Yesterday was one of those days that I allowed myself to seep into depression. No reason really… it was just a handy place to be. I could have a woe is me pity party with all the feasts and trimming and there was no one to call my hand on it because I didn’t invite anyone else to join me. Oh, Izidora the Chihuahua occasionally tried to cheer me up, but her attention span is about as long as mine…. Is that a squirrel?
One small advantage of having that “oooo something shiny” attention span is that it doesn’t allow me to hang out in a pity party too long; that would take focus. So this morning was a new day and my focus was a little more to the brighter side of life as I got out my guitar and began strumming through the pages of a new song book titled “Parking Lot Picker’s Songbook.” If you’re not a bluegrasser you’re likely reading that title with bewilderment, or you think it’s a flea market guide. What it is is a book filled with old time bluegrass and gospel songs that “pickers” pick in parking lots at festivals and such. It’s probably the best collection of tunes I’ve seen compiled to date. Yes, that was an oooo something shiny moment. But it did have purpose. In that book is an old standard hymn “Have Thine Own Way.” As I played and sang it this morning “Methodist Style” (meaning I sang all four verses) Baptist usually only sing first and last, it blessed my soul!
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Search me and try me, Master, today!
Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now,
As in Thy presence humbly I bow.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Wounded and weary, help me, I pray!
Power, all power, surely is Thine!
Touch me and heal me, Savior divine.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Hold o’er my being absolute sway!
Fill with Thy Spirit till all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me.
It’s a standard hymn, but it’s not a standard of living today is it? We want it our own way, and yesterday. But reading through those words, written by obvious divine inspiration, my heart that had been so “me” focused yesterday, softened like butter on a hot biscuit! God has so richly blessed me with time. Time to sing, pray, study, serve… and yes… whine. That story is not new either.
Isaiah 58:12-14 reads ~ And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
Israel was a chosen nation that continually tried to have it their own way, when all God wanted was for them to choose Him and His way and He would have given it all…
He hasn’t changed.
- I am chosen by Christ.
- I am challenged by His Spirit
- I am charged by His Word.
I’m not perfect, but I was perfectly picked! Have Thine own way Lord…