Just one song. If she had just one message to convey, perhaps this is the one she thought should be her life’s theme, with nothing else on the ledger of Damon Snoddy to cloud her purpose. She said “I’ll Never Forsake My Lord” as a young woman (still in her early 20s), with a lot to make her anxious, given the times she and her family were enduring. Whether she and her young family were in north-central Tennessee, where she was born and married, or in Indianapolis, Indiana (see its flag here) where the family moved in the early 1930s, the Snoddys were probably as stricken as most others at the time because of an economic upheaval. Could that have been the impetus for her dependence on something beyond this world?
We don’t know a lot about Mrs. Snoddy (wife of Selton) outside of a few scant facts, though her poetry gives us insight into her life at a key moment. She was probably still learning when it came to marriage and motherhood, as she composed her four verses to express her fidelity to God. The Great Depression of the 1930s was a heavy burden on many people, but especially on those of meager resources, like the Snoddys. They reportedly left Tennessee as a consequence of losing all they had, and moved to Indianapolis hoping for a better situation. This young mother reportedly was someone who randomly scrawled poetry with a pencil and paper from her pocket as she went about daily life. Could it have been one day when her husband was at the glass factory or the lumber mill, and while Damon was at home with the small children, when she penned her four verses? You can almost hear the sighs of a tired mother and wife, struggling with the day’s events, but girded by faith in a God in whom she trusted. ‘My cross…to bear’, ‘life filled with care’, and ‘misfortune’ (v.1) were the first thoughts that welled up within Damon that day. To whom could she turn? Was it the strain of her family’s life, ever present and which could not be ignored, that spurred Damon to write about someone she needed more than anything else? Indeed, she reminded those to whom she wrote, but also to herself, that ‘…His sheltering arm’ was protecting her, despite other more tangible signs to the contrary. In her following verses, Damon cast light on the struggle outside of herself, on the ‘tempter’ (v.2) and on the One who ‘…suffered so graciously’ for her (v.3). Perhaps it was therapeutic for Damon, and put her mind more at ease, to place her burdens at His feet. When she accepted that His sacrifice outweighed the ‘tempter’s …efforts’ (v.2), that she was uncertain of her earthly ‘future’ but guided by ‘Jesus’ (v.4), did that help ease her anxiety? We can only know that on this particular day, Damon felt reassured, and clung to the Lord with a steadfast allegiance.
Millions suffered as the Great Depression ravaged their lives. But, did the effects of that era outlive or overwhelm people like the Snoddys? From what we know of Damon Snoddy, she lived out the remainder of her life in Indianapolis and was buried there in 1998, at the age of 86. Others of her generation drifted from place to place, in search of better circumstances. We can assume that Damon and her family did find some stability after moving one time, since they remained in Indiana for the next several decades. So, is Indiana where I should go if my life becomes untenable? What would Damon say if she could answer? She’d probably say seek not a place, but a person, one with a sheltering arm.
See brief references to the author here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/s/n/o/d/snoddy_dc.htm
And here: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/61718919/damon-lanara-snoddy
See some key thoughts about the author here, in a fellow hymn blogger’s entry: https://hymnstudiesblog.wordpress.com/2019/03/08/ill-never-forsake-my-lord/
No comments:
Post a Comment