It's hard to believe that another January is already gone and February is here. With the new month comes Valentines and Ground Hog days, snow and sleet, preseason baseball and the Super Bowl. But for many it marks the return to education activities.
For several weeks now K-12 classes have been back in session throughout the country. My youngest grandson, Brodie, is in the midst of the second semester of his junior year. This is an important time in his life because what he does this year can have a big effect on his future. Juniors were always my favorite class to teach because they were generally still motivated without senioritis.
A few weeks ago, most colleges returned to session for a new semester. My youngest granddaughter, Lexie, returned to Susquehanna University, after earning Deans List as an English major. Both her grandfather and great grandfather graduated from there with honors.
Graduate schools are also back in session. My granddaughter, Chloe, is back at the University of Maryland where she is in the doctorate program working on a Phd in History. She completed her first semester and was awarded a large scholarship grant for her outstanding work.
And her cousin, Noah, is also back to the educational grind as he gets closer to a doctorate in ophthalmology. He has one more semester of classes and labs and then a year of four internships, two in Pennsylvania, one in Annapolis and one in North Carolina. Then off to find a job.
But education is not limited to K-12 and college students. We should all be life-long students. So much is changing and workers need to continually upgrade their knowledge and skills. But while we have the need to grow intellectually, there is a much greater need for us to grow spiritually. And yet that need is so often neglected by believers. Since whatever absorbs our thinking will ultimately control our actions, it is so important for a Christian to let the way of the Lord become the controlling force in his life. The means by which we can learn the way of the Lord is by knowing what He has revealed in the scripture. Thus, our prayer to Him should always be, "Teach Me Thy Way."
This prayer is the title and theme of a text written by Benjamin Mansell Ramsey (1849-1923) in 1916. For many years he was a well-known teacher and musician in the Bournemouth, England, area. He was a prolific composer of part-songs (usually SATB), piano pieces, and carols. In addition, he produced works on music theory and a number of hymns. After 1920, this hymn began to have wide popular usage among student groups in England. It gradually spread to sincere believers in other places who genuinely desired to have a greater knowledge of their Lord.
It makes this request in several specific areas by which the Lord can help us walk in His way. Stanza one asks that He help us walk more by faith and less by sight. Stanza two asks that He help us in times of loneliness, distress, and failure. Stanza three asks that He help us by making our pathway plain. Stanza four asks that He help us by being with us as long as we run the race.
Nothing could be found about why this hymn was written. However, Benjamin's son, Lawrence, was injured in the war. He spent much time in hospitals and then was dismissed from the military due to a nervous disposition. He died in 1919 in a mental hospital. It was during this time of heartbreak for the family that this hymn was written. Perhaps this experience helps to explain some of what was written.
The hymn is actually a practical daily prayer for believers. We should want to learn more about His ways daily, even when we are sad or lonely, in times of success and failure, through times of sorrow, grief and pain, "wherever our lot may be cast". Learning the ways of the Lord should be a daily goal. "Until the race is run, until the journey's done, until the crown is won, teach me Your way!" Lord, that is our prayer. "Help me to walk aright, more by faith, less by sight; lead me with heavenly light, teach me Your way!" Is that your desire?
1 Teach me Your way, O Lord, teach me Your way!
Your guiding grace afford, teach me Your way!
Help me to walk aright, more by faith, less by sight;
lead me with heavenly light, teach me Your way!
2 When I am sad at heart, teach me Your way!
When earthly joys depart, teach me Your way!
In hours of loneliness, in times of dire distress,
in failure or success, teach me Your way!
3 When doubts and fears arise, teach me Your way!
When storm clouds fill the skies, teach me Your way!
Shine through the wind and rain, through sorrow, grief and pain;
make now my pathway plain, teach me Your way!
4 Long as my life shall last, teach me Your way!
Where'er my lot be cast, teach me Your way!
Until the race is run, until the journey's done,
until the crown is won, teach me Your way!
Listen to men sing the first verse MEN
Listen to a beautiful rendition by children CHILDREN
Listen to it here. THY WAY
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