I may sit in my wee old house
at the spinning wheel to toil so dreary
I may think on a day that is gone,
and sigh and sob till I grow weary
I ne'er could brook, I ne'er could brook
a foreign king to own or flatter
And I will sing a ranting song the day
our King comes o'er the water
I heard this lovely Scottish song the other day and was struck to the heart. The entire song, here, speaks of a Scottish lady's longing for the return of Stewart rule in her land. Being of Scottish ancestry myself, I felt a kinship with Lady Keith, and even now thrill thinking about "the day of pride and chieftain's glory":
I have seen the good old day,
the day of pride and chieftain's glory
When royal Stuart held the sway
and none heard tell of Whig or Tory
Though silver be my hair one day,
and age has struck me down, what matter
I'll dance and sing that happy day,
the day our King comes o'er the water
This song reminded me of Arthur Pendragon, who I have been thinking of quite a bit lately already.
Legends say that one day he will return to England in its time of greatest need. Stories continue to be written portraying this event, and I have no doubt there are many more to come. Sometimes they're lame. They're all a little disappointing. But they will keep coming. Because despite our modern, democratic, individualistic ideals, a longing lurks deep inside us all for a king who will come and make everything right again, with a sword of justice in hand, and compassion and glory shining in his eyes.
Gondor waited for their king for nearly a thousand years. Even the Hobbits had a saying "When the king comes back," though they used it "of some good that could not be achieved, or of some evil that could not be amended."
I also think of another King whose coming has been anticipated long. His arrival shall be no anticlimax. No, it will be more wonderful and terrible than I can begin to even imagine or want (at first - think of Puzzle the donkey, shrinking away in Aslan's presence!). Though I will always be His child no matter my poor choices (thanks to His unfathomable grace!), yet I do not always walked by faith as He asks. Too many of my works will likely be burned up as the worthless straw they are, because I was trying to do things my way, not God's way.
Do I grow too comfortable here, submitting to the rule of the "foreign king" and evil ruler of this world?
Oh may I live as a faithful servant for my King who I cannot yet see! May my smallest actions be based on trusting Him. And may I eagerly await with my life the day when"our King comes o'er the water"!
If I live to see the day that I
have begged and begged from heaven
I'll fling my rock and reel away,
and dance and sing from morn till evening
For there is One I will not name
who comes the beingin bike to scatter
And I'll put on my bridal gown
the day our King comes o'er the water
Beautiful, Rael!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, Rael!!!
ReplyDeleteVery interesting indeed!!!!
Many Blessings~ Miss Jen
Hi. I discovered your blog through Narnia Writer's Guild and read this post. This post is beautiful and it really made me think. Thank you for the post!
ReplyDeleteMommy and Miss Jen, thanks. :-)
ReplyDeleteIt's good to meet you, Merriette! Thanks for commenting! I'm afraid I haven't been active or even looked in on the Narnia Writer's Guild for a long time, but I'm glad to hear it's still going! :-) Your blog looks fun. Very LotR-ish. ;-D Have a lovely day!
I can't say that NWG has had much activity, at least not since I've joined, but it's still alive. :)
ReplyDelete*reads that my blog looks my LotR-ish, starts in surprise, then opens blog to glare at it suspiciously* Lets see: no LotR posts, no LotR quotes, no LotR music, 1 LotR poll, and 2 LotR awards. Hm, I'm not quite sure where you got that impression. :) I'm glad you like it.
I love the quotes on your sidebar; may I use them?
Oh, and you listed all my favorite weather on your profile. :)
Alright, I looked at your blog again, and you're right. I don't know quite why I said that... perhaps because you do have a few sidebar things relating to Narnia and Pendragon, and perhaps I sometimes just lump those sorts of great stories all together in my head. :-S Silly me!
ReplyDeleteMerriette, if you're a writer, have you ever thought about doing NaNoWriMo? It's a great challange to write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. I did it last year, and am doing it again this year, and highly reccomend it! It's tremendously fun and great practice, whether your book comes out sensible or not. ;-)
Of course you may use those quotes. :-) And that's cool that we like the same weather. Here it is currently hot, dry, and mosquito-swarming weather, which I am no so fond of. But fall is coming, hurrah!
:D That makes sense. Many of my blogging friends are LotR-ish, so it could have rubbed off a little in the feel of the place. XD
ReplyDeleteThat does sound really fun. However, I don't think I have time for it. My mother is having another baby this week (hopefully) or next week, so with that and my other siblings and school and church activities... I don't think I'll be able to. I've been trying to cut back on my computer activities. However, I will look into it and thank you for recommending it to me. :)
Thank you. Ugh, that doesn't sound nice. We have more gnats than mosquitoes, for which I am grateful because gnats are bothersome enough. Thankfully, it's been a rather cool summer with lots of rain. :)
I think you might be interested in The Pen of Felicity (http://mirroringhisgrace.blogspot.com/) I don't know why, I just thought you would like it.
Marriette, of course you must help your mother with the new little one! :-) How exciting! Helping the family and keeping up with other responsibilities can be quite a task (more than enough to keep me busy sometimes, and my youngest brother is now 15!), but it is a blessed one, and far be it from me to distract anyone from what the Lord wants them to be doing! :-) I would encourage you to enjoy and make the most of time with your family while you can! Something I need to do more often, too. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks for recommending the blog! Looks like a good one.
Have a lovely and blessed day! :-)
Baby is here!! :D I'm amazed at how many things I've forgotten in the less than two years since our last baby, such as how tiny they are and how often they eat and wet their diaper.
ReplyDeleteI very much agree. I have seven younger siblings so they take a lot of work and time, but I wouldn't exchange that blessing for anything. I could type pages of ways that being a big sister is a blessing. Thank you for your encouragement. I'm learning just how precious my time with my family is as my older siblings are started to leave the nest. However, Mother said that I may do NaNoWriMo for my schoolwork in November! That means that I get to do NaNo but spend just as much time with the baby and family as I would otherwise! I'm very excited. Thank you for recommending it to me! Now I just need to figure out a plot. Hm.
You're welcome. I'm glad you like it.
God bless!
~Merrie
Merriette, congratulations on the arrival of your new precious baby! :-)
ReplyDeleteOh, and that's so exciting that you get to do NaNoWriMo for school! How fun!
Plot? What is this plot you speak of? ;-) I'll bet you'll think of something. I have been debating between doing a fantasy tale (a continuation of some other stories I've written) and a story about some homeschool families who open a coffee-shop and bookstore. I'll have to decide at some point. But then the fun of it is seeing where the story takes you!
Thank you! He has been such a joy to have with us. It's hard to believe he hasn't been here forever.
ReplyDeleteHaha. :D Your story ideas sound interesting. Is it okay to write a ripoff of someone else's fanfiction? :-S Since it's not so much about the story as the writing of it, I was wondering if that would be allowable. :-S
Sure thing! :-) I see no reason why fanfiction would not be allowed. It might not be publishable later if you're using copyrighted characters, but most NaNoWriMo novels aren't publishable anyways. ;-) If that's what gets you most excited, I'd say go for it! :-)
ReplyDeleteI too felt the longing and the sadness in this song when I first heard it sung. I related to it as one who waits for her King to come back. I too am of Scottish heritage. You wrote perfectly what I felt....Thank you!
ReplyDeleteAs Autumn starts and the days turn cool and colorful, I decided to order the movies you have suggested from the library. Now I'm waiting for them to be ready for pick up so I can spend a chilly afternoon cuddled on the sofa visiting other times...
ReplyDelete