I woke the boys with a song yesterday morning. The Morning Song, in fact. You know it, don’t you?
Good morning to you!
Good morning to you!
We’re all in our places
with sunshiny faces
and this is the way
to start a good day.
That’s it. That, and a plain, sing-songy kind of melody which can become Oh-So-Annoying should one sing it over and over and over again.
Which is what we all commenced to doing as we went about the morning: all through breakfast, all through shoe-lace-tying, all through book-bag gathering and coat-pulling-onning and heading-out-the-door.
“Sheesh,” Bill said as he herded us toward the exit, “we need a new song,” he said.
So this morning I decided to do what I usually do, which is to play some music while I’m making the breakfast. And as the sausage was heating and I was getting out the eggs, I decided to put Andrew Peterson’s Behold the Lamb of God on the cd player. Loudly, so that everyone could hear.
Not many bars had elapsed before Bill’s voice came down the stairs to me, loud and clear:
“It’s January 7th,” was what he said.
Ah. Right. It is. It is indeed January 7th. Which means the Christmas music is Right Out. It is, don’t you know, the day after Epiphany. Behold the Lamb of God is Christmas music, and Christmas is Decidedly Over.
I turned Andrew off. I thought of Rich Mullins. And I went to the cabinet where I discoverd Karl Ruch.
Karl is a friend who, with his family, moved to Asheville some years ago now. We love them and miss them and hadn’t listened to his music in a while. I decided give it a listen while I scrambled eggs.
Soon enough, Karl’s voice filled our kitchen and I was humming along as the children slowly made their way in and we sat down to breakfast. And when song #5 came on, I realized that I’d been given a gift on this January morning– the gift of a song that is far better than the one I’d been singing yesterday. The gift of a song I’ve always loved, and have thought of from time to time but hadn’t heard in a long while. It was the perfect song for today, for the new year, for the rest of my life. It is this:
You say it will be easy
you say I should follow you
you say I won’t have a problem
that you can’t pull me through
I hear you say that I should come to you
then you say to count the cost
you say your burden will be easy
but your burden is a cross
What you say is so confusing
what you say I could never do
I don’t wanna be a martyr
but I want to be like you
This price I pay is nothing
this life I live is yours
I know the future holds my glory
but I’m so scared of what I’m asking for
I’m asking
Let me join you in your sorrow
Let me join you in your pain
if I wanna save my life, I’ll lose it
and if I lose it I will find it again
let me have the strength to suffer well
but let me ask for this one thing
when I go to lose my life for you
let your presence go all the way
with me
