As For
Me
As for me
I will be
free, without burden
as I trust in
your unfailing love
Yes I will
because this
freedom belongs to you
to give and
to no one else.
As for me
You are my
constant companion
bringing
strength, hope, healing
Yes I will
allow you to
place me in your safe place
sheltering me
under your wings
Psalm 91: 3-6
ReplyDeleteWhoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust."
Surely he will save you
from the fowler’s snare
and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.
--New International Version
When pelicans press their bill onto their chest in order to empty their pouch, it looks like they may be stabbing themselves; in addition, the Dalmatian pelican has a blood-red pouch in the early breeding season. Under the influence of Psalm 91 and the Christian belief that Jesus sacrificed himself to save mankind, these observations led to the belief in medieval Europe that pelicans wounded themselves to feed their young, an act known as vulning, and the image was linked to the feast of Corpus Christi. In the hymn "Adoro te devote," Thomas Aquinas referred to the "loving divine pelican, able to provide nourishment from his breast." Elizabeth I adopted the symbol in order to portray herself as the "mother of the Church of England." The title page of the first edition of the "King James Bible" (1611) included a picture of a vulning pelican. An older version of the myth was that pelicans killed their young and resurrected them with their blood, again analogous to the sacrifice of Jesus. (Similarly, in an Indian folktale, a pelican's rough treatment of her young led to their deaths, and in contrition she resurrected them with her own blood.) Even earlier, the Egyptians regarded the pelican as the "mother of the king" and believed it had the ability to prophesy safe passage in the underworld.