I sit o’ercanopied with Beauty’s tent,

Through which flies many a golden-winged dove,
Well watched of Fancy’s tender eyes up bent;
A hundred Powers wait on me, ministering;
A thousand treasures Art and Knowledge bring;
Will, Conscience, Reason tower the rest above;
But in the midst, alone, I gladness am and love.

I was reading this on Friday, and was struck particularly by the line;

“A hundred powers wait on me ministering.”and considered the obvious and wonderful powers in Art and Knowledge which GM lists in this poem, along with Will, Conscious and Reason, I thought about the power of the warm sunshine which the Lord sends to me, enfolding and warming me, what a gracious gift in being ministered to like this…then the power of the soft breeze wafting around the corner – causing the large green trees to sway and wave as well as cooling my brow…the wind blows where it may, almost as if to say “I am here to serve you, and the I am off to my next call”. The beautiful, powerful seemingly infinite numbers of plants and animals which surround me, birds singing, dragonflies on the hunt for prey moving with such deadly precision that our latest greatest technology is clumsy by comparison. The power of my sight, heartbeat, intellect, muscular abilities, digestive, cardio- vascular, aural all working in harmony without my bidding, white blood cells fending off attack…gravity keeping me firmly in place, …a house – filled with goods, a safe neighborhood with law and justice being administered – to say nothing of the power of Jesus Christ destroying the disposition of sin in my life – and replacing that with the power of his Holy Spirit! Wow, I have to say, it is amazing to think on, and notice the multitude of powers at my service, given by my great and loving Lord!