This song was playing in my head all day yesterday. I’m not sure why since it wasn’t one of the songs we sang in our morning worship, and while some days I really love it, on other days I find it almost too sentimental – especially when it’s playing over and over and I can’t get it out of my head!

But what keeps the song real for me is knowing that the words were written by Henry Smith when he was a recent seminary grad struggling with a degenerative eye condition that would later leave him legally blind. Reading was difficult for him, his vocation and job prospects uncertain – and in the midst of his own personal struggles, he heard this verse of Scripture read one Sunday morning at his church, 2 Corinthians 8:9:

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor,
so that you through his poverty might become rich.

From this verse and his own struggles, Henry Smith wrote this song – an act of creative listening, thanks, and trust in God.

I still can’t quite get it out of my head this morning, but that’s ok. It’s not a bad thing to be stuck on giving thanks. Like Henry Smith, I’m trusting God and giving thanks with a grateful heart.

A blessed Thanksgiving to all of my Canadian friends and to every one!