02/03/2022 Band practice devotions

On Wednesday night at band practice our devotions were provided by Susan Hannah. We’d like to share these with you today.

I know the past 2 years haven’t been easy due to the covid situation and I certainly at times felt like a prisoner in my own home only being allowed out for a certain amount of time each day. This gave me plenty time to think (I’m not sure that was a good thing) and made me realise how much I took for granted all the scenery that is around me. We’re fortunate enough where we live to have a park 5mins walk away that has a lovely walk with lots of trees and a burn running through and as I was taking my time admiring my surroundings and listening to the birds and running water it brought back a memory from when I attended Belfast Temple Music School. The camp that year was at Castlewellan Castle which is in a forest park, surrounded by a lake, fields, trees and hills. The girls’ choir were practising a song called Pictures of Perfection when we were asked to go and stand at one of the many windows to look out at all that surrounded us and I’d like to share the words with you :-

𝘐𝘧 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘣 𝘶𝘱 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘭,
𝘌𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺,
𝘍𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘐 𝘴𝘦𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘴,
𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘥𝘴,
𝘛𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘻𝘰𝘯,
𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥,
𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦,
𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦.

𝘐’𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘎𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘺,
𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯,
𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥.
𝘐’𝘮 𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘎𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘺,
𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯,
𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦,
𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦.

I’m sure you’re all thinking, what’s she talking about pictures of perfection for, when all we are seeing in our newspapers and on television are pictures of helplessness, despair and devastation. Well, it should make us all think of how grateful we should be to be living in the surroundings that we are. The people of Ukraine are certainly not looking out of their windows on to pictures of perfection, but we must have faith to believe that the power of prayer will change the pictures of hopelessness and devastation, perhaps not to perfection, but to something much better than the present situation.

Susan