Living Font: Holy, Holy, Holy

For the last couple of weeks, two songs have been rattling around in my head for what seemed like no reason.  I heard both songs weekly in my childhood, but could not remember the last time I heard or sang them.  Yet there they were playing like a broken record in my mind.  One song is commonly known as the Doxology:

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.

The other song is called Holy, Holy, Holy, and every Sunday growing up I stood and sang the first verse with the rest of my church’s congregation:

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!

This morning the entire family was slow to move to get ready for church.  Our service begins at 9:00 a.m., so our Sundays start like every other day of the week, waking up and getting out the door by 8:45 be it to walk to the bus stop, drive to ballet and soccer, or attend church.  It’s overcast today and our Saturday was more than a little busy with two activities, a birthday party, a strawberry festival, a house that needed to be cleaned from top to bottom, stacks of laundry, bills to pay.  All of that combined with my incredibly comfortable bed and the cat that was purring on the pillow, snuggled tightly against my head, made the thought of skipping church (again) more than tempting.  But there in my head I heard, “Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!” and somehow I uncharacteristically made the call that we all needed to get moving immediately and make it to church. My husband left first to make sure that the kids were not late to Sunday School, and I slid into the back pew next to him five minutes after the start of the service.  There glaring at me on the page was the title of the sermon: Living in Character – the Power of Integrity.  The one hymn listed for the service? “Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty!”

As we all do from time to time, I’ve been struggling with my heart in recent months, an internal battle that comes and goes and will for my entire life.  Sometimes I choose to confront this struggle head on, while other times I hide from it.  I’ve been hiding, but today I could hide no longer.  Something drove me to leave the comfort of my cozy sanctuary of denial this morning and head instead to the sanctuary God provided for me.  In that moment, I knew that I was where I should be.

Holy, holy, holy…merciful and mighty…

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10 Comments

  • I love you friend! So glad he spoke to your heart.

  • Beautiful post and I love those songs as well!

  • You know what they say about coincidences. It’s just God choosing to remain anonymous! I’m glad you made it to church! 🙂

  • Holly

    Beautiful post…luv the songs..

  • Powerful post Amy … you gave me pause. Thanks for sharing!

  • I love it when you know you’re being spoken to. Whether it’s by song or the entire sermon. My pastor recently said (and I hope I never forget), after a missed week for a beach trip, you should plan your week around church…not church around your week! It’s really helped me focus my brain & heart around the early alarm on Sunday morning.

  • Wanda M

    That song gets stuck in my head alot too, I love it!

  • Linda O

    Thank you for such positive sharing. God brings his words into our lives in so many ways.

  • nicole

    I had to laugh when I read your post- when i work weekends, both of those hymns get stuck in my head! funny how that happens! Glad I;m not the only one!

  • Wonderful songs! It’s amazing how he picks just the right moments to speak to us. He knows just when we need it most.