Based on “Mountain Reflections” by lfaber at stock.XCHANG. I will lift up mine eyes unto the mountains:
from whence shall my help come?
My help cometh from HaShem,
who made heaven and earth.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved;
He that keepeth thee will not slumber.
Behold, He that keepeth Israel
doth neither slumber nor sleep.
HaShem is thy keeper;
HaShem is thy shade upon thy right hand.
The sun shall not smite thee by day,
nor the moon by night.
HaShem shall keep thee from all evil;
He shall keep thy soul.
HaShem shall guard thy going out and thy coming in,
from this time forth and for ever.(Psalms 121: 1-8; Jewish – source: Tanakh, Jewish Publication Society, 1917;)
I have also written a LOTR fanfic story about that psalm. In case you are curious, here is a LINK.
That’s beautiful. Thanks for sharing!
Though I wouldn’t consider myself deeply religious, there is something about psalms and blessings that really moves me. They make me think of humanity’s rich history and the power of faith and how, really, we’re all connected despite the superficial differences people tend to get so hung up over.
Thank you for sharing this beautiful blessing, Juno! ♥ Last year your posts were the highlight of my December, got me in touch with the spiritual aspect of Christmas (since my family’s not all that religious, either), for which I am very thankful.
Two questions: I would very much like to send you a Christmas card (or just a seasonal one, if you’d prefer that) and I’d like your snail mail address, if you don’t mind sharing it. My e-mail is west.for.winter AT gmail.com If you don’t want to, I completely understand, but it’s the least I can do for how you’ve made December significant for me again, despite being disensitized by the commercialization of the holiday.
Also, I was wondering if there is a community or a site where I can learn some css codes for the 3 columns layout (which is what I assume you’ve used here)?
That’s exactly what I felt when I found all those blessings from all those different creeds and cultures. 🙂 The connection is much deeper than what separates us.
And also that there is a power of goodness in this work. Even if it’s maybe just in the believing.
CSS: the style of my journal is actually FlexiSquares. Here’s a CSS guide for it, from the community: http://community.livejournal.com/cartonage/2419.html
That helps a lot, because it explains some lj specific quirks. Apart from that I have found that the best intuitive method of styling LJ CSS is working with the Web Developer Toolbar for Firefox. You can outline the information of each element on your journal and then change it until you like the effect.
I’m glad you like it. You’re very welcome!
I really like that Psalm. It’s the text for a lovely women’s trio in Mendelssohn’s Elijah, and I liked it so much that I found a version of it that Isaac Watts put into metered verse, and wrote a shape-note tune for it. So far, the only fuging tune I’ve written.
Awesome! I’d really love to hear or see that tune.
That psalm holds a special place in my heart, too. It was the verse for my confirmation, when I was still a Protestant. And even though I’m a Catholic now, it’s still important to me.
The picture, psalm and music make a fine blend. The LOTR story was a treat as well. I was born Jewish and am now Anglican. Advent has become one of my favorite seasons with the preparation toward Christmas. I enjoy Epiphanytide as well since it provides 12 days after Christmas to slowly wind down from the intensity of Christmas in the United States.
I light Hannukah candles as well. Celebrating over 8 days helps avoid the rush and busyiness that the Christmas season produces in the United States.
Christmas music and decorations fill the stores starting November 1st. It used to be the day after Thanksgiving [4th Thursday in November]. The\at Friday is called Black Friday because, as my son told me, the merchants’ revenue goes from deficit to credit.
I’d really love to hear or see that tune.
Sigh. That’s highly unlikely. You and I would both have to be at a regular singing I’d never been to before, and I’d have to have the sheets with me. That tune (I called it “Thorndale,” after the street I was living on when I wrote it) isn’t published anywhere. And, in the Sacred Harp tradition, it is not the most polite thing in the world to call your own tunes unless a) they’re brand new or WIPs, or b) you’re a guest at a small regular singing. And for (b), there are a few conditions that go along with that. So, not likely.
I can tell you that I’ve heard “Thorndale” sung several times. Once or twice at the Hyde Park regular singing, and once each at the Hookes’ Regular Singing in Amherst and at the Boston regular singing. It’s not a difficult tune to sing, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. I was aiming for a sound similar to Billings or Jeremiah Ingalls (18th-century New England style, very clean and bright, with long, airy lines), and I think I achieved that. And the fugue works out better than I thought it would.
*sigh* indeed. I’d love to hear Sacred Harp singing once. I had never heard of that before I “met” you. I can’t sing, but the description of Sacred Harp singing I found online sounds awesome.
If you ever come to the U.S., and we meet in person, I will find a singing and take you.