Last week I was trying to pick out a few hymns to sing at office morning prayer for worship Wednesday. Instead of relying on Google like I usually do, I grabbed a few hymnals I bought at an antique store a few years back.
I love all books, new and old, but nothing beats the smell of a worn-out binding and crusty yellowed pages- especially from an old hymn book. Paging through a Congregational Church hymnal published in 1919, I saw song after song titled with strange names like "Downs," "Fleming," and "Bradford." Upon further inspection I realized "Bradford" was the popular song "My Redeemer Lives" - and a few other oddly-titled hymns were actually familiar tunes. And then I stumbled on this one: 1. When on my day of life the night is falling, And in the winds, from unsunned spaces blown, I hear far voices out of darkness calling My feet to paths unknown. 2. Thou, who hast made my home of life so pleasant, Leave not its tenant when its walls decay; O love divine, O helper ever present, Be Thou my strength and stay! I defaulted to Google (which was inevitable!) to look up the hymn and learn more about it. I found two more verses (which, of course, were my favorite of the bunch): 3. Be near me when all else is from me drifting-- Earth, sky, home’s pictures, days of shade and shine, And kindly faces to my own uplifting The love which answers mine. 6. Some humble door among Thy many mansions, Some sheltering shade where sin and striving cease, And flows forever through heaven’s green expansions The river of Thy peace. That line -- "where sin and striving cease." That's been a reoccurring theme of the last few years. I've blogged about "cease striving" found in the NASB version of Psalm 46:10. And I've also seen the phrase pop up in other songs, like In Christ Alone ("what heights of love, what depths of peace when fears are stilled, when strivings cease"). "To strive" means to make great efforts to achieve something. Devote serious effort or energy to a task. In my life, striving looks like me trying to achieve perfection, to earn approval from God and others, to devote serious time and energy to managing my image so others like me. Some days the striving seems harmless, even beneficial: striving to complete a project or to do list or inbox zero. But it's easy for the goal of those strivings to be all about me- for my own peace of mind, and not for the glory of God or the serving of others. And most often, my strivings show that I trust in myself a lot more than I trust in God. But He offers the "sheltering shade," where, in his presence, sin and strivings cease. He is the one place where our trust is secure.
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Amy WellnerEncouraging others to intentionally live out their God-given identity. Archives
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