Pearl has wanted very much to start a new project for 2025. She and I gave this some thought, and together we developed a theme for the upcoming year—“Coming Alive in 2025!”

In keeping with this theme, Pearl asked me, “What makes a person come alive?” Just then, the songbirds visiting our Backyard Garden burst out into song.

Pearl and I looked up at the songbirds and then at each other, and said together “The Ancient Words!”

For her, this meant the words of The Great Gardener who created everything we can see and touch. The Songbirds of The Living Library had remembered these words in songs that they repeated and passed on to future generations. For me, this meant the the words of God written down in The Bible.

In previous posts, Pearl has shared parts of The Ancient Words with our readers, but she wants to share as much of them as possible and share the joy and peace that these words bring to her life.

It took no time at all for us to choose The Book of Psalms as our starting point. Long ago, this collection of Hebrew religious hymns was recorded in letters on scrolls by scribes in much the way that the songbirds of The Living Library recorded them in musical notes to pass on to future generations. The Hebrew name of the book is Tehillim (תהילים) which means ‘praises’, as it contains many praises and supplications to God.

Birds were the first creatures to sing praises and thanksgivings to God for creating them and giving them the wondrous gift of flight. For this and so many other reasons, Pearl said we should begin with Psalms. Though often quoted, she hopes that our readers will hear them again with new ears and new hearts.

Watch for Pearl’s first real contribution in this new category of “The Ancient Words” on January 1, 2025! She will have gotten out her typewriter to hunt and peck the letters, and I will have gotten out my notebook to make an illustration of whatever she wants me to draw.