All Things Bright And Beautiful

Nature + Hymn Study

Copyright 2021 By Leah Martin

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 Suggested Use
I love hymns about nature because Creation is full of God's fingerprints! I hope this
study will help bring beautiful thoughts of God to your home, as well as a deeper
understanding of nature! I have paced this set of lessons out for you to be used over
six days, but of course, adapt it to what works best for your family.

Listen to All Things Bright and

Day 1 Beautiful (link in resources)
read about author

Sing All Things Bright and Beautiful,

Day 2
Copywork page 5

Sing All Things Bright and Beautiful,

Day 3
Read and discuss Apostles' Creed

Sing All Things Bright and Beautiful,

Day 4
Copywork page 7

Sing All Things Bright and Beautiful,

Day 5
Discuss Psalm 104, Copywork page 8

Sing All Things Bright and Beautiful,

Day 6
Sun nature study and investigation

Copyright 2021/ Leah Martin/Mylittlerobins.com

No portions of this document may be reproduced or transferred to another user.
 All Things Bright and Beautiful
All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.
Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colors,
He made their tiny wings.
All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.
The purple-headed mountains,
The river running by,
The sunset and the morning,
That brightens up the sky.
All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.
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The cold wind in the winter,
The pleasant summer sun,
The ripe fruits in the garden,
He made them every one.
All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.
He gave us eyes to see them,
And lips that we might tell,
How great is God Almighty,
Who has made all things well.
All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.
Cecil F, Alexander, 1848
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 The Hymn's Author
As a little girl, Cecil Frances Humphreys, who went by the name of Fanny, loved
finding time alone to write poetry and sit in quiet reflection. Fanny was born in 1818 in
Ireland to Major John Humphreys and Elizabeth Reed Humphreys. She was their second
daughter, and one who longed to serve those around her through verse and good deeds.
When her father was away on duty with the Royal Marines, Fanny
established a friendship with Lady Harriet Howard, another budding writer. The pair
sharpened each others' minds, and soon became interested in the Oxford movement,
which occurred in England in the 1830's. This movement, originating at the famous
University of Oxford, sought to challenge some of the laws England had established to
make the protestant Church of England the leading religious entity, and that stifled
Roman Catholics from worshiping as they saw fit. One of the voices that Ms. Humphreys
admired within the Oxford movement was that of John Keble, a man devoted to God who
wrote the book The Christian Year.
Keble's book greatly influenced Cecil Frances Humphrey's first book, Verses for
Holy Seasons, which was published in 1846. In the preface of this book, Humphreys
wrote:
"This volume may, therefore, be considered as a Christian Year for Children..."
Her book was filled with poems for every holy day of the year.
Two years later, the esteemed John Keble wrote the introduction to Humphrey's latest
book, Hymns for Little Children. This book was immediately popular, and had dozens of
editions before the end of the 19th century. Many years later, scholars would call it a
"culturally important" work.
The hymn "All Things Bright and Beautiful" was featured in the book. It seems to have
taken inspiration from The Apostles' Creed, a lyrical liturgy making a statement about
essential Christian beliefs. It may also have been inspired by Psalm 104: 24-25. Since the
books simply contained lyrics and not music, the words have been set to many different
tunes.
Hymns for Little Children also contained the beautiful Christmas carol, "Once in
Royal David's City."
In 1850, Cecil Frances Humphrey married William Alexander, who later
became the Bishop of Derry and Archbishop of Armagh. The Mrs. Cecil Frances
Alexander dedicated her life to serving the poor and donated profits from her books to a
school for deaf and mute children.

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 From All Things Bright and Beautiful
All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.

Each little flower that opens,

Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colors,
He made their tiny wings.

All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.
Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colors,
He made their tiny wings.
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 The Apostles Creed
I believe in God, the Father,
Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven.
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic* Church,
the communion of the saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
Spread
thetoresurrection
the Rocky of the body,
Mountains
and the life everlasting.
after their original
introduction
Amen.

*The Apostles' Creed originated while the catholic church was the entire church. As this does not refer
to the modern Roman Catholic church, many denominations have left this terminology in the Apostles'
Creed. However, many churches, including mine, have replaced the word "catholic" with "Christian."

Question for Discussion:

1. What phrases in the Apostles' Creed could have inspired Cecil Frances (Humphreys)
Alexander to write "All Things Bright and Beautiful"?

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 From The Apostles' Creed

I believe in God, the Father,

Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.

I believe in God, the Father,

Almighty, creator of heaven
and earth. I believe in Jesuus
Christ, his only Son, our Lord.

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 Psalm 104: 24-25
How many are your works, Lord!
In wisdom you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
There is the sea, vast and spacious,
teeming with creatures beyond number—
living things both large and small.

How many are your works, Lord!

In wisdom you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
There is the sea, vast and
spacious, teeming with creatures
beyond number- living things both
large
largeand
andsmall.
small.
Psalm 1O4:24-25

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 The Sun- A Nature Study
"And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light." Genesis 1:3

The God who meticulously planned every detail of His creation and our existence created light
before the sun. In Genesis 1:3, we see that light was created on the very first day of existence,
even before the sky was formed! On the fourth day, the sun and stars were placed in the sky.

"And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night,
and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in
the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so." Genesis 1: 14-15

And although it has been debated for ages what the original source of light was, we know that
Jesus referred to himself as the Light of the World.

"Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not
walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12

Both in beautiful metaphors and scientific fact, light is crucial for our species. Our main source
of physical light is the sun. Without its light, nothing would appear "bright and beautiful," for we
need the sun's light to see anything that is before us. The sun, which appears to come closer
and farther away depending on the time of day, is nearly 93 million miles away from us in its
celestial home. It take 8 minutes for its light to travel to us.

If we look to the east in the morning, we will notice the sun peeking up through the horizon,
even though it has never left its resting place. That is because we, on the earth, are forever
rotating, and when we rotate away from the sun, it is night. In the morning, as we come closer
to the giant star, we are once again in the path of the sun's light.

The sun not only gives us light, but warmth. In the summer, when it is the warmest, the sun
shines down at us from a sharper angle, almost directly over our heads. In the cooler months,
the sun does not appear so high in the sky. The angle of its light is less severe, and less
intense heat.

Besides being our main source of light and heat, the sun contains so much mass that it has
enough gravitational pull to keep the other planets in our solar system orbiting around it. Our
universe is heliocentric, revolving around the sun.

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 Angle of the Sun

This diagram is a rough sketch of the difference in the sun's angle during winter and summer
in the Northern Hemisphere. During the winter solstice, on December 21, the sun shines
directly above the Tropic of Capricorn, at 23.5 degrees south latitude. During the summer
solstice, the sun shines directly above 23.5 degrees north latitude, at the Tropic of Cancer.
As a result of the sun's angle, December 21st has the least amount of daylight as any other
day in the year, and June 21st has the most.

Questions for Discussion:

1. Use a globe to find the Tropic of Capricorn and Tropic of Cancer. Hold a tennis ball
above each tropic line and find where you live on the globe. How does the sun hit your
home? At a sharp angle, or at a wide angle?

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 Investigation
Idea: How can a sun dial show us how the sun moves?

Materials:

1 straight stick or wooden dowel

12 smooth rocks
A white Sharpie or acrylic paint pen

Directions:
1. Make your own sun dial in a sunny spot that you can access regularly. Before getting
started, write the numbers 1-12 on each of your stones with a Sharpie or acrylic paint
marker. We chose to paint our rocks blue before writing numbers on them.
2. At 12:00 PM, find a sunny spot to place your stick straight up and down in the ground.
Observe the shadow, and place the number 12 rock at the end of the shadow.
3. Go back outside at 1:00 PM, observe where the shadow is, and place your rock at the
end of the shadow. Repeat this until the sun sets.
4. The following day, at 7:00 AM, go back outside and repeat the shadow and stone
procedure until 11:00 AM. You should have used all of your rocks by now, but if the sun
set before 6 o'clock, make your best guess as to where the rock should go.
5. Leave your sun dial up for a few days, and observe it at different times.

Question for Discussion:

!. What do the changing shadows tell us about how the sun moves across the sky?

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 "God saw
everything that He
had made, and
behold, it was very
good."
Genesis 1:31

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 Resources
All Things Bright and Beautiful, with original tune

All Things Bright and Beautiful with John Rutter's tune

Cecil Frances Alexander's Hymns for Little Children

The Apostles' Creed

Verses for Holy Seasons in the public domain

Cecil Frances Alexander's biography from Poem Hunter

Creed song by Rich Mullins

Thank you for use My Little Robins'

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