my spirit

my spirit, although very weak and tired today, feels something like this:

"How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord of Heaven's Armies.
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.
Even the sparrow finds a home,

and the swallow builds her nest and raises her you

at a place near your altar,

O Lord of Heaven's Armies,

my Kind and my God!
What joy for those who can live in your house,

always singing your praises.
What joy for those whose strength come from the Lord,

who have set their minds on a pilgrimage

to Jerusalem.

When they walk through the Valley of Weeping,
it will become a place of refreshing springs.

The autumn rains will clothe it with blessings.

They will continue to grow stronger,

and each of them will appear before God in Jerusalem.
O Lord God of Heaven's Armies,

hear my prayer.

Listen, O God of Jacob.

O God, look with favour upon the king, our shield!
Show favour to the one you have anointed.
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 in the good life in the homes of the wicked.
For the Lord God is our sun and our shield.

He give us grace and glory.

The Lord will withhold no good thing

from those who do what is right.

O Lord of Heaven's Armies,

what joy for those who trust in you."

Psalm 84