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Tidbit #23: Awake, My Soul!

#1 · January 13, 2004, 8:07 pm

Quote from Forum Archives on January 13, 2004, 8:07 pm
Posted by: homenews <homenews@...>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THE HOPE CHEST

with Virginia Knowles

Tidbit #23 on January 13, 2003

Awake, My Soul!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Hope Chest is a free e-mail newsletter with encouragement and practical teaching tips. The writer is Virginia Knowles, wife of Thad, mother of nine children, and author of Common Sense Excellence: Faith Filled Home Education for Preschool to 5th Grade, and The Real Life Home School Mom.

Contact information:

Web site: http://www.thehopechest.net

Resource orders: http://www.thehopechest.net/resourceorders.html

Personal E-mail: [email protected]

Subscription: [email protected]

Unsubscription: [email protected]

To change your subscription, just unsubscribe from your old address, and subscribe from the new one. This will save me a lot of time!

Dear Hope Chest friends,

At the start of the New Year, I also try to take stock of how I'm doing spiritually, emotionally and physically, as well as evaluate how things are going with school and household schedules. With this in my mind, I'd like to share a hymn called
"Awake, My Soul by Thomas Ken. Never heard of it? Of course you have, because The Doxology (Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow) is the last verse of it! Heres the hymn first, and then I'll offer a few comments on life at our house (including an important health-related prayer request for me). I really want to encourage you to read this hymn through very carefully and see if you can memorize a few verses as you sing it.

Awake, My Soul

by Thomas Ken (1627-1711)

Awake, my soul, and with the sun
Thy daily stage of duty run;
Shake off dull sloth, and joyful rise,
To pay thy morning sacrifice.

Thy precious time misspent, redeem,
Each present day thy last esteem,
Improve thy talent with due care;
For the great day thyself prepare.

By influence of the Light divine
Let thy own light to others shine.
Reflect all heavens propitious ways
In ardent love, and cheerful praise.

In conversation be sincere;
Keep conscience as the noontide clear;
Think how all seeing God thy ways
And all thy secret thoughts surveys.

Wake, and lift up thyself, my heart,
And with the angels bear thy part,
Who all night long unwearied sing
High praise to the eternal King.

All praise to Thee, Who safe has kept
And hast refreshed me while I slept
Grant, Lord, when I from death shall wake
I may of endless light partake.

Heavn is, dear Lord, whereer Thou art,
O never then from me depart;
For to my soul 'tis hell to be
But for one moment void of Thee.

Lord, I my vows to Thee renew;
Disperse my sins as morning dew.
Guard my first springs of thought and will,
And with Thyself my spirit fill.

Direct, control, suggest, this day,
All I design, or do, or say,
That all my powers, with all their might,
In Thy sole glory may unite.

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

You can find the hymn with MIDI music at: http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/a/w/awakemys.htm

Ken wrote this hymn at a time when the established church believed only Scripture should be sung as hymnswith an emphasis on the Psalms. Some considered it sinful and blasphemous to write new lyrics for church music, akin to adding to the Scriptures. In that atmosphere, Ken wrote this and several other hymns for the boys at Winchester College, with strict instructions that they use them only in their rooms, for private devotions. Ironically, the last stanza has come into widespread use as the Doxology the most frequently used piece of music in public worship. At Kens request, the hymn was sung at his funeral, fittingly held at sunrise. (from the Cyberhymnal page.)

To read more about Thomas Ken, click here: http://www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/k/e/ken_t.htm

I prefer to sing Awake, My Soul to the tune of Samuel Medleys hymn I Know that My Redeemer Lives (tune name is Duke Street and is attributed to John Hatton). http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/i/k/iknowtha.htm

~*~*~

Now for a few notes on how I'm doing!

Spiritually:

I see my own shortcomings very clearly -- but I also see the sufficiency of Christ to cover them. I am so much more aware of how my life needs to be centered around him in all things. A bright red graphic on my wall reminds me to Prefer Nothing to Christ. I ask myself, What am I living for? Who am I trying to please? What is the passion of my life? I want it to be Jesus. That doesn't mean a life of following rules, but a life of joyfully following Jesus, day by day, step by step. Other than Scripture and prayer, a few things that help me to be fervent in spirit are singing great worship music, listening to strong Biblical sermons, and reading Christian biographies.

Emotionally:

I sure have my ups and downs. I generally like to be cheerful, but I get irritated easily, especially when the household noise and mess get out of control. My sister Barb says I'm pretty good at bouncing back from disappointments, but I know I have a long way to go. I'm really looking forward to a womens ministry series on The Joy of Cultivating Gentleness which Metro Life Church (www.metrolife.org) is hosting on Sunday evenings in February. Thad is going to the men's retreat there this weekend.

Physically:

This is a big area of concern right now. Because of large and growing nodules on my thyroid, I had an ultrasound two weeks ago and an endocrinologist appointment yesterday. I hoped Dr. Roberts would just write a prescription and send me on my merry way, but instead he ordered a biopsy and a thyroid uptake / scan. According to a friend who has endured these tests, the biopsy consists of them sticking needles into my neck up to a dozen times -- with no anesthesia! The thyroid uptake scan involves taking an iodine pill, coming back 6 hours later for an uptake test (whatever that is) and then returning in 24 hours for the scan, during which I must lie very still. Im waiting to hear when I will be scheduled as an outpatient at Florida Hospital (hopefully as soon as possible!), and Ill keep you posted. Im new to all this stuff, although my thyroid has been monitored non-invasively for over 3 years. I remind myself continually to count it all joy and trust that our Sovereign God to care of me and my family no matter what happens. Please pray that I will be continue to be aware of God's providence in my life as I walk through getting my thyroid working properly.   I know what wacked out hormones and/or thyroid cancer can do, but I know that God can do even more. For my part in health stewardship, I continue walk about 2 miles most weekday mornings. Having a walking partner (my friend Jane) gets me out of bed in the morning -- usually at 6:30! I like to lay out my clothes the night before, and have my hip pack pre-stuffed with scarf, hat, housekey, cell phone, and a pair of one pound walking weights, which I got at Dollar Tree. The weights have hand straps, which makes it handy to tuck in a card with a Bible memory verse or hymn to work on when Im walking alone.

Household Schedule:

Thad suggested that we limit kitchen hours to cut down on general chaos. We decided that the children must be up by 8:00 AM and fix their breakfast by 8:30. The other food times are morning snack (served sometime between 10:00-10:30), lunch (fix your own from 12-1), afternoon snack (3:00 - 3:30 PM) and dinner (served around 6 PM.) We try to have animal crackers, pretzels, popcorn, apples, bananas, cheese sticks, yogurt, and other quick munchies available for snacks. So far so good, though Ive had to shoo kids out of the kitchen more times than I count! Other than meals, sleeping is the next big schedule item. Thad and I have found that if we get to bed too late, we really suffer (and spread the misery) the next day.

School:

It takes a good bit of effort, but I have been trying to type in detailed lesson plans for my middle three children: Joanna (11), Lydia (9) and Andrew (6). I cant say we get everything done, but its a start anyway.   Lydia particularly likes the direction this gives her and has thanked me profusely. Since we're doing an 8 week unit study on Asia, I've been helping Rachel (almost 13) and Joanna with Chinese history. I think I'm learning just as much as they are.

Mary (16) made the Valencia Community College's President's List for maintaining a 4.0 GPA last semester in Basic Spanish and Freshman Composition. Hurray! This morning she started her Spanish 1 and Economics classes there, then rushed to Metro Life Church for her Algebra 2 class. On Fridays, she takes Philosophy and Church History classes, taught by pastors at our church. Plus, she's still interning in a law office one day a week, as well as studying Anatomy, American Government, and World Literature at home.   Her current self-assigned literature essay is on the abandonment of normal family relationships in a totalitarian utopian society. Where did I get this kid, and how has she so totally outpaced me in intellect and academics?

Tonight, Thad took six of the kids to see Julia's basketball team (The Community School Comets) win 22-10 against a Christian school from Deland. They are still there watching part of the TCS boys' team game as I finish up this newsletter. Julia (14) sure enjoys basketball, and I'm delighted that she can do it this year, but I'll still be glad when our schedule settles down next month at the end of the season. She's also doing a great job in her weekly EXCEL Biology, American History and English classes. Today, with a little help from me, she worked hard on vocabulary and a book review about The Giver by Lois Lowry which were assigned over the holidays.    I'm supposed to be reading Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to discuss comprehension questions with her, but I confess that I haven't been too faithful with that this week. I left off around chapter 25 before Christmas, and now I'm trying to jump in at chapter 32. I know I missed something in there, because now Huck is pretending to be Tom Sawyer at Aunt Sally's house, and I didn't have a lick of warning!

Andrew (6) wrote a really cute story about a bunny and a frog the other day. He even typed it and spelled most of the words by himself! He got frustrated at the mistakes he found when he printed it out, but I quickly showed him the draft copy of the article called "Living and Learning in the Sovereign Hand of God" which I am writing for the summer issue of The Old Schoolhouse magazine. It's all marked up with corrections I need to make! I had to assure him that great writers edit their work!

Micah (4) is starting to learn to read easy words like cat, fat, hat, and sat. I know its going to be a lot of fun to teach him to read, though with my hectic schedule, it will likely be in fits and starts. At this age there is certainly no huge rush. Preschool is such a fun time!  I found a perfectly good Little Tikes mini fort/slide in someone's trash pile yesterday. The little kids (Andrew, Micah, Naomi, Ben) had a blast in the back yard with slide, our Little Tikes alligator seesaw (bought at a garage sale for $5 last spring) and our Little Tikes swing. (I love Little Tikes!) Today, Lydia served a picnic lunch in the back yard. For a quick picnic dessert, I mixed together five crumbled up apple-cinnamon flavored rice cakes, a cup of dried out mini marshmallows and a small handful of coconut, nuked them in the microwave and formed them into balls. Big hit!

~*~*~

Whats up in the next few Hope Chest issues?

Usually I will do the Hope Chest every other week, but Im throwing in a bonus issue next week since my daughter Mary is doing it for me! Marys issue will feature an interview with Dr. Stanley Oakes, president of The Kings College. TKC is located in the Empire State Building in New York City and is operated by Campus Crusade for Christ. From their web site http://www.tkc.edu/: Our mission is to educate and equip tomorrows leaders for the strategic institutions of our world: the government, education, the Church, the media and the business world. This mission will be accomplished by offering degree programs that combine a core curriculum in the liberal arts with biblical studies and by remaining on the cutting edge of communication technology. The result will be men and women of courage, character, and conviction, who love God, who can discern God's will, and who have the courage to follow him. (If you are interested in an awesome campus visit, consider Operation Airlift from February 13-16. http://www.tkc.edu/adm/default.asp?topic=airlift.asp Mary went on this trip in October and highly recommends it.)

The following week, Ill review books such as Easy Homeschooling Companion by Lorraine Curry and Days of Creation Unit Study by Stephanie Romero. I am also hoping to get a review copy of The Gospel for Children by John Leuzarder.

~*~*~

I could write much more now, but I'll restrain myself. If you haven't already studied the hymn "Awake, My Soul," be sure to print it out right now and savor it slowly over the next few days! As you ponder each word or phrase and how it applies to your life, it will be a huge encouragement to your faith!

In His Sovereign Grace,

Virginia Knowles

www.thehopechest.net

Posted by: homenews <homenews@...>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THE HOPE CHEST

with Virginia Knowles

Tidbit #23 on January 13, 2003

Awake, My Soul!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Hope Chest is a free e-mail newsletter with encouragement and practical teaching tips. The writer is Virginia Knowles, wife of Thad, mother of nine children, and author of Common Sense Excellence: Faith Filled Home Education for Preschool to 5th Grade, and The Real Life Home School Mom.

Contact information:

Web site: http://www.thehopechest.net

Resource orders: http://www.thehopechest.net/resourceorders.html

Personal E-mail: [email protected]

Subscription: [email protected]

Unsubscription: [email protected]

To change your subscription, just unsubscribe from your old address, and subscribe from the new one. This will save me a lot of time!

Dear Hope Chest friends,

At the start of the New Year, I also try to take stock of how I'm doing spiritually, emotionally and physically, as well as evaluate how things are going with school and household schedules. With this in my mind, I'd like to share a hymn called
"Awake, My Soul by Thomas Ken. Never heard of it? Of course you have, because The Doxology (Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow) is the last verse of it! Heres the hymn first, and then I'll offer a few comments on life at our house (including an important health-related prayer request for me). I really want to encourage you to read this hymn through very carefully and see if you can memorize a few verses as you sing it.

Awake, My Soul

by Thomas Ken (1627-1711)

Awake, my soul, and with the sun
Thy daily stage of duty run;
Shake off dull sloth, and joyful rise,
To pay thy morning sacrifice.

Thy precious time misspent, redeem,
Each present day thy last esteem,
Improve thy talent with due care;
For the great day thyself prepare.

By influence of the Light divine
Let thy own light to others shine.
Reflect all heavens propitious ways
In ardent love, and cheerful praise.

In conversation be sincere;
Keep conscience as the noontide clear;
Think how all seeing God thy ways
And all thy secret thoughts surveys.

Wake, and lift up thyself, my heart,
And with the angels bear thy part,
Who all night long unwearied sing
High praise to the eternal King.

All praise to Thee, Who safe has kept
And hast refreshed me while I slept
Grant, Lord, when I from death shall wake
I may of endless light partake.

Heavn is, dear Lord, whereer Thou art,
O never then from me depart;
For to my soul 'tis hell to be
But for one moment void of Thee.

Lord, I my vows to Thee renew;
Disperse my sins as morning dew.
Guard my first springs of thought and will,
And with Thyself my spirit fill.

Direct, control, suggest, this day,
All I design, or do, or say,
That all my powers, with all their might,
In Thy sole glory may unite.

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

You can find the hymn with MIDI music at: http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/a/w/awakemys.htm

Ken wrote this hymn at a time when the established church believed only Scripture should be sung as hymnswith an emphasis on the Psalms. Some considered it sinful and blasphemous to write new lyrics for church music, akin to adding to the Scriptures. In that atmosphere, Ken wrote this and several other hymns for the boys at Winchester College, with strict instructions that they use them only in their rooms, for private devotions. Ironically, the last stanza has come into widespread use as the Doxology the most frequently used piece of music in public worship. At Kens request, the hymn was sung at his funeral, fittingly held at sunrise. (from the Cyberhymnal page.)

To read more about Thomas Ken, click here: http://www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/k/e/ken_t.htm

I prefer to sing Awake, My Soul to the tune of Samuel Medleys hymn I Know that My Redeemer Lives (tune name is Duke Street and is attributed to John Hatton). http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/i/k/iknowtha.htm

~*~*~

Now for a few notes on how I'm doing!

Spiritually:

I see my own shortcomings very clearly -- but I also see the sufficiency of Christ to cover them. I am so much more aware of how my life needs to be centered around him in all things. A bright red graphic on my wall reminds me to Prefer Nothing to Christ. I ask myself, What am I living for? Who am I trying to please? What is the passion of my life? I want it to be Jesus. That doesn't mean a life of following rules, but a life of joyfully following Jesus, day by day, step by step. Other than Scripture and prayer, a few things that help me to be fervent in spirit are singing great worship music, listening to strong Biblical sermons, and reading Christian biographies.

Emotionally:

I sure have my ups and downs. I generally like to be cheerful, but I get irritated easily, especially when the household noise and mess get out of control. My sister Barb says I'm pretty good at bouncing back from disappointments, but I know I have a long way to go. I'm really looking forward to a womens ministry series on The Joy of Cultivating Gentleness which Metro Life Church (http://www.metrolife.org) is hosting on Sunday evenings in February. Thad is going to the men's retreat there this weekend.

Physically:

This is a big area of concern right now. Because of large and growing nodules on my thyroid, I had an ultrasound two weeks ago and an endocrinologist appointment yesterday. I hoped Dr. Roberts would just write a prescription and send me on my merry way, but instead he ordered a biopsy and a thyroid uptake / scan. According to a friend who has endured these tests, the biopsy consists of them sticking needles into my neck up to a dozen times -- with no anesthesia! The thyroid uptake scan involves taking an iodine pill, coming back 6 hours later for an uptake test (whatever that is) and then returning in 24 hours for the scan, during which I must lie very still. Im waiting to hear when I will be scheduled as an outpatient at Florida Hospital (hopefully as soon as possible!), and Ill keep you posted. Im new to all this stuff, although my thyroid has been monitored non-invasively for over 3 years. I remind myself continually to count it all joy and trust that our Sovereign God to care of me and my family no matter what happens. Please pray that I will be continue to be aware of God's providence in my life as I walk through getting my thyroid working properly. I know what wacked out hormones and/or thyroid cancer can do, but I know that God can do even more. For my part in health stewardship, I continue walk about 2 miles most weekday mornings. Having a walking partner (my friend Jane) gets me out of bed in the morning -- usually at 6:30! I like to lay out my clothes the night before, and have my hip pack pre-stuffed with scarf, hat, housekey, cell phone, and a pair of one pound walking weights, which I got at Dollar Tree. The weights have hand straps, which makes it handy to tuck in a card with a Bible memory verse or hymn to work on when Im walking alone.

Household Schedule:

Thad suggested that we limit kitchen hours to cut down on general chaos. We decided that the children must be up by 8:00 AM and fix their breakfast by 8:30. The other food times are morning snack (served sometime between 10:00-10:30), lunch (fix your own from 12-1), afternoon snack (3:00 - 3:30 PM) and dinner (served around 6 PM.) We try to have animal crackers, pretzels, popcorn, apples, bananas, cheese sticks, yogurt, and other quick munchies available for snacks. So far so good, though Ive had to shoo kids out of the kitchen more times than I count! Other than meals, sleeping is the next big schedule item. Thad and I have found that if we get to bed too late, we really suffer (and spread the misery) the next day.

School:

It takes a good bit of effort, but I have been trying to type in detailed lesson plans for my middle three children: Joanna (11), Lydia (9) and Andrew (6). I cant say we get everything done, but its a start anyway. Lydia particularly likes the direction this gives her and has thanked me profusely. Since we're doing an 8 week unit study on Asia, I've been helping Rachel (almost 13) and Joanna with Chinese history. I think I'm learning just as much as they are.

Mary (16) made the Valencia Community College's President's List for maintaining a 4.0 GPA last semester in Basic Spanish and Freshman Composition. Hurray! This morning she started her Spanish 1 and Economics classes there, then rushed to Metro Life Church for her Algebra 2 class. On Fridays, she takes Philosophy and Church History classes, taught by pastors at our church. Plus, she's still interning in a law office one day a week, as well as studying Anatomy, American Government, and World Literature at home. Her current self-assigned literature essay is on the abandonment of normal family relationships in a totalitarian utopian society. Where did I get this kid, and how has she so totally outpaced me in intellect and academics?

Tonight, Thad took six of the kids to see Julia's basketball team (The Community School Comets) win 22-10 against a Christian school from Deland. They are still there watching part of the TCS boys' team game as I finish up this newsletter. Julia (14) sure enjoys basketball, and I'm delighted that she can do it this year, but I'll still be glad when our schedule settles down next month at the end of the season. She's also doing a great job in her weekly EXCEL Biology, American History and English classes. Today, with a little help from me, she worked hard on vocabulary and a book review about The Giver by Lois Lowry which were assigned over the holidays. I'm supposed to be reading Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to discuss comprehension questions with her, but I confess that I haven't been too faithful with that this week. I left off around chapter 25 before Christmas, and now I'm trying to jump in at chapter 32. I know I missed something in there, because now Huck is pretending to be Tom Sawyer at Aunt Sally's house, and I didn't have a lick of warning!

Andrew (6) wrote a really cute story about a bunny and a frog the other day. He even typed it and spelled most of the words by himself! He got frustrated at the mistakes he found when he printed it out, but I quickly showed him the draft copy of the article called "Living and Learning in the Sovereign Hand of God" which I am writing for the summer issue of The Old Schoolhouse magazine. It's all marked up with corrections I need to make! I had to assure him that great writers edit their work!

Micah (4) is starting to learn to read easy words like cat, fat, hat, and sat. I know its going to be a lot of fun to teach him to read, though with my hectic schedule, it will likely be in fits and starts. At this age there is certainly no huge rush. Preschool is such a fun time! I found a perfectly good Little Tikes mini fort/slide in someone's trash pile yesterday. The little kids (Andrew, Micah, Naomi, Ben) had a blast in the back yard with slide, our Little Tikes alligator seesaw (bought at a garage sale for $5 last spring) and our Little Tikes swing. (I love Little Tikes!) Today, Lydia served a picnic lunch in the back yard. For a quick picnic dessert, I mixed together five crumbled up apple-cinnamon flavored rice cakes, a cup of dried out mini marshmallows and a small handful of coconut, nuked them in the microwave and formed them into balls. Big hit!

~*~*~

Whats up in the next few Hope Chest issues?

Usually I will do the Hope Chest every other week, but Im throwing in a bonus issue next week since my daughter Mary is doing it for me! Marys issue will feature an interview with Dr. Stanley Oakes, president of The Kings College. TKC is located in the Empire State Building in New York City and is operated by Campus Crusade for Christ. From their web site http://www.tkc.edu/: Our mission is to educate and equip tomorrows leaders for the strategic institutions of our world: the government, education, the Church, the media and the business world. This mission will be accomplished by offering degree programs that combine a core curriculum in the liberal arts with biblical studies and by remaining on the cutting edge of communication technology. The result will be men and women of courage, character, and conviction, who love God, who can discern God's will, and who have the courage to follow him. (If you are interested in an awesome campus visit, consider Operation Airlift from February 13-16. http://www.tkc.edu/adm/default.asp?topic=airlift.asp Mary went on this trip in October and highly recommends it.)

The following week, Ill review books such as Easy Homeschooling Companion by Lorraine Curry and Days of Creation Unit Study by Stephanie Romero. I am also hoping to get a review copy of The Gospel for Children by John Leuzarder.

~*~*~

I could write much more now, but I'll restrain myself. If you haven't already studied the hymn "Awake, My Soul," be sure to print it out right now and savor it slowly over the next few days! As you ponder each word or phrase and how it applies to your life, it will be a huge encouragement to your faith!

In His Sovereign Grace,

Virginia Knowles

http://www.thehopechest.net