a prisoner's song

Last night's late night project... was to make a card to go with this sweet little ceramic dish.

 

Miss MusicBox and Miss Artist  have a 19yo friend (Kate S.) who is really struggling with chronic lyme disease.  They stay with Kate's family when they visit for Bible conferences at a church near Milwaukee, Wisc.  Next week is the Holiness Conference, and Aunt Colleen planned to take the girls to visit Kate... now they are actually planning to stay with them because the S. family insisted, in spite of the difficulties they are going through with Kate's health.  Sooo, anyway we found the cute little dish, and then my girls remembered this poem/hymn from a literature book and thought it might encourage Kate, who also likes to sing.

1. A little bird I am,
     Shut from the fields of air,
   And in my cage I sit and sing
     To Him who placed me there;
   Well pleased a prisoner to be,
   Because, my God, it pleaseth Thee.
2. Nought have I else to do,
     I sing the whole day long;
   And He whom most I love to please
     Doth listen to my song;
   He caught and bound my wandering wing;
   But still He bends to hear me sing.
3. Thou hast an ear to hear
     A heart to love and bless;
   And though my notes were e'er so rude,
     Thou wouldst not hear the less;
   Because Thou knowest as they fall,
   That love, sweet love, inspires them all.
4. My cage confines me round;
     Abroad I cannot fly;
   But though my wing is closely bound,
     My heart's at liberty;
   For prison walls cannot control
   The flight, the freedom of the soul.
5. O it is good to soar
     These bolts and bars above!
   To Him whose purpose I adore,
     Whose providence I love;
   And in Thy mighty will to find
   The joy, the freedom of the mind.

~Madame Guyon (1648-1717)

  

The card needed to be big enough to include the entire poem, and Miss MB wanted it nice (elaborate) enough  to hang in Kate's room if she likes it as well. (Since we didn't find a matching photo frame to just put the poem in...)