The Autumn Rains...

 Psalm 84 (NLT)

 ¹ How lovely is your dwelling place, 

      O LORD of Heaven’s Armies. 

 ² I long, yes, I faint with longing 

      to enter the courts of the LORD. 

   With my whole being, body and soul, 

      I will shout joyfully to the living God. 

 ³ Even the sparrow finds a home, 

      and the swallow builds her nest and raises her young 

   at a place near your altar, 

      O LORD of Heaven’s Armies, my King and my God! 

 ⁴ What joy for those who can live in your house, 

      always singing your praises. 

   

 Interlude

⁵ What joy for those whose strength comes from the LORD, 

      who have set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. 

 ⁶ When they walk through the Valley of Weeping,^[b] 

      it will become a place of refreshing springs. 

      The autumn rains will clothe it with blessings. 

 ⁷ They will continue to grow stronger, 

      and each of them will appear before God in Jerusalem.^[c]

 ⁸ O LORD God of Heaven’s Armies, hear my prayer. 

      Listen, O God of Jacob. 

                         Interlude

⁹ O God, look with favor upon the king, our shield! 

      Show favor to the one you have anointed.

 ¹⁰ A single day in your courts 

      is better than a thousand anywhere else! 

   I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God 

      than live the good life in the homes of the wicked. 

 ¹¹ For the LORD God is our sun and our shield. 

      He gives us grace and glory. 

   The LORD will withhold no good thing 

      from those who do what is right. 

 ¹² O LORD of Heaven’s Armies, 

      what joy for those who trust in you.

*Photographs taken 7/3/12

Copyright R. Harriott