A Time to Laugh

I love that hymn. I love when you’re singing it, you can feel the First Great Awakening in the rhythm. When you’re singing songs that Christians have sung for years before, you know that God is faithful.

I love how it’s hymn from God to us. He’s reminding us that He’s so very near.

I love that it reminds me that God blesses troubles. He consumes dross and refines gold. He turns ashes to something beautiful, dust into humanity, tragedy into blissful comedy.

I love that it describes God as the ever-present Parent:

Even down to old age all My people shall prove
My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love;
And when hoary hairs shall their temples adorn,
Like lambs they shall still in My bosom be borne.

Hmmm. . . . And then the last verse:

The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.

I love how the words repeat the writer of Hebrews (13:5) triple superlatives. God will never, ever, ever leave us.

It’s funny to hear a little person repeat your most frequent interjections. And to repeat them appropriately and in order. We just turned on Merlin for him, “Wow! Cool!”

Tee-hee.

By the bye, we just figured out “Ah-do” means “hold you.” It took us HOW long with HOW many years of school between us?