Take Time To Be Holy

In 1997 a columnist with the Chicago Tribune penned one of the most profound essays I have ever read or heard.  You can hear the work here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTJ7AzBIJoI  Mary Schmich wrote an essay entitled, "Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young"  which became a book Wear Sunscreen (Andrews McMeel Publishing, 1998) ISBN 0-8362-5528-3. Schmich published a short gift book adaption of the essay, Wear Sunscreen: A Primer for Real Life, in 1998. A tenth anniversary edition was published in 2008.

In 1999, Baz Luhrmann released the song you can find at that youtube link I just shared with you.  The song was a number one hit in several countries.  It is a wonderful message and a great reminder to take some time to perform some of the simpler things in life.

You ever get an ear-worm?  You know, a song that gets stuck in your head, usually just a few lines, that keeps running over and over and over again?  I call it an ear-worm and it can feel just like that.  Sometimes it steers my entire day.  Lately I've had a hymn stuck in my head and it was brought on by listening to Baz Luhrmann's song set to Mary Schmich's words.  I guess my spirit must have been inspired and so set out on a search through my memory files for something that could continue to support the ideas and motivations behind Schmich's lyrics.  This hymn came racing to my head and I share the lyrics with you below as yet another way to simply say, take some time today.  Take time to be holy - speak with God - stop for a moment and look at the changing colors of the tree.

I was with a friend recently and we were driving through the country-side and we came upon a very large tree just exploding with fall colors.  It's pretty early to be seeing such vibrance and such a color splash in the trees but it looked as if it were actually lit up by some unseen power source. 

Unfortunately my friend never looked up from his cell phone to see it.  And I thought, "how sad that you just missed this marvelous gift that was given to just us".  I wondered how many people flew past that same spot and never noticed that tree. 

Take time - to share - to see - to appreciate - to love.  Take time to experience the holy in the least expected of places...

1. Take time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord;
   Abide in Him always, and feed on His Word.
   Make friends of God’s children, help those who are weak,
   Forgetting in nothing His blessing to seek.
2. Take time to be holy, the world rushes on;
   Spend much time in secret, with Jesus alone.
   By looking to Jesus, like Him thou shalt be;
   Thy friends in thy conduct His likeness shall see.
3. Take time to be holy, let Him be thy Guide;
   And run not before Him, whatever betide.
   In joy or in sorrow, still follow the Lord,
   And, looking to Jesus, still trust in His Word.
4. Take time to be holy, be calm in thy soul,
   Each thought and each motive beneath His control.
   Thus led by His Spirit to fountains of love,
   Thou soon shalt be fitted for service above.