November 13, 2022 - An addendum

May I add a brief addendum to our “Daily Word,” this morning? I came across this hymn, written by Phoebe Brown. From hymnary.org: “A member of the Congregational body, born at Canaan, Columbia County, New York, May 1, 1783, she was left an orphan when two years old. At nine she fell into the hands of a relative who kept a county goal (jail). These, says her son, ‘were years of intense and cruel suffering. The tale of her early life which she has left her children is a narrative of such deprivations, cruel treatment, and toil, as it breaks my heart to read.’ Escaping from this bondage at 18, she was sought by kind people, and sent for three months to a common school at Claverack, N.Y., where she learned to write, and made profession of faith in Christ. In 1805 she was married to Timothy H. Brown, a painter, and subsequently lived at East Windsor and Ellington, Connecticut, Monison, Mass., and at Marshall, Henry County, Illinois. She died at the last-named place, Oct 10, 1861."

The hymn reminds us of those moments and places God has provided to us, particularly at the end of a difficult day or week, in which we are able to come aside from the world and all its cares and simply rest in him. Oh, my!

I love to steal awhile away

From ev’ry cumb’ring care,

And spend the hours of setting day

In humble, grateful prayer.

I love in solitude to shed

The penitential tear,

And all His promises to plead

Where none but God can hear.

I love to think of mercies past,

And future good implore,

And all my cares and sorrows cast

On Him whom I adore.

I love by faith to take a view

Of brighter scenes in heaven;

The prospect doth my strength renew,

While here by tempests driven.

Thus when life’s toilsome day is o'er,

May its departing ray

Be calm as this impressive hour,

And lead to endless day.