Draw Me Nearer

It's been one of those days. You know what I mean...when there's a lot going on but you feel like you haven't gotten anywhere, and maybe even taken a couple of steps backward. I had to take my daughter to the doctor today, including making two trips to the pharmacy. Then, someone, or something, got into my husband's new pond in our backyard, spoiling what had taken him hours, actually days, to design and construct. At work, it took me literally hours to figure out something that had gone wrong with one of my web pages. The good thing was that, in spite of the frustration of it all, I finally was able to resolve a flaw that I hadn't been able to fix since I first designed it.

That makes me think of something else fun and constructive I got to do today. It was to give a little French lesson to a very willing and very capable student, my future son-in-law. It gave me joy, joy simply in the beauty of the French language and joy in being able to do something that would actually help this young man who wants not only to be related to me through marriage but also is genuinely making an effort to relate to me as a person.

I guess it hasn't been such a bad day after all. It's been a day, like many others, that while it had its "bad" moments, it also had a number of good ones. It's just that I'm in the bad habit of focusing on the negative rather than on the positive. And now that I think about it, I realize how I could have made it infinitely better. This has been another day when, though I've given lip service to prayer, I really haven't taken the time to pray in any depth. My prayers have been more like complaints than praises. I've just been going resignedly from one frustrating event to the next, never pausing to reflect on God or to look at things as he sees them. What if I had just taken the time to ask myself, "Will this matter in heaven?"

Lord, thank you for being mindful of me even though I have neglected you today. Forgive me, and bring me ever closer to you, I pray in Jesus' name.

Here's a quote from Frances J. Crosby's 1875 hymn "Draw Me Nearer" that comes to mind:

I am Thine, O Lord, I have heard Thy voice,
And it told Thy love to me;
But I long to rise in the arms of faith
And be closer drawn to Thee.

Refrain:
Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord,
To the cross where Thou hast died;
Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord,
To Thy precious, bleeding side.

Oh, the pure delight of a single hour
That before Thy throne I spend,
When I kneel in prayer, and with Thee, my God
I commune as friend with friend!

Follow the Leader

A journey begins with an end in view:

With eternity's values in view, Lord,
With eternity's values in view,
May I do each day's work for Jesus,
With eternity's values in view.

That was a little chorus I recall from childhood that first woke me up to the fact that what I do today will have ramifications not only for tomorrow, but forever.

What journey am I taking? It's life's journey that, for me, means following Jesus. Where do I get this "follow the leader" idea? Believe it or not, from, among other things, another chorus from my childhood:

I have decided to follow Jesus.
I have decided to follow Jesus.
I have decided to follow Jesus.
No turning back, no turning back.

Though none go with me, still I will follow.
Though none go with me, still I will follow.
Though none go with me, still I will follow.
No turning back, no turning back.

That's my theme song. It's been programmed not only into my head but into my heart. Yes, I look forward to the end of the journey, when at last I will be safe in the arms of the heavenly Father, but for now, my quest is simply to keep my eyes on Jesus. He's the shepherd, I'm the lamb. All I have to do follow.

I'm following the leader, the leader, the leader.
I'm following the leader wherever he may go.