Be Thou My Vision
(Dallan Forgaill, Translated by Mary E. Byrne)
Naught Be All Else
LYRICS (Click to minimize)
Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art
Thou my best thought by day or by night
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light
Be Thou my wisdom, and Thou my true word
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son
Thou in me dwelling and I with Thee one
Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise
Thou mine inheritance, now and always
Thou and Thou only first in my heart
High King of heaven, my treasure Thou art
High King of heaven, my victory won
May I reach heaven’s joys, O bright heaven’s sun
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall
Still be my vision, O ruler of all
Source: Musixmatch
Translator: Mary E. Byrne; Versifier: Eleanor H. Hull
© Words: Public Domain, Music: 2010 Belden Street Music Publishing
CCLI Song #7056332 | CCLI License #632898
As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness;
when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.
Psalm 17:15 (ESV)
This is one of the most beautiful hymns to grace our hymnals, physically or metaphorically, but it is also so often repeated to the point of senselessness. “Be Thou My Vision” is an Irish text written as early as AD 700 and has stood the test of time! But so often, we sing it with all its poetic content without giving a thought to what it speaks of. The line “naught be all else to me save that Thou art” is one of the most beautiful truths we proclaim, but due to its archaic English, the meaning is often lost on us.
In modern and un-versified English, the first stanza would go something along the lines of the following:
Please be my vision, Lord of my heart.
May all else mean nothing to me, except for the fact that You exist.
You are the best thought on my mind, day or night.
Whether I wake or I sleep, Your presence is my light.
May this truly be our own prayer! Like the Psalmists who constantly declare their dependence on God, may we live our lives with God on our minds and in our hearts. Before Him, all the pleasures and pains of the world fade away.
Do we take comfort in the presence of God? We often take in the blessings God gives us; that much is true. We take comfort in the friends and family He gives us, or the food that He feeds us, or the shelter He provides us. All this is good! However, if all things are stripped from us, what have we left to depend on?
Let us not rely on the blessings of God, but on God Himself. The world and all its comforts will fade, but God’s light will not. As we start this new year, may living with God as our vision always be our commitment. After all, there is nothing more rewarding than unity with God, and there is nothing more comforting than the presence of God.
So let us plead for God to be our vision, that our eyes may be illumined. Let us pray for God to be our Lord, that our hearts will not stray. Let us beg for God to be our light, that our souls will ever be in His presence.
Pray with me the prayer of Saint Patrick:
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.
Excerpt from St. Patrick’s Breastplate