Nourishing Childhood
My early church experiences made deep impressions on me. My family lived across the street from our church from the time I was almost four until I was fourteen. My parents walked across the street to church with my brother and me every Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. We moved eight or nine blocks away when I was fourteen. My parents drove us to that same church the rest of our childhoods. They continued to attend three times each week until my father died a few months after their fiftieth anniversary. Mother continued to be a part of that church until she came to live with us when she was eighty-one.
What I remember most from those times in those beautiful honey oak wooden pews are the stories about Jesus and the beautiful old hymns sung in four-part harmony. The Word and the words of the hymns nourished me as a child. We had a main song leader, Brother Beasley, and a frequent song leader, Brother Nabors. Brother Nabors rolled his Rs in a delightful way that entertained us children. We liked it when he announced a song in the 300s.
Oh, how I loved that singing. The memory makes me smile. I have many favorite songs. One was number three hundred (imagine the R rolling) forty, written by minister Théodore Monod (1836-1921).
O the bitter shame and sorrow,
That a time could ever be,
When I proudly said to Jesus,
“All of self, and none of Thee!”
“All of self, and none of Thee!”
“All of self, and none of Thee!”
When I proudly said to Jesus,
“All of self, and none of Thee!”
Yet He found me! I beheld Him
Bleeding on the accursed tree,
And my wistful heart said faintly,
“Some of self, and some of Thee!”
“Some of self, and some of Thee!”
“Some of self, and some of Thee!”
And my wistful heart said faintly,
“Some of self, and some of Thee!”
Day by day His tender mercy
Healing, helping, full and free,
Brought me lower, while I whispered,
“Less of self, and more of Thee!”
“Less of self, and more of Thee!”
“Less of self, and more of Thee!”
Brought me lower, while I whispered,
“Less of self, and more of Thee!”
Higher than the highest heavens,
Deeper than the deepest sea,
Lord, Thy love at last has conquered,
“None of self, and all of Thee!”
“None of self, and all of Thee!”
“None of self, and all of Thee!”
Lord, Thy love at last has conquered,
“None of self, and all of Thee!”
I really love singing every verse of a hymn, but it is common practice in most churches where I have been for us to sing verses 1, 2, and 4 or the first and last verses. Often we sing only the first verse of the last song we sing during a time of worship. The song above was an exception. I remember us singing all four verses of that one.
One Sunday, however, either Brother Beasley or Brother Nabors announced number three hundred forty. To the shock of my friend Kathy and me, the song leader stopped at the end of the first verse. We actually finished the song with the words: “All of self and none of Thee!” I can just imagine his chagrin in the car on the way home when he realized what he had done.
In the years she has with her children, the wise mama does these things every day:
- prays for her children
- provides her children with the nourishment of a healthy, Jesus-trusting, Bible-believing church, and
- makes large and small decisions to bring up her child to come closer and closer to that last verse of number three hundred and forty.
So then, brethren, we are under obligation,
not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—
for if you are living according to the flesh,
you must die;
but if by the Spirit you are
putting to death
the deeds of the body,
you will live.
For all who are being led by the Spirit of God,
these are sons of God.
Romans 8:12-14