Leaning Into 2009

What a fellowship, what a joy divine,
Leaning on the everlasting arms;
What a blessedness, what a peace is mine,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.

Leaning, leaning,
Safe and secure from all alarms;
Leaning, leaning,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.

O how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way,
Leaning on the everlasting arms;
O how bright the path grows from day to day,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.

What have I to dread, what have I to fear,
Leaning on the everlasting arms;
I have blessed peace with my Lord so near,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.

Every month, my church picks a "Hymn of the Month"; we do a synopsis of it, learn about the context in which it was written, music composed, bio of the author, etc.. This month's is "Leaning On The Everlasting Arms", written by Elisha A. Hoffman. Hoffman penned the words to this hymn after talking with two of his friends that had lost their spouses in the recent past. I don't know exactly what thoughts were going through his mind, but I can suppose he must have imagined what it would be like to not have someone you were so close to all of a sudden vanish from your life, leaving you with nothing to lean on. I suppose it was from something like this line of thinking that this hymn was written. As the hymn was being discussed during this morning's service, the statement was made that, "The brightest of times are not when everything in your life is going well, but when you are most leaning on Christ." This statement just really struck a chord with me. I know it seems kind of obvious, but when you think about it, it's just so true. Usually at the start of a new year, people think back about the previous one with either regret or satisfaction, remembering good memories, bad experiences, or things they regret. As I looked back at 2008, there really weren't many bad things I could recall, but there weren't really any super amazing ones either. My life was pretty okay: nothing out of the ordinary happened. I graduated, had two great jobs over the summer, and finished my first semester of college. After thinking about it for a while, I realized that there wasn't a lot of Leaning going on in my life. Sure, my life was pretty great, but was I leaning on the Everlasting Arms to make my life even more than it could be? At times, yes, but as a regular way of life? Well...no.

Let's take this metaphor a bit further: Okay, obviously this hymn is talking about the Church leaning on Christ for stability and safety. The church is the bride of Christ. Just like a wife leans on her husband for support, so does the church on her bridegroom, Christ. Now, I'll admit: 80% of the time, I'm not content with my 'relationship status' (to use facebook terms). Aren't we all discontent with that at some point though? It's something I'm constantly working on, failing at, and trying again. As I was listening to this hymn, it occurred to me: How am I supposed to even try to lean on someone else's arms, when I'm not even leaning on the arms that are Everlasting? Even in a marriage, human arms will buckle under the burden of holding someone else up. Those arms can regain their strength, but will constantly fail. The Father's arms are everlasting: they never get tired! They will always support us, regardless of how heavy the burden of sin is. At this point, I'm trusting (or at least trying) that God will bring someone along for me, if that's His plan. Until then, I think His Everlasting Arms are more than enough for me to be leaning on. Even if He does bring someone into my life, those will be a secondary pair of leaning arms, because I will already have Everlasting ones!
It just makes me want to kick myself when I think of all the time I've wasted not leaning, and trying to support myself. Gosh, I've fallen so many times and haven't learned from my mistakes. Hopefully, 2009 will be much different. Some people want to "hit the ground running", but I think I'm going to not hit the ground by Leaning.