sheep and goats

I need Thee every hour,
Most gracious Lord;
No tender voice like Thine
Can peace afford.
I need Thee, O I need Thee;
Every hour I need Thee!
O bless me now, my savior--
I come to Thee.


There is almost always a song floating around in my heart, most often an older hymn from my Baptist childhood or a praise chorus or sometimes a little Ingrid Michaelson ditty. Today, it was this one. I Need Thee Every Hour. I listened to it from the voice of Nicol Sponberg of Selah. I hummed it as I sat on the deck and felt the rain drops tapping all around me. 

I sang it as a prayer of my own. It is so sweet to always be needing the Savior. Many of my friends have been posting things about the importance of prayer, and I know that I have been quick to let my prayer life slide lately. When I caught myself singing these words again and again, I realized that it was a call to prayer. Then I found these wonderful words by Alfred Lord Tennyson:

More things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of. Wherefore, let thy voice
Rise like a fountain for me night and day.
For what are men better than sheep or goats
That nourish a blind life within the brain,
If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer
Both for themselves and those who call them friends,
For so the whole round earth is every way
Bound by gold chains about the feet of God.

Haha! I love it! Let's lift each other up, friends. We are better than goats, yes?