Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart,
Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart,
be all else but naught to me, save that thou art;
be thou my best thought in the day and the night,
both waking and sleeping, thy presence my light.
Be thou my wisdom, be thou my true word,
be thou ever with me, and I with thee Lord;
be thou my great Father, and I thy true son;
be thou in me dwelling, and I with thee one.
Be thou my breastplate, my sword for the fight;
be thou my whole armor, be thou my true might;
be thou my soul's shelter, be thou my strong tower:
O raise thou me heavenward, great Power of my power.
Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise:
be thou mine inheritance now and always;
be thou and thou only the first in my heart;
O Sovereign of heaven, my treasure thou art.
High King of heaven, thou heaven's bright sun,
O grant me its joys after victory is won;
great Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
still be thou my vision, O Ruler of all.
It's a fine hymn--and an interesting choice for your "best hymn." I've been a student of our English hymns for about 40 years, and have conducted many surveys to find people's favourites.
ReplyDeleteSo many factors come into play in making such a designation. Perhaps the words have a special meaning to our spiritual growth, or we sang the song in connection with some significant event in our lives--or we came to love it after hearing a particular rendition of the song.
And sometimes people's favourites change. Recently, for example, "Be Still, My Soul" has had special meaning for me, and I'm now calling it at least ONE of my favourites.
To learn more about the hymns we love, I invite you to check my daily blog on hymn history, Wordwise Hymns. God bless.