I do not know this year

...but the Lord does

I meant to write a different poem than the one below as I was contemplating the approaching back to school season. I had been thinking about the second part of Psalm 139:16:

• KJV: “…and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.”

• ESV: “…in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”

The Lord does not simply know what will happen each day of my life, but he has fashioned and formed each one. This led me to think of the flip side, which is that I don’t know what a day will bring. Or an hour, or even a minute. Aren’t our days made up of split second life changes? A phone call, a text, a gray-faced boy holding up an S-shaped arm, a voice saying, “I’m so sorry…”

But the comfort throughout is having a heavenly Father who knows it all, and has ultimately ordained every second of it for his glory and my good.

So there’s the story of where I began the poem and where it ended up. Back-to-school poem hopefully coming later this month!

I do not know this year, oh Lord,
Or how it will unfold.
I do not know the end of it
Or what its seasons hold.

I do not know this week, oh Lord,
What news will fill its days— 
Sorrow's pain or surprising grace
And joyful songs of praise.

I do not know this day, oh Lord,
Though plans I've made to do.
Help me to trust your sovereign will,
My heart abide in you.

I do not know this hour, Lord,
Uncertain is my plight.
Each minute I am floundering— 
Give unto me your light.

Each year, the weeks and days, oh Lord— 
You know what their hours bring.
Take me with your fatherly care
To rest under your wing. 

The sunflowers are indicating that summer has peaked…