The Vessel.

 •  1 min. read  •  grade level: 10
 
Εἰς πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα τοῦ Θεοῦ.
"We learn in suffering what we teach in song.”
“A few more breathings in this dull and oppressive element, then all will be health and buoyancy, strength and gladness, purity and peace.”
OH! is it come—the sweet and blessed calm,
Foreseen and hoped for through those darksome years
Of anguish and of dread? Here, here at last,
I a deep vessel in the shoreless sea
Of thine own fullness, O eternal God!
Filled in that fullness, find my prayers, my hopes
All, all fulfilled, and nothing more to crave.
The bright reality, the thing itself
Transcends all thought, eclipses every hope;
Dwelling in God, by God indwelt, I know
Love in its fullness, life to me is bliss,
All, all within, beneath, around, above,
Speak but of Thee, and tell me what I am,
The happiest of the happy! O thou peerless One!
Great God revealed in flesh, the living link
'Twixt Godhead and my soul! be thine the praise,
The loving worship of a loving heart
Rich in thyself, for, oh, however filled,
Howe'er exalted, holy, undefiled,
Whatever wealth of blessedness is mine,
What am I, Lord! an emptiness, a nothing.
Thou art my boast, in whom all fullness dwells
Of the great Godhead, Thou whose name I bear,
Whose life is mine, whose glory and whose bliss,
All, all are mine.