Springs
AM Psalm 87, 90 • PM Psalm 136
Ezek. 3:4-17 • Heb. 5:7-14 •Luke 9:37-50
In the first of today’s morning psalms, the psalmist sings of how the LORD “loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.” The psalmist concludes:
And of Zion it shall be said,
“This one and that one were born in it”;
for the Most High himself will establish it.
The LORD records, as he registers the peoples,
“This one was born there.” Selah
Singers and dancers alike say,
“All my springs are in you.”
Thus, the experience of place is linked with the experience of generations. The people born in Zion are so important that God “records” and “registers” their names for all posterity. The presence of “singers and dancers” suggests this record of names is recreated during a celebration or annual festival. And “All my springs are in you” says to me that generations flow from Zion as water flows from springs. “[M]y” refers to the Lord and his generations, but also could easily refer to the singers and dancers. In other words, the “springs” are generations, but also songs and dances celebrating them. Indeed, in such a religious celebration, it may be hard to tell where one stops and the other begins.
My favorite place on Earth was my family’s former summer home in Canada, bought by my father’s parents in 1921. A distinctive feature was our freshwater spring, a short walk from the cabin. From year to year as there was more development on the lake, we worried that the source of the spring would be spoiled, but it never was. Guests through the years marveled at the clarity and fresh taste of the water, as they marveled at the associated stories of generations of our family. And there were a lot of family stories, (not a few of them involving singing and dancing into the wee hours of the morning).
We had to sell this remarkable place in 2002. Every day I appreciate how this little piece of Canada was a gift from God. And, oh, how I miss it. But I keep that place in my heart. And just as Zion, in Psalm 87, is a particular place, established by the Most High, so, too, is Zion a gift of God, replete with the singing and dancing and springs of generations. A gift to keep in our hearts.
Written by James Gamble
James wrote his doctoral dissertation on Canadian writers Margaret Laurence and Anne Hébert.