Sithuvillak Villasin

Like a thought, you press gently upon my heart,
like a joyful smile, you shape a smile upon my lips,
like a teardrop, you wash my eyes,
somehow, some way, you draw near to my very heart
Jesus, you draw near to my very heart,
hidden in the teardrop of a smile, you come…

Like a hymn, you whisper within my heart,
through pain, you form memories of yourself,
in the stillness of loneliness, you call me,
somehow, some way, you draw near to my very heart

Like a lamp, you walk with me through the dark,
quenching the heat of desire within my heart,
until I feel like hiding away in the sea and sky,
somehow, some way, you draw near to my very heart

This is a hymn about the quiet, pervasive nearness of God, the way he slips into a life not with thunder but through the smallest ordinary things. Its refrain is a marvel at that subtlety, “somehow, some way, you draw near to my very heart,” and each line finds him hidden in another everyday experience. He comes “like a thought” pressing on the heart, “like a joyful smile” on the lips, and, most tenderly, “like a teardrop” that washes the eyes, “hidden in the teardrop of a smile.” God is present in our happiness and our sorrow alike.

The second verse continues the pattern with things felt inwardly. He is there “like a hymn” whispering within, and, strikingly, “through pain, you form memories of yourself,” so that even suffering becomes a place where God is remembered. And “in the stillness of loneliness, you call me,” turning solitude from something to fear into a space where God’s voice can be heard.

The final verse brings the images to their warmest and their most overwhelming. He walks with the singer “like a lamp through the dark,” lighting the way; he quenches “the heat of desire within my heart,” cooling what burns; until the sense of God’s nearness grows so full that the singer “feel[s] like hiding away in the sea and sky,” wanting to disappear into the vastness where God is everywhere. What the listener is left with is a gentle, almost mystical awareness, the realization that God is not far off or occasional, but woven into every thought, smile, tear and lonely silence, forever drawing near to the heart.