The Hard Roads

After my father's death, my mother's youngest brother came to live with us for a time.  He slept in one of the twin beds in my bedroom.  My uncle taught me a few important things.  He taught me to wash my face in cold water first thing every morning to get good awake.   He taught me not be afraid of the dark.  When I heard bumps in the night and woke him up, he told me to go see what was making the noise while he waited there awake for me to return.  And he taught me his favorite church song.  It was one I probably would have missed had it not been for my Uncle Alvin.

 

His favorite song was "The Unclouded Day."  It was written around 1880.  He was not much a singer, but it did not stop him from singing the song often in my presence.  "O they tell me of a home far beyond the skies,  O they tell me of a home far away;  O they tell me of a home where no storm clouds rise, O they tell me of an unclouded day. (Chorus)  O the land of cloudless day, O the land of an unclouded day, O they tell me of a home where no storm clouds rise,  O they tell me of an unclouded day."  As an adult I have often wondered why that particular song stuck with him the way it did.  I do not have a clue why it meant so much to him.  But, I do know that when I think of him, this song always comes to mind.

Many of the songs of faith are songs which transport us to visualizing our hope.  While some might call it escapism, or a way of coping, it seems to me that these songs simply open windows of the heart so that we can glimpse something of the promises of God.  Contrary to what some might say, this life is not all there is for us.  We are made aware of this when Jesus promised the dying repentant thief on the cross something he never imagined could be his.  I think there was something deep inside my Uncle that longed for this day of unimaginable grace and surely it is like that for so many of us who walked the hard roads behind him.