I’m blogging… at least for the next couple months at friendstoindia.wordpress.com. Join me there. And then return here later where I just might start blogging again. :)

I don’t know why I blog anymore. I’m having a blog identity crisis. This is why I haven’t posted here in so long. I keep thinking I’ll post, and then say to myself “why am I writing anything?”

So maybe you should tell me - why should I blog? This might help. It might help you, too. Why do you do it? What’s at the core of this whole writing about you on the web thing? Is it really helpful to people, to me, to you? What have been the most interesting posts you’ve read out there in the world?

So, I know that there are random readers of this blog out there… would you like to hear more? What would that be? Want me to read something of yours? Let me know. I suppose I write this blog for you as well as for me. If it’s not interesting and thought provoking for you, then I’m not sure I want to do it.

So… ponder with me. Thanks for your thoughts in advance.

This hymn meant a lot to me when we sang it at church last week. It’s taken from Psalm 46. Its melody has been with me for over a week now, and its words also really resonated with me. Here are the words below. But you can also see them on a blank page here. It’s interesting how these words Catharina von Schlegel wrote over 150 years are still so immensely applicable to my heart.

And if you want to listen to it, go here to open an iTunes 30 second snippet. Be still…

“Be Still, My Soul”
by Catharina von Schlegel, 1697-?
Translated by Jane Borthwick, 1813-1897

1. Be still, my soul; the Lord is on thy side;
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul; thy best, thy heavenly, Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

2. Be still, my soul; thy God doth undertake
To guide the future as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence, let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul; the waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below.

3. Be still, my soul, though dearest friends depart
And all is darkened in the vale of tears;
Then shalt thou better know His love, His heart,
Who comes to soothe thy sorrows and thy fears.
Be still, my soul; thy Jesus can repay
From His own fulness all He takes away.

4. Be still, my soul; the hour is hastening on
When we shall be forever with the Lord,
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul; when change and tears are past,
All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

Hymn #651
The Lutheran Hymnal
Text: Psalm 46:10
Author: Catharine Amalia Dorothea von Schlegel, 1752, cento
Translated by: Jane Borthwick, 1855
Titled: “Stille, mein Wille”
Composer: Jean Sibelius, b. 1865, arr.
Tune: “Finlandia”