Raise The Song Of Harvest Home

I have a special affection for harvest hymns...old hymns that celebrate God's bounty and provision and are traditionally sung around Thanksgiving time.

One of my very favorites is Come Ye Thankful People, Come.  When I sing the words to the first verse I think of my beloved Little House on the Prairie books and episodes, and imagine a time when much hunting, harvesting, planning, cooking, canning, and storing was done by Thanksgiving time so there would be food and provision through the cold and snowy winter months.  The last verse yearns for the day when Jesus comes back to take His people to Heaven, the beautiful place He has prepared for us.

Come, ye thankful people, come, raise the song of harvest home; all is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin. God our Maker doth provide for our wants to be supplied; come to God's own temple, come, raise the song of harvest home.

Even so, Lord, quickly come, bring thy final harvest home; gather thou thy people in, free from sorrow, free from sin, there, forever purified, in thy presence to abide; come, with all thine angels, come, raise the glorious harvest home.

I also have a fondness for the song For the Beauty of the Earth.  This song is sung in the 90's movie version of Little Women, an absolute favorite of mine.  My daughter also greatly enjoys this beautifully directed and acted film version of the novel, and we are currently reading a children's classic version of this lovely story.  There is a scene in the movie where the family sings this "hymn of grateful praise" and I love it.

For the beauty of the earth, for the glory of the skies, for the love which from our birth over and around us lies; Lord of all, to thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise. 

For the beauty of each hour of the day and of the night, hill and vale, and tree and flower, sun and moon, and stars of light; Lord of all, to thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise. 

For the joy of human love, brother, sister, parent, child, friends on earth and friends above, for all gentle thoughts and mild; Lord of all, to thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise.