Five Minute Friday :: Benefits

• Five Minute Friday :: Benefit Linkup

I've been in contexts where asking people if they receive benefits or bennies (not the drug) is common. Bene, benefits are about goodness, wellness, getting the good stuff and benefiting from it. Doing well by getting the goods.

Like EBT-Food Stamps, some unearned benefits are an essential, life-giving grace.

The Godspell version of Psalm 103 pretty much comes from hymn 293 in the Episcopal Church's Hymnal 1940 and celebrates a long list of benefits God gives us:

Oh bless the Lord my soul
His grace to thee proclaimed
And all that is within me join
To bless his holy name

Oh bless the Lord my soul
God's mercies bear in mind
Forget not all his benefits
The Lord to thee is kind

Oh bless the lord my soul!
He pardons all thy sins
Prolongs thy feeble breath
He heals thine infirmities
And ransoms thee from death

God clothes thee with his love
Upholds thee with his truth
And like an eagle he renews
The vigor of thy youth

And bless God's holy name
Whose grace hath made thee whole
Whose love and kindness crowns
Thy days

Oh bless the lord
Bless the lord, bless the lord
My soul!

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