Sweet Will of God -- Lelia N. Morris

This organist was a 38-year old who wrote something like a confession in the church where she’d spent a lot of time, but it wasn’t the last time she would write something like “Sweet Will of God”. Lelia N. Morris had decided to make songwriting an important part of her life several years earlier, as she pored over some words about God’s will in 1900. She wanted to say she’d been wayward, an admission that might have seemed a little unusual for a churchgoing, spiritually active woman such as herself. She did play the organ and thereby help guide the weekly services of the church, and had made a habit of being at camp meetings too. Perhaps her zeal need a dose of reexamination.     

Lelia Morris was born, raised, and lived almost her whole life in southeastern Ohio. McConnelsville, in Morgan County (see map here), and the Methodist Episcopal church were her home, and where she spent much of her energy to compose some 1,000 hymns over her lifetime. But, some of the trips she took to central and northeastern Ohio to frequent camp meetings (to Mount Vernon and Sebring) no doubt had their impact on Lelia’s spirit. Perhaps one or more of those or some experiences closer to home had dawned on her the need to say what she did in “Sweet Will of God”.  She called herself ‘stubborn’ in the song’s first few words, and elsewhere ‘weary’, ridden with’ discord’, and ‘wayward’. On the other side of confession, she finds no remaining struggle, but ‘home’, as the final word of her thoughts testifies. Were they her own struggles, perhaps Lelia would not have chosen to write ‘Sweet Will…’ for public consumption. Even in a church filled with other believers, or travelling many miles from her home to coax others into His ways, Lelia must have met many others that she felt shared her emotions. She uses the ‘I’, ‘me’, and ‘my’ over a dozen times in her poetry, but must have known that others needed what she expressed too.

It is reported that Lelia kept going in her songwriting life well past when others may have decided to put down their pens. Thirteen years after she wrote ‘Sweet Will…’ she was still at it, albeit with difficulty, due to a deteriorating eye condition. A jumbo-sized chalkboard provided by her son allowed her to continue, evidently, telling us her poetic words were appreciated. A historical marker in her hometown moreover tells of her notoriety, including well beyond the confines of that small southeastern Ohio town. She must have been gratified to know that her local efforts had travelled so far and wide. They, in fact, should help connect us to the One who will carry us to the way beyond. That was Lelia’s goal.  

See the link here for all four verses: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/s/w/e/sweetwog.htm
See brief biography on composer here, including a picture of an historical marker that tells some more of her: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/m/o/r/r/morris_ln.htm

Nearer, Still Nearer -- Lelia Naylor Morris

Lelia Naylor Morris wanted more of Him, a reader of her words might readily conclude. Was she voicing something that she knew was still far off, but yet expected to become more tangible as her life progressed when she sat down and penned the words to “Nearer, Still Nearer” as the close of the 19^th Century approached? Or, was she particularly motivated at that point to reach out with her heart, indicating a longing for relief from something in her life?  Maybe she’d say ‘yes’ to both of those questions if she were here for us to ask. Was there light or darkness in her future, with this nearness to accompany her as the light dimmed (as the moonlight might, on many nights)?

 

Lelia had plenty in her background and foreground to draw upon for the words to “Nearer…” that year of 1898.  She was a 36-year old native and apparently lifelong resident of Ohio who’d been writing hymns for relatively few years, but she’d believed in and committed herself to the Savior for over 20 years at that point. And, she’d played the organ at the church since age 12, so, the music and words were within her. And, she likely was moved by the churches (Methodist and Methodist-Episcopal) in which she and her husband Charles were members. She was active in various ways as an adult, including in the choir and at camp meetings, from which it is said she often drew inspiration for her hymn poetry. Lelia’s hymn-writing career’s beginning apparently coincided with a re-commitment to God she made one summer as a 30-year old at a camp.  As a writer, she reportedly kept a paper and pencil close by so that she could note something if she felt moved by an incident within eye- or earshot. Whether there was a specific incident that spurred her to write in 1898 is not recorded, but there need not be one to appreciate the value of her words. She must have been a humble and penitent believer that day, as her words reveal a woman who brought nothing to offer Him except her devotion.

With a humble spirit, Lelia Morris composed perhaps as many as 1,500 hymns over her life, including some after her sight failed her while she was still in her early 50’s.  She must have been an inspiration to those around her, because they helped this woman, though blind, in her quest to continue writing songs. These included her son, who built his mother an immense blackboard to assist her before she was completely blind. Her daughter, a missionary in China, later helped Lelia write out some songs after sight completely left her. They and others who knew her must have sensed that “Nearer…” was genuine for its composer, as she persevered even when her body failed. Perhaps her prayer for God’s closeness when she was 36 was just what prepared her for what lay ahead, some 18 years hence as her vision disappeared. What’s ahead? I don’t know, and neither did Lelia. She just knew who she could count on being there.       

  

The following websites have some information on the song and its composer: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/m/o/r/r/morris_ln.htm

http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/n/e/a/nearersn.htm
 

See more information on the song discussed above in The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006.  Also, see Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1990.

See biography of composer here, via a fellow blogger! : http://www.appalachianhistory.net/2011/07/she-wrote-1500-hymns.html

The Lord Thy God -- Blaine Morris

He must have been studying one of the minor prophets the day he was moved to write this song, don’t you think? Blaine Morris, like so many songwriters who see themselves in God’s shadow, evidently did not make a very effective effort to promote himself, but instead is a signpost. What he saw and he experienced puts the emphasis in the wrong spot when you’re considering the song “The Lord Thy God” that Morris wrote in 1986. His name is practically all we know, similar to the prophet Zephaniah (shown here), with whom he may be identifying with the words he recorded for us to sing.

Blaine Morris apparently wrote many songs, as suggested by a comment someone posted on a YouTube video of Morris’ song “The Lord Thy God” as it’s sung by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir (see link below). He and his wife Junel were traveling musicians and may have recorded some of their songs in a studio in Wenatchee, Washington. The words of his music’s first line were recorded centuries ago by Zephaniah (3:17), who stood in the shadows of others of his time, like Jeremiah around 625 B.C. So, Zephaniah and Blaine may have had similar egos too, in addition to the words they shared. Both were evidently content to remain relatively anonymous, perhaps a conscious decision so that the light shone more directly on the One whom they laud with their words. Why would someone shrink from the light…aren’t all musicians, including the travelling, perhaps struggling songwriter-types, looking for promotion? Maybe something more powerful called out to Blaine Morris. Did he call upon God with this song from a particular circumstance? What caused him to see Him that day? Was it just a bible study passage that moved him?

I have a friend, who when he prays calls upon ‘His Mighty Name’; I believe he's seen Him ‘high and lifted up’, and I think I know why.  You see, my friend is confined to a chair, yet he’s not debilitated. People who’ve seen Him, and experience His power, don’t feel weak. And, the connection to Him is fortified the more I throw at Him the attention that otherwise might come my way. Want to know more of what Blaine Morris was trying to accomplish here? It seems that here, maybe what the song’s story doesn’t say may be part of the message. Maybe when you sing his and Zephaniah’s words, you’ve completed his mission, despite not hearing any of his personal testimony about “The Lord Thy God”. When I meet Blaine someday, I’ll thank him for the lesson, shake his hand, and then return my attention toward Him. I suspect that’s what Blaine’s doin’ today.

Someone, who says he met Blaine and wife Junel Morris in Wenatchee, Washington at a recording studio, posted a message at this YouTube video site: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX73DI1-pMY