The Gift of Gifts

O source of all good,
what shall i render to Thee for the gift of gifts,
Thine own dear Son, begotten, not created,
my redeemer, proxy, surety, substitute,
His self-emptying incomprehensible,
His infinity of love beyond the heart's grasp

Herein is wonder of wonders:
He came below o raise me above,
was born like me that I might become like Him.

Herein is love:
when I cannot rise to Him He draws near on wings of grace,
to raise me to Himself.

Herein is power:
when Deity and humanity were infinitely apart
He united them in indissoluble unity,
the uncreate and the created.

Herein in wisdom:
when I was undone, with no will to return to Him,
and no intellect to devise recovery,
He came, God-incarnate, to save me to the uttermost,
as man to die my death,
to shed satisfying blood on my behalf,
to work out a perfect righteousness for me.

O God, take me in spirit to the watchful shepherds,
and enlarge my mind;
let me hear good tidings of great joy,
and hearing, believe, rejoice, praise, adore,
my conscience bathed in an ocean of repose,
my eyes uplifted to a reconciled Father;
place me with ox, ass, camel, goat,
to look with them upon my Redeemer's face,
and in Him account myself delivered from sin;
let me with Simeon clasp the new-born child to my heart,
embrace Him with Undying faith,
exulting that He is mine and I am His.

In Him Thou hast given me so much that heaven can give no more.

~From The Valley of Vision