I would stand by my grandmother, and she would play and I would sing. The first verse starts out, “This old world is filled with disappointments and trouble every day.” Iʼve known this song all my life and, as I became an adult, I would smile to think about how weighty those lyrics were for my little 3-year-old self. Spiritual songs often have this winsome way of talking about heaven, eternal life, and exchanging the troubles of this life for the glory in the next. Iʼm not sure our current worship music highlights this idea of human struggle in a fallen world the way that spiritual songs did in other seasons.

I also remember singing this Albert Brumley number as a little girl:

This world is not my home, 
Iʼm just a passing through
My treasures are laid up
somewhere beyond the blue;
The angels beckon me
from heavenʼs open door
And I canʼt feel at home
in this world anymore.

Oh Lord, you know
I have no friend like you,
If heavenʼs not my home,
then Lord what will I do
The angels beckon me
from heavenʼs open door,
And I canʼt feel at home
in this world anymore.
Hymns of Faith

I recall singing the lyrics, not knowing exactly what they meant, but picturing those angels peeking through heavenʼs door. Heaven seemed so close and the people who loved me most were so confident that we would all be there together quite soon. Their voices were strong as they sang of a faith that had them “Looking for a City” where we will never die, meeting on the shore “In the Sweet By and By,” and asking, “Shall We Gather at the River?” 

Our world, our country, and our Maritime region has fallen on hard times. As I write, we are under COVID-19 restrictions, we are trying to adjust to the idea that Canadaʼs largest mass murder has taken place in our beloved Maritime region (and some may be in direct mourning because of this), and all of it has us spiraling both economically and emotionally. That is enough for us adults to digest—but what about our kids? 

As funny as it seems now about my grandmother teaching me lyrics about “loved ones gone before us,” we are never too young to learn how quickly life can change. While we hope to protect the kids in our sphere of influence from the results of a fallen world (and it is our job to do so), we also need to teach them biblical truths of what it means to walk through this world as Bunyanʼs Pilgrim did. A pilgrim is on a journey through the brevity of this life and on to a life eternal with the Lord Jesus. Jesus suffered and died on his earthly mission to seek and save those who were lost in their sin. We may suffer along the pathway, and it is good to know in our spirit that “thereʼs a better day a cominʼ, weʼre not home yet.” 

My Grammie Rita has been with Jesus five years now. How we miss her and her piano playing.