In the spirit of missionary preparation, I had the impression to start memorizing the hymns of the church. So, one week I memorized the first five verses of How Firm a Foundation. On Friday I was supposed to memorize the sixth verse, which turned out to be about old age. “Well I’m not old,” I said to myself and decided to skip verse six and move right on to verse seven.
The next day I went to visit my 92-year-old grandma in a rest home. Before I left she asked me to sing her a song. I told her I had been memorizing How Firm a Foundation. As she lay there so weak, on her side, all snuggled up in a blanket for the winter of waiting, she sang every word with me, and as we rounded the bend of verse five she went right on and in her little faltering voice she sang every word of verse six (the one about old age) alone.
E’en down to old age all my people shall prove
My sov’reign eternal, unchangeable love;
And then, when gray hair shall their temples adorn,
Like lambs shall they still in my bosom be born.
The sixth verse was not about me. It was not for me. It was for her. I went back the next week to see her, and before I left, you can bet I sang her the sixth verse! I wish I could sing it to her today.
As I prepare my head and my heart to carry the message, I want to remember not to predetermine who will and who will not come my way in need of the word of the Lord. You never know who might need the sixth verse.
By Nannette W.
Written November 18, 2001
Posted Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Copyright 2008 by Nannette W. All right reserved.
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