Hymn: “We Praise Thee (You), O God, Our Redeemer” – Julia Cady
Cory (1882-1963)
Typical Tune: KRESMER
Ever get separated from your parents when you were a child?
Even now, years later, a certain chill probably went down your spine at the
very remembering of such an experience.
The one that comes to mind for me was in Atlantic Mills in
Knoxville where I had gone to shop with my parents. Atlantic Mills was much
like our current K-Mart or a Wal-Mart, but this was in the early 1950’s before
either of those came into being. It was like a bargain basement gone haywire –
so much stuff to look at, so little time.
I could have used the “prone to wander, Lord, I feel it”
text here, because as a preschooler I was Curious (Ronald) George. Even then, I
had to figure out how everything worked. I simply could not stay close to a
parent, especially in a huge store like this with aisle after aisle of things I
had never seen before. Sure enough, I was prone to wander off and found myself
in another aisle, holding on to the skirt of someone else’s mother!
That my-sheep-hear-my-voice thing kicked in, and Hedy came
flying around the corner to sweep me up and assure me that she had not left me.
We immediately left without buying anything. We found Daddy sitting on a bench
out front… smoking, of course … totally unaware of why Mama was in a tizzy, I
was weeping uncontrollably, and we were suddenly hurrying back home to Pigeon
Forge.
Why is it when we are caught up in the perils of being lost
that we automatically assume that we have been abandoned? I’m the one who had
wandered off; my mother hadn’t even had time to miss me! But I was confident
that my parents had just dropped me off there and gone out to shop for another
similar model of cute little boys equipped with a charming smile and a quick
wit. (!)
Anytime I come across a hymn-phrase that reminds me that God
“will not forsake us,” I have a flashback to Atlantic Mills – I’m serious,
folks; I really do! And I recall that I had moved into unknown territory, and
that it turned out that I had not been deserted after all – and I won’t ever be
abandoned by my heavenly Father. Forsaking is not in his nature. And somewhere
deep inside my terrified self, I heave a sigh of great relief… and head on
home.
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