We didn’t go to church this morning because several of our children are still coughing a lot, and Rich has a lingering headache and fatigue, recovering from pneumonia. It’s been a cozy day. The sun is shining, the wind is blowing, it’s chilly but we opened the windows of the house for a little while, hoping to let some nice fresh air in. The leaves that are left on the trees are the dark orange, rusty deep reds, and mustard yellow. All my favorites and so pretty against the bright blue sky.
Rich and I went on a short gentle walk, holding hands, with sweet Grace with us, and baby Seth on Rich’s back in the Ergo carrier, where he promptly fell sound asleep. After our walk, Rich ended up sitting on the porch steps, reading a book, and I went down below the house to a chair by the pond with my journal, my Bible, and a book of hymn stories.
Do you ever read hymn stories? Most of the little stories behind my favorite hymns are so dear and humble. I love the hymn, “What a Friend we Have in Jesus”….the author wrote the poem and mailed it to his mother, who in turn passed it along to someone else who had it published anonymously…and it became a popular hymn. Eventually the writer’s identity was discovered, Joseph M. Scriven, who said that he wrote it for his mother to comfort her, never intending for anyone else to see it. He said, “The Lord and I did it between us.”
I have a biography about Elizabeth Prentiss, who wrote many lovely hymns, including one of my personal favorites, “More Love to Thee, O God”. She was quoted in saying these works, “To love Christ more, is the deepest need, the constant cry of my soul….out in the woods and on my bed and out driving, when I am happy and busy, and when I am sad and idle, the whisper keeps going up for more love, more love, more love!”
“My Jesus I love Thee” was written by a sixteen year old boy, William Ralph Featherston.
“Now the Day is Over” was written by a father of 15 children.
“Sweet by and by” was written in less than 30 minutes in a drugstore.
And some hymns were written by homemakers.
I’ve recently been struck by the fact that Jesus is very near and dear to stay at home mothers. As you know, I am a stay at home mom of six little ones, with another baby coming this spring. I feel overwhelmed and privileged with the fact that God does not leave me to myself during these years in which I mother my children, in fact I am growing closer to Him every day. We homemakers have the privilege and freedom of keeping our Bibles open on our kitchen counters to read when we get a chance, to leave index cards all over the place, of our favorite verses and quotes, to drop down on our knees at any time of the day or night, to pray, and to let our minds soar up above, to Him, as our hands our busy with our house chores. We can speak of Jesus to our little ones, and teach them to love Him, too. We can balance our Bibles on our knees as we nurse the baby. Someone reminded me once to read the Bible OUT LOUD as I nurse, because it’s never to early for the little ones to hear those precious Words. Jesus is very real and near to me…..and these ideas are just something I thought of recently, as another blessing of being a mother, at home.
So, I was touched by the little story about another hymn titled, “Face to Face”. It was written by Carrie Elizabeth Breck, who “was a homemaker and mother of five in Portland, Oregon, who wrote hymns in the midst of housework. ‘I penciled verses under all conditions,’ she once explained, ‘over a mending basket, with a baby on my arm, and sometimes even when sweeping or washing dishes, my mind moved in poetic meter.’ Frail in health, however, she often recorded her poems in a notebook while resting in her favorite rocking chair.” ~Then Sings my Soul, Robert J. Morgan
(wouldn’t you like to see pictures of her, scribbling down her hymns in the midst of her chores and children?)
Here’s another story of another hymnwriter-mother:
“‘I Need Thee Every Hour’ was written on a bright June morning in 1872 by Annie Hawks, who later wrote, ‘One day as a young wife and mother of 37 years of age, I was busy with my regular household tasks. Suddenly, I became so filled with a sense of nearness to the Master that, wondering how one could live without Him, either in joy or pain, these words, ‘I Need Thee Every Hour’, were ushered into my mind, the thought taking full possession of me.”
How very very inspiring. I love it.
On Friday, Davy-do arrived home to a quiet house. Seth must have been napping, and the others must have been playing, because he and I had a rare time alone together and I think it was probably my favorite little time of the whole week. Often these simple unexpected times are what stay in my mind, and bring a smile on my face long after…..
Davy was hungry and he took off his backpack and got right to work on frying himself an egg. I stayed right by him, very impressed and amused by his efficiency and confidence. As he worked we talked, and he made me laugh when he opened up our little conversation by saying, “Mom. I don’t want you to be afraid about bats.” (He said it like he was gently teaching a young child.) “Bats are good for the earth. They eat mosquitoes. And I want to hang up our bat house. We have one in the garage.” It turns out that he learned all about them in school and so BATS are what we talked about as he fried his egg.
And he was talking so nicely and thoughtfully. It was such a precious time with him.
The perfect fried egg, prepared by seven year old Davy-do.
When his egg was done, I carried it to the table for him and was tickled pink when he opened the linen drawer to get himself a placemat. (He learned that from me. I like to serve him a pretty snack now and then after school. Now I know he notices.)
He said with big wide eyes, “Sometimes I add a secret ingredient to my eggs.” “What’s that, Dave?” “Sometimes after I flip my egg over, I put more butter on top.” “Mmmmm, sounds so good!”, I replied.
Is he cute or what?!
After he ate his egg slowly, he decided it was so good he would make himself another. This time I didn’t pay quite so much attention to him, until I heard him say to himself, “I’ll have to clean that up when I’m all done.”
Have a blessed Sunday, friends!
Shanda
Good to be Home 
This post is beautiful and humble and…just amazing. Thank you for this post. I really needed it today. You have a beautiful family.
Such neat stories…I’ll have to check out that book from the library.
Wonderful stories about the authors of those hymns. What a blessing you were able to experience nature and GOD! May you continue to have good health in the family and enjoy a blessed week.
His egg turned out so good! I bet it tasted even better because of his secret ingredient!So are you going to hang the bat house? LOL! I love knowing where your placemats are!”What a friend we have in Jesus “..that story captivated me the most, when I am done typing this I am going to go find out if it is in my hymn history book!
Love this post – especially Davy and his egg.
Loved that post. The stories behind the hymns are so inspiring. God uses all kinds of people to guide His people to worship and draw them closer to Him. Love the pictures of your son frying the egg. I think it is so important for them to learn these “life skills” early on. (though it is hard to clean up the messes they often make in the process :).
I read the egg story to Cerwin – now he wants an egg for supper. 🙂
@cerwindoris – I wish I could send Davy over to fry him one! 🙂
That would be fun – to have Davy fry an egg for us! The job is finished this time. I made “Eggs in a Nest.” (I expect you know what that is? Butter a piece of bread on both sides; put in a frying pan; use a round cookie cutter (or glass) to cut a circle in the bread for the egg; fry until the egg is finished. Also fry the bread circle.)
Pray that you are all feeling 100% soon! Sounds like you had a nice, gentle day at home. Love the egg, Davy! Keep up the good work!
Great post — I love the stories behind the hymns — we used to have a music leader in our church who would tell us the stories now and then as we sang each hymn — I loved it! What a great job Davy did on the egg — even I have to clean up a dropped egg now and then!!
Some of our children have the sniffles and Jeromy got just home after being gone for a week on a business trip – so I attended church by myself this morning. It was actually a treat! Love the egg on the floor. So sweet to see him on a chair cooking at the stove. ~D
Davy you do such great egg cooking!!! WAY TO GO! I really loved hearing about the hymn stories. I hope you have a great day. Love, Lish
I loved hearing about your cozy Sunday! Those are wonderful stories about the hymns. What is the name of your book? That sounds like a great one to get. Davy-do makes great eggs. Love getting in on your conversation and seeing pictures of that pink cheeked lad frying up “the perfect egg”! I am off to look at a few books and devotionals. I am to lead our homeschool meeting and also be the speaker tomorrow night :-O Hopefully I do not get the jitters. I have to write up my little talk. Praying God has me say what He has in mind. Something in the line of character development and romancing their hearts for the Lord. Can I quote your paragraph about stay at home mothers? blessings, Jenny
i was so excited to find out our library system carries that hymn book you mentioned. how interesting to learn the background info on all the songs i’ve been singing all these years!
and the egg story……..precious. i just love having boys, don’t you?
Love that book! Sounds like a great day. =)
You’ve inspired me to look up hymn stories!I love your table’s cozy centerpiece arrangement (in the first picture). It’s amazing what a bit of color does for a table! I just finished my “fall” table decorations. They won’t be changed until after Thanksgiving.
great inspring post!
Awww ~ love the egg story ~
:)) i adore your family! hope everyone gets well soon~~!!
I was going to say I love your fall decorations also on your table. I hope everyone is feeling better soon:) How sweet David is. And he does a fine job at frying his eggs to!
i really enjoy reading/hearing hymn histories too~ such fascinating stories.. and neat to see how behind so many were simply ordinary men & women, living out their daily lives {kids.laundry.whatever!} but worshiping God in the midst of it all~ as a result giving us some great worship material as well. 🙂 ever heard the story behind “Jesus Loves Me?” recently did and found it interesting.. did you know it’s the number one spiritual song in the world? i’m sure the author never dreamed it would be someday~ amazing how God can use things like that. pretty cool.love David and his egg.
ooo….that fried egg looks very scrumptious….I want one now…
You are the second reminder that God sent my way this weekend, and I thank you. “We homemakers have the privilege and freedom of…” keeping Jesus and The Word ever before us in creative ways. It is a privilege, it is a freedom!!! Thank you for your sweet challenge and inspiration, God knew I needed it.Warmly, A.B.
Next time I make a fried egg, I am going to add some extra butter when I flip it over. Tell David thank you for sharing his secret! I loved hearing about your day and your special time with Davy-do. I chuckled over the place mat. Good for him! Good for YOU! ~~ Can’t wait to see the bat house! ~~ Some of my favorite hymns were written by Fanny Crosby. Blessings on your week, my friend.
What a lovely, lovely post of one content and inspired lady. I love boys in the kitchen !Enjoy as often as you can.Godeliva van Ariadone
Thankful you are all on the road to recovery! The hymns are so encouraging, I think I will put some of them on today for us to listen to during lunch (I often play music during lunch)Tell David I am looking forward to making breakfast tomorrow and intend to try his tip! Butter is just soooo yummy!
We have the same Corelle dishes. I love them…I love blue.
Kitty
“Our minds are free to soar up above, to Him, while our hands are busy…” That thought has actually occurred to me before, just another reminder of all there is to be grateful for in the midst of the day-to-day business of homemaking and child rearing. Thank you for sharing this and other such beautiful thoughts here. The tunes to the hymns came to my mind as you referenced each one! It is such a powerful thing, all that Scripture, theology, and encouragement set to music that our minds can so easily retain. I have been trying to sing hymns to Lee each day since he was born, but slacked off recently, so this post prompted me to resume that.”Davy-do” is such a precious boy!!! Reading about his independence in the kitchen gave me something else to look forward to in watching Lee grow up. I also loved what you said about the placemat. Those little details add so much to home life, and it IS neat to see that children do take notice! You are a wonderful homemaker (and wife and mom) Shanda, and such an encouragement to the rest of us. <3Love,Angie
Me againHe said with big wide eyes, “Sometimes I add a secret ingredient to my eggs.” “What’s that, Dave?” “Sometimes after I flip my egg over, I put more butter on top.” “Mmmmm, sounds so good!”, I replied.–Tell Davy-Do I’m going to steal his Secret–Hope I don’t have to clean up the floor from Humpty-Dumpty
Thank you for sharing those hymn stories – we often don’t think of the tremendous spiritual blessing of being a homemaker!
An interesting post! You cover a lot of ground between family news and giving the background of many hymns. (Not quite right on “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” but close enough! This is a subject I’ve been researching for over 40 years, and now I’m sharing a bit of what I know on a daily blog called Wordwise Hymns. You seem to enjoy learning about our hymns and gospel songs, so I invite you to check out the blog. Leave a comment or question if you like. God bless.
@Hymnologist – Whatever I wrote was information taken from a book, I realize that sometimes sourses can be inaccurate. Thanks for understanding. I do love hymns, and get a lot of blessing and truth from them. I was just reading/singing through a hymn book the other day…..”Guide Me oh Thou Great Jehovah” was one of my favorites from that time.