Hymns

Standing on the church pews belting out Amazing Grace, Great is Thy Faithfulness, It is Well With My Soul....

I loved hymns as a little kid because I got to follow along in the big red hymnal. I'd race my brother to see who could find the hymn page first. I liked seeing how many of the words I knew by heart. I liked seeing if the words actually rhymed... and I giggled as we experimented with slant rhyme and near rhyme....

By now I know so many by heart that I rarely think about the words. It's just empty singing. But lately a certain verse in "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" has stopped me in my tracks. Has been my heart's song...

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above

Yes the words are old. Yes the grammar's goofy. But think about it. There is so much truth in this fantastic verse....

What would I do without the grace I have been shown? I have not deserved the Lord's favor. I continually disappoint him. Yet he loves me, takes me back.... He's still faithful; He's still good even when I ditch him for everything else. But somehow over and over I leave this goodness for my own way. Because after all, my heart wanders, and thinks its own way to be better.

Here's my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.