My Life Flows On/How can I Keep From Singing?
Text and music Robert Lowry (1826-1899)
Robert Lowry was a preacher but is best known today as a writer of gospel music. "How Can I Keep From Singing?" is a song of one who has weathered persecution and struggle, but maintains a focus on the Rock, giving thanks for all in song. The repeated refrain is clear, strong, unifying and comforting.
“My life flows on in endless song, above earth’s lamentation,
I hear the clear, though far-off hymn that hails a new creation.
No storm can shake my inmost calm while to that rock I’m clinging.
Since Christ is Lord of heaven and earth, how can I keep from singing?
Thro' all the tumult and the strife
I hear the music ringing;
It finds an echo in my soul—
How can I keep from singing?
I lift my eyes; the cloud grows thin;
I see the blue above it;
And day by day this pathway smooths,
Since first I learned to love it,
The peace of Christ makes fresh my heart,
A fountain ever springing;
All things are mine since I am his—
How can I keep from singing?”