She dwells in the skies, she is ever above.
'Tis rarely, if ever, she settles below.
Her advice: Let us fly the dark winter, and follow the road that leads to the dayspring appearing above. 🙏
A second evening among the Flemish polders, and tonight a poem instead of a sermon.
Le gathered the poem into three lines tonight — where the swallow lives, how seldom she lands, and where her road goes. Above. Rarely below. Toward the dayspring. And she heard the last line as counsel: her advice. A bird giving advice to a saint — Jesus did the same: Behold the fowls of the air (Matthew 6:26).
Madame Jeanne Guyon (1648–1717) was a French woman of prayer who spent years confined for her faith — at the end, in the Bastille. Her poems came into English through William Cowper, the hymn writer of God Moves in a Mysterious Way.
So hold this picture: a woman behind stone walls, writing about a bird that almost never lands. Her body was shut in. Her heart was on the wing.
Le wrote two weeks ago, about Paul writing from prison: no human without Christ can live this revelation in prison. Guyon is one more witness to that.
I am fond of the swallow — I learn from her flight,
Had I skill to improve it, a lesson of love:
How seldom on earth do we see her alight!
She dwells in the skies, she is ever above.
It is on the wing that she takes her repose,
Suspended and poised in the regions of air,
'Tis not in our fields that her sustenance grows,
It is winged like herself — 'tis ethereal fare.
"It is on the wing that she takes her repose." Rest while moving. Swallows really do eat, drink, and even rest in the air. Isaiah 40:31: they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary.
Rest that does not depend on where you are standing. On October 4, the line Le called real truth: The comfort zone stays put. The Comforter walks. Guyon would say: the Comforter flies.
"'Tis not in our fields that her sustenance grows." John 6:27: Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life. Her food is caught on the wing — given from above, day by day.
She comes in the spring, all the summer she stays,
And, dreading the cold, still follows the sun —
So, true to our love, we should covet his rays,
And the place where he shines not immediately shun.
Our light should be love, and our nourishment prayer;
It is dangerous food that we find upon earth;
The fruit of this world is beset with a snare,
In itself it is hurtful, as vile in its birth.
"Still follows the sun." It is mid-October. The swallows of Flanders have just gone south, following the warmth all the way to Africa. Jeremiah 8:7: the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming. The swallow knows its time without a map. God put the knowing in her.
"So, true to our love, we should covet his rays." Malachi 4:2: unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings. Follow the Son, the way the swallow follows the sun.
"Our light should be love, and our nourishment prayer." That line alone is a whole rule of life. 1 John 4:16: God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God. And 1 Thessalonians 5:17, from Le's reading on October 1: Pray without ceasing.
'Tis rarely, if ever, she settles below,
And only when building a nest for her young;
Were it not for her brood, she would never bestow
A thought upon anything filthy as dung.
Let us leave it ourselves ('tis a mortal abode),
To bask every moment in infinite love;
Let us fly the dark winter, and follow the road
That leads to the dayspring appearing above.
"Filthy as dung." Strong words, but they are Paul's first. Philippians 3:8: I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord... and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ. Not that the earth is evil — but that nothing on it compares.
"Only when building a nest." And where does the swallow build? Psalm 84:3 — even thine altars, O LORD. When she does come down, she comes down near God.
"The dayspring appearing above." Luke 1:78, Zacharias's song: the dayspring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness. The dayspring is Christ Himself. The swallow's road ends in Him. 🙏
"Her advice: Let us fly the dark winter, and follow the road that leads to the dayspring appearing above."
Le · Zuienkerke · October 13, 2026 · Our light love, our nourishment prayer — resting on the wing, following the Son toward the dayspringRepose on the Wing
Rest that does not depend on where you stand. The Comforter walks — and flies.
Follow the Sun
The swallow knows its time. The Sun of righteousness rises with healing in His wings.
Love and Prayer
Our light should be love, and our nourishment prayer. A whole rule of life in one line.
The Dayspring
The dayspring from on high hath visited us. The swallow's road ends in Christ.