to think only about yourself every waking hour of every day.
"Be Thou My Vision," is an antidote to this sickness-unto-death. Like a healing salve, this ancient Irish hymn posits another way of living life, in an utterly God-centered way.
The hymnist remedies our love affair with the first person singular with a relentless divine "thou": "Be thou my vision...thou my best thought...thy presence my light...thou and thou only...great God of heaven, my treasure thou art."
Prayer
Pry me loose from myself, gracious God. Replace my self-absorption with your fullness. Be my everything. In the name of Jesus, Amen.