I didn’t intend to post another piano video on Youtube today. I didn’t.
But my friend, Bob, posted a verse from Revelation 22, and I had to comment on it. Had to.
“And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.” (Revelation 22:1)
Water is life.
And mercy. And grace. Especially grace.
That would have been the end of it. Except, my friend, Lisa, from New Zealand (where they are enjoying summer while I run my heater), posted her beautiful poem, and I had to comment on it as well. Had to.
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BAPTISM
Live each breath as prayer,
carrying the mind,
a paper boat in the heart.
Do not be rushed,
but like the stream
flow steady and clear.
The stream,
with its pools for settling,
for reflecting Heaven’s gaze.
Live as though nothing worries,
is absorbed,
discharged in the current.
Walk in the flow
but sit in presence,
not hurrying,
But allowing the water of life,
with its ebbs and flow,
to minister in refreshment,
To collect
the full weight of things,
to sustain and lead.
Ana Lisa de Jong
Living Tree Poetry
January 2026
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That was it. I was done commenting. And reading. I sat down at the old grand piano, intent on playing. For the calm. For the emotional release. I picked up one of my mother-in-law’s books—the ones she published over 30 years ago, to give folks like me (and her) songs to play that wouldn’t hurt the fingers quite as much.
The first song I turned to was a lovely arrangement of an old, old hymn. About water. And peace. And grace.
I threw up my hands and played the song. Again and again. With tears flowing. And once, as I laughed out loud.
I can’t do the dear lady’s arrangement justice. She would have had a few things to say about my fingering. And the wrong notes. And the counting.
But, in my head, I heard her playing it with her crippled hands and then realized that she doesn’t need these simple arrangements anymore. Freed from their diseased prisons, her fingers flow over the keys (if they have pianos in heaven, and I hope they do) like the water these verses sing of.
Living water flows from the seat where God rules in love and grace, justice and mercy.
Perfect peace. Perfect rest.
Soak it in.
Is God’s perfect peace,
Over all victorious
In its bright increase;
Perfect, yet it floweth
Fuller every day,
Perfect, yet it groweth
Deeper all the way.
Stayed upon Jehovah,
Hearts are fully blest;
Finding, as He promised,
Perfect peace and rest.”
LIKE A RIVER GLORIOUS—1874
Music by James Mountain, Words by Frances Ridley Havergal
Piano arrangement: Viola Whitmore