I was sitting with the Lord praying… we have so much to talk about in the mornings. Lately, my mind wanders and I struggle many times to focus..begging Him to literally take my heart and turn it to His. But today I really was doing my best to release much in my life to His hand. I remember saying “Lord, I am no longer going to stand in the way of your plan. I come into agreement with that which you ordained for my life…no matter the cost. It is no longer I who lives…but Christ you lives in me.”(a passage He has been working into my heart for some time now.) I’ve known for some time there is new land…yet I’ve been clinging with clinched fist to familiar things. Many times for me it’s simply an emotional place. An old mindset. One that causes a double mindedness. One never is prepared I think for the “release.” We think seasons are longer somehow than they are on His calendar. We package things in a way that was never His way….and I have seen how in so many ways I dig my heels in and make a “home” out of something, some place, or even some one that was a temporary abode. For all things are merely “passing thru….”
“Take up your cross…and follow me..” “Follow Me…” “Follow..”.
- To come or go after; proceed behind.
- 2. To go after in pursuit.
We read the word “Follow” so casually. Yet it has profound alluring…and a profound cost. If I truly follow Christ….in His footsteps…behind His…then I am destined for the cross…and for a death. Many deaths. A Thousand Deaths. (To read this poem click) I pondered what was usual and customary in the Word for His disciples… and then I looked at us today in the Church…and I wondered if we have much accurate. I spent a day with a new friend meeting a beautiful couple from Uganda. He was a muslim until the voice of many waters entered his home and said “I am the God of Abraham.” Upon His conversion to Christ, he had to run for his life…for his own brother beat him and intended to kill him. His family disowned him and he had to leave all he knew. His family, friends, and the land he knew. I wonder do we know the truth of “follow me.” All of this stirring in my own heart this day..
Back to the hymn…
I just desired to worship Him. To reset my eyes upon the only One I could lean into. For who He is as my Father..my Savior..my Master. For He alone is the Conductor of the music and lyrics that pour from the depths of my soul…the scribe of the poetry that appears out of nothingness…and the one who breaks my heart lovingly , yet painfully …that I may learn to love better. I am finding that sorrow can yield the deepest of ministry.
Rarely does the Lord whisper a hymn into my heart but suddenly I began to sing an old hymn I haven’t heard in years. I have meditated on it for a day or so now..and have to trust His heart to share it..knowing someone must need to be reminded of it’s message. Certainly…I am keenly aware of my own longing for this beautiful shore…I researched the history of this song..and found it to be so interesting and think it may very well give us much peace as we walk out this journey of “follow me….”
Background
Sankey described the composition of the hymn in his autobiography.
Mr. Webster, like many musicians, was of an exceedingly nervous and sensitive nature, and subject to periods of depression, in which he looked upon the dark side of all things in life. I had learned his peculiarities so well that on meeting him I could tell at a glance if he was melancholy, and had found that I could rouse him up by giving him a new song to work on.
He came into my place of business [in Elkhorn, Wisconsin], walked down to the stove, and turned his back on me without speaking. I was at my desk. Turning to him, I said, “Webster, what is the matter now?” “It’s no matter,” he replied, “it will be all right by and by.” The idea of the hymn came me like a flash of sunlight, and I replied, “The Sweet By and By! Why would not that make a good hymn?” “Maybe it would,” he said indifferently. Turning to my desk I penned the words of the hymn as fast as I could write. I handed the words to Webster. As he read his eyes kindled, and stepping to the desk he began writing the notes. Taking his violin, he played the melody and then jotted down the notes of the chorus. It was not over thirty minutes from the time I took my pen to write the words before two friends with Webster and myself were singing the hymn.—Sanford Fillmore Bennett (1836-1898)[2]
In the Sweet By and By
There’s a land that is fairer than day,
And by faith we can see it afar;
For the Father waits over the way
To prepare us a dwelling place there.
In the sweet by and by,
We shall meet on that beautiful shore;
In the sweet by and by,
We shall meet on that beautiful shore.
We shall sing on that beautiful shore
The melodious songs of the blest,
And our spirits shall sorrow no more,
Not a sigh for the blessing of rest.
In the sweet by and by,
We shall meet on that beautiful shore;
In the sweet by and by,
We shall meet on that beautiful shore.
To our bountiful Father above,
We will offer our tribute of praise
For the glorious gift of His love,
And the blessings that hallow our days.
As I ponder what it means to be an “overcomer..”, I feel He has shown me we have misunderstood our Man of Sorrows…and this word. To be an “overcomer” is not necessarily never acknowledging our sorrows, daily struggles, and times of dire weakness…but rather ….whether we walk or crawl…..we still “follow…” with the beautiful shore in sight..
Love MUCH…Shelly
