Our Ministries And Legacies! Poem by Denis Martindale

The first version of the Gospel song How Great Thou Art wasn't the final version that singers like Elvis have sung for us. It took time to create the final version we know today. I imagine God leading the other poets to add extra lines so that the completed version could reach millions many years later. I had to wonder if other poets would be born who would add more verses to any of my poems.

I deliberately write in the style of common metre hymns that have the 8-6-8-6 syllables pattern. So maybe hymn writers would develop what I wrote in my lifetime. Maybe new hymn tunes would be written for such versions yet to be written. Maybe I should pray about that as well.

I guess, it's a bit of a sermon idea, in that what we begin can be edited later, just as God is editing us throughout our lives, and even the children we bring into this world. How many poems and hymns got written just because of one Holy Bible verse that inspired something extra in the hearts and minds of certain readers?

When I considered all these things, I closed my eyes in wonder at the future possibilities that would unfold. And who knows how many signs and wonders and mighty miracles were yet to be? Somehow such thoughts refreshed me. Our lives aren't the end of our ministries and legacies here on Earth. God will see to that…


Denis Martindale, the 3rd of July 2023.