Just checking in on a day when my brain resembles that of a certain Scarecrow from Oz and my joints are worthy of a Tin Man in need of a dose of oil.  Inspiration has flown today... yet I know that there are many generous people who call by each day and for them it is important to say something.

Over recent nights when sleep has been evasive, I have been very glad of all the bits an bobs of hymns, songs and Bible verses (without their chapter and verses references) that have found their way into my subconscious down the years which have floated from there into consciousness in the wee small hours.  Sometimes when we feel below par, praying is beyond us (or beyond me anyway) and it is good to have these bits to draw on.

For whatever reason, three of the last four services I've been at have employed the same song, a paraphrase of the start of Isaiah 40, and over the last few nights I have woken up 'singing' it more than a few times.  So, here it is... enjoy:

1    Comfort, comfort now my people;
    speak of peace - so says your God.
    Comfort those who sit in darkness,
    burdened by a heavy load.
    To Jerusalem proclaim:
    God shall take away your shame.
    Now get ready to recover;
    guilt and suffering are over

2    Hear the herald's proclamation
    in the desert far and near,
    calling all to true repentance,
    telling that the Lord is near.
    Oh, that warning cry obey!
    For your God prepare a way.
    Let the valleys rise to greet him
    and the hills bow down to meet him.

3    Straighten out what has been crooked;
    make the roughest places plain.
    Let your hearts be true and humble,
    live as fits God's holy reign.
    Soon the glory of the Lord
    shall on earth be shed abroad.
    Human flesh shall surely see it;
    God is ready to decree it.

Isaiah 40: 1-5 paraphrased Johannes Olearius translated Catherine Winkworth (1827-1878) amended John L Bell (born 1949) © Panel on Worship of the Church of Scotland