Sunday's Hymn

This is another hymn from Frances Havergal, whose better-known hymns include Take My Life and Let It Be, Like a River Glorious and Who Is on the Lord’s Side?

I Bring My Sins to Thee

I bring my sins to Thee,
The sins I cannot count,
That all may cleansèd be
In Thy once opened Fount;
I bring them, Savior, all to Thee;
The burden is too great for me,
The burden is too great for me.

I bring my grief to Thee,
The grief I cannot tell;
No words shall needed be,
Thou knowest all so well;
I bring the sorrow laid on me,
O suffering Savior, all to Thee,
O suffering Savior, all to Thee.

My joys to Thee I bring,
The joys Thy love has given,
That each may be a wing
To lift me nearer Heaven;
I bring them, Savior, all to Thee,
Who hast procured them all for me,
Who hast procured them all for me.

My life I bring to Thee,
I would not be my own;
O Savior, let me be
Thine ever, Thine alone;
My heart, my life, my all I bring
To Thee, my Savior and my King,
To Thee, my Savior and my King.

Other hymns, worship songs, sermons etc. posted today:

• Lord’s Day 19, 2009 at The Thirsty Theologian
• Sing Praise to God Who Reigns Above at The Happy Wonderer
• The Fourth Sunday After Easter at Nova Scotia Scott
• O, Church Arise at Hiraeth
• O That My Load of Sin Were Gone at joythruChrist
• Sing Praise to God Who Reigns Above at Conjubilant With Song
• Jesus! The Name High Over All at Whatever Things….
• Hallelujah! Thine the Glory at Tapestry of Graces

Have you posted a hymn today and I missed it? Let me know by leaving a link in the comments or by emailing me at the address in the sidebar and I’ll add your post to the list.

Saturday's Old Photo

This is the home in Hailey, Idaho where my mother lived with her family. She moved out in 1942 to go to business school, then to Biola, and then to live with her sister in Salt Lake City. A year or two after she left, this family home burned. What was left after the fire is what you see here.

My mother was the fifth of eight children, so when she lived in this house, there would have been at least three of her siblings and her parents living there, too. From the photo, it looks like it’s a single room with an added lean-to. It would have been just a little cramped, wouldn’t it?

My mother’s note on the back of the photo says, “Bldg at right is where cow kicked Thelma [my mother’s name] out of doorway.” By the looks of it, the cow may have had a roomier home than the family.

As you can see, my mother’s family was dirt poor. People were poor during the depression, but her family was poorer than most. She felt, growing up, that her family was the poorest of all the families around and I think she may have been right. Even as an adult, she was a little embarrassed by the poverty of her family.

When she was in first grade, my mother was invited to an after school birthday party for a girl in her class. She only had one dress and my grandma washed it out by hand every evening, hung it to dry overnight, and then ironed it every morning. My grandma didn’t want my mother going to the party wearing the dirty dress she’s worn all day at school, so she wrote a note to the teacher asking that she be excused a couple of hours early.

The plan was to wash, dry, and iron the dress so it would be fresh and ready to wear by the time the party started, but the teacher refused to let my mother go home early without knowing why she needed to leave, and my mother was too ashamed to tell her. She didn’t want her teacher to know that she had only one dress, something the teacher must have already known, since she wore the same dress to school every day. So my mother sat in school all afternoon, worrying about how she was going to make it to the party, and feeling different—somehow worse—than all the other little girls.

As it turns out, her mother and older sister managed to get the dress washed and ready just in time for the party, but I don’t think my mother ever forgave that teacher for her insensitivity.

When she told this story, my mother always contrasted this callousness with the thoughtfulness of her second grade teacher. My mother had borrowed a sweater from her much younger sister to wear to school one day, and looking back, she said, it must have been way too small for her. But at least it wasn’t just the same old dress she always wore. Her second grade teacher noticed the sweater and told her that it was lovely. My mother never forgot how thrilled she’d been to be singled out with a compliment on something she was wearing.

My mother always made sure that my sister and I were well-dressed. Much of our clothing came from the missionary barrel or other second-hand sources, but she saw to it that our outfits fit and matched and were in style. It was, I think, her way of protecting us from feeling poor—and somehow different—as she had when she was a child.

Round the Sphere Again

• Update: Saving Money
  If you live in the U.S., you can get free shipping this weekend on orders from Monergism Books (click on ad to the left).

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  3) At checkout type the text May2009 in the “Coupon” area. Click “submit”.
  
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  Offer good for domestic (within the USA) orders only. Offer ends Sunday May 3, 2009 at midnight and does not apply to any previous orders.

• Giving Answers
  John Piper answers the question, “If perfect angels could sin and fall, how do we know this won’t happen to us sometime in eternity?” Some of his answer is connected to the God planning the fall discussion.

  
  TulipGirl has a quote from Martin Luther on whether one may flee from a deadly plague. Just in case you ever need to make this decision.
  
  And because I can never pass up a good gospel post: Jared at The Thinklings tells us why Evangelicalism should reclaim the gospel.

  Gospel deficiency is the biggest crisis of the American church. It has been replaced by many things, most commonly a therapeutic, self-help approach to biblical application. … The result is a Church that, ironically enough, preaches works, not grace, and a growing number of Christians who neither understand the gospel nor revel in its scandal.

• Suggesting a Pattern
  I never knew how handy reusable shopping bags are until I started grocery shopping for one person. You can put so much more in them than you can in those plastic grocery store bags and the cloth handles make them much easier to carry. Here’s an easy pattern for one that folds up into a little wallet-sized carrier and then tucked in a purse. I made one using some leftover lightweight denim yesterday and I was very pleased with the results.


• Sharing Photos
  There are a few new photos in the family photo album, including this one of youngest daughter who was featured in the last Saturday’s Old Photo and whose birthday is today.