Émerveillement

Je chanterai de joie à cause des oeuvres de tes mains. Psaume 92. 4

Je chanterai à l'Éternel durant ma vie, je chanterai des cantiques à mon Dieu tant que j'existerai. Psaume 104. 33

Dieu tout-puissant, quand mon cœur considère

Tout l'univers créé par ton pouvoir,

Le ciel d'azur, les éclairs, le tonnerre,

Le clair matin, ou les ombres du soir…

De tout mon être alors s'élève un chant:

Dieu tout-puissant, que tu es grand!

Quand, par les bois ou la forêt profonde,

J'erre et j'entends tous les oiseaux chanter;

Quand, sur les monts, la source, avec son onde,

Murmure en paix son chant doux et léger…

Mon cœur heureux s'écrie à chaque instant:

Dieu créateur, que tu es grand!

Mais quand je songe, ô sublime mystère!

Qu'un Dieu si grand a pu penser à moi,

Que son cher Fils a porté ma misère,

Et que je suis l'héritier du grand Roi…

Alors mon cœur redit, la nuit, le jour:

Que tu es bon, ô Dieu d'amour!

Quand mon Sauveur, éclatant de lumière,

Se lèvera de son trône éternel,

Et que, laissant les douleurs de la terre,

Je pourrai voir les splendeurs de son ciel…

Je redirai, dans son divin séjour:

Rien n'est plus grand que ton amour!

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A Letter from the Battlefield

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 2 Timothy 4:7

Run the race with eternity in view.

For more than two decades, Andrew Carroll has been urging people not to throw away the letters written by family members or friends during a time of war. Carroll, director of the Center for American War Letters at Chapman University in California, considers them an irreplaceable link to tie families together and open a door of understanding. “Younger generations are reading these letters,” Carroll says, “and asking questions and saying, ‘Now I understand what you endured, what you sacrificed.’ ”

When the apostle Paul was imprisoned in Rome and knew his life would soon end, he wrote a letter to a young man whom he considered a “son in the faith,” Timothy. Like a soldier on the battlefield, Paul opened his heart to him: “The time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Tim. 4:6-8).

When we read the letters in the Bible that the heroes of the Christian faith have left for us and grasp what they endured because of their love for Christ, we gain courage to follow their example and to stand strong for those who come after us.

Lord, give us strength for the spiritual battles we face today, knowing that You have won the ultimate victory and that we will one day live eternally with You.