Make the Work of Our Hands Endure

[Intro - Lone porch guitar] [Verse 1 - Bubba, male solo] Before the mountains found their footing, Before the world received its frame, You were God beyond beginning, You are God beyond our days. You have been our home through ages, Generation after generation; To the dust You call us backward, Mortal children of creation. [Chorus - Duet] Teach us how to count our days, Give our hearts a wiser way; Fill the morning with Your mercy, Let our gratitude awake. Let Your beauty rest upon us, Let Your children see Your works; God, establish what our hands do, Make the work of our hands endure. [Verse 2 - Darlene, female solo] Like a watch within the nighttime, Thousand years before You pass; Like a dream swept off by morning, Like the evening's withered grass. You have set our sins before You, Hidden wrong within Your light; All our years go by like sighing, Who can weigh Your anger's might? [Instrumental Break - Dobro; harmonica; piano; brief tenor sax] [Verse 3 - Bubba, male solo] Seventy years, perhaps with vigor Eighty, still with toil and grief; Soon the span is gone behind us, Soon we fly beyond its reach. Turn again in Your compassion, How much longer must we wait? Give us gladness for the sorrow, For the years of bitter days. [Bridge - Darlene, female solo] Let Your servants see Your working, Let their children see Your glory; Set Your favor on our living, Make our labor stand before Thee. [Final Chorus - Duet and full mountain-gospel harmonies] Teach us how to count our days, Give our hearts a wiser way; Fill the morning with Your mercy, Let our gratitude awake. Let Your beauty rest upon us, Let Your children see Your works; God, establish what our hands do, Make the work of our hands endure. [Outro - Voices and acoustic guitar] From generation to generation, You have been our dwelling, Lord. Set Your favor on our labor, Make the work of our hands endure.