A Thought From a Hymn

Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things has done, in Whom this world rejoices;
Who from our mothers’ arms has blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.

Martin Rinkart wrote this hymn in Saxony in 1646 (read it auf Deutsch here) after the Thirty Years War ended, after his city had endured siege, famine, plague, and death, leaving him as the only pastor in the city. The hymn was written for a grand celebration service shortly after the war was over.