We Are The Work Of His Hands

As promised (and at last!), we're going to be uploading some of our new music.  The song I'm uploading today, We Are The Work Of His Hands, is actually a couple of years old, but we only just introduced it to our parish at the recent Lenten concert.

This song was inspired by a simple insight that God, our Father, shared with me not long after the birth of my son, Peter.  He was just a few months old at the time, and he and I were up late together one night while Mom was getting some well-deserved rest.  I was holding him in my lap, and he was smiling up at me.  And in that moment I felt immensely proud - a sense of pride that I’m sure every parent knows well.  Proud for no other reason than that here in my hands was my beautiful, wonderful son, and what a blessing it was that God had entrusted me with such a great gift.

And then I was overcome with the sense that God, the Father, was there, looking down on us, holding us in hand, and feeling that same sense of fatherly pride for the two of us.  I don’t know that I have ever in my life had cause to doubt God’s love for me, but by the same token, I had never felt that he was particularly proud of me either.  But as soon as He graced me with that insight, I felt like I should have known it all along.  He’s looking down on all of us as a proud Father, and knowing that makes me want to make Him even more proud.  The memory of that evening is something I will always treasure and we've tried to capture some of that in this song.  Drawing inspiration from the creation story, the lyrics urge us to continue God's great work of creation and make Him proud.  Lyrics are after the jump.

(One final note, we had some technical difficulties with the recorder at our concert and unfortunately part of the third verse was lost.  Special thanks to Bob Gillespie for some fantastic editing work to make this presentable - I'm willing to bet most folks wouldn't realize that half of verse 3 is missing.  All the lyrics are included below in case you're curious!)

We Are The Work Of His Hands

Verse 1

At His word, light shown in the darkness,

And still it shines through all the ages.

So we strive to be children of the light,

And be about our Father’s work.

The source of all light and all love

Has called us to be light for the world.

Refrain

We are the work of His hands,

And we were made in His own image and likeness.

In our triumphs and trials, let us answer the call

That He may look upon the work of our hands,

And see that it is good.

Verse 2

He brought forth dry land from the waters,

And filled the earth with life abundant.

We are His heirs, the stewards of creation,

Entrusted with His gifts untold.

The Fount of all life, ever flowing,

Has called us to be fruitful and good.

Verse 3

He formed the sky and set the stars in motion.

The heavens and the earth echo His glory.

So do we all, His very sons and daughters,

Mirror the majesty of God.

The maker and master of all things

Has called us to be more than we are.