Tuesday, February 17, 2009

trust and obey

Have you ever caught yourself humming a tune just to realize that you've been humming it without realizing what you were singing?  I do this all the time.  

I whistle a lot when I'm walking around the halls of the high school and I hum to myself while I clean sometimes.  Most of the time, I'm not paying a bit of attention to what I'm humming - but am busy thinking about a million other things.  Well, I realized the other day that whenever I hum to Abby to calm her or sing her to sleep, I am always humming the same tune.  Without realizing it, and for no known reason, I always hum a hymn called "trust and obey".  

Now, I know this song - well, I know the chorus, not the verses.  But I grew up singing it in church and it's simple melody is a familiar one.  Its not one that I would probably list in my top 10 favorite church hymns - but nevertheless, it seems to be the one that comes out when I sing to Abby.  She seems to like it ok -it puts her to sleep almost every time.  

Today I decided to actually look up the words - should I ever decide on actually singing it to the child.  It has several verses, but the second one, I really liked.

Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies,
But His smile quickly drives it away;
Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear,
Can abide while we trust and obey.

I think the words are simple and sweet and I like them as a lullaby.  In reading further about the song - I read that the words actually came from an "evangelistic crusade" in Brockton, MA ...just a few miles away from where we live now.  The words came from a man who obviously didn't know a lot about Christian doctrine and bumbled along his speech before ending it with “ Well, I’m not quite sure—but I’m going to trust, and I’m going to obey.” 

Somebody wrote that down and passed it along to the man who would become the author of the song.  How ironic that the song started just down the road.

Anyway, I just felt like sharing. :)  

In other news: Abby made an appearance at mass today where Kyle works and was doted upon by many.  She did just like she's supposed to and started crying mid-prayer.  Sigh.  Kyle held her in the wings for the most part.  After mass and lunch, we went to Target and bought her a bumbo seat (and some much needed pacifiers - we lost all her others...thus the crying in church).  I'll try to get some pictures of her in her big girl seat soon.

...and I'm off to go hum some more, I hear the wee one waking.

1 comment:

jennybee said...

Very sweet. I love that melody. Eminently hummable, and maybe a good subliminal message for her to get from a parental figure.

background

counter