I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice
and my supplications.
(Psalm 116:1)
He wrote something as he neared mid-life in 1969 that he probably
felt he needed to say. Tommy Wheeler indicates he often listened to his
insides, jotting down musical phrases “as they might come to him”, anticipating
using them in his songs. It wasn’t surprising that he declared “I Love the
Lord” that year, because he already had been engaged in loving Him for some
time. But, one might ask ‘why?’ What prompted him to jot down these words then?
Besides loving Him for the past, one other focal point is evident in the thoughts
he recorded that year, and Wheeler’s own memories of that time also help us
answer these simple questions.
When he composed that day in 1969, 38-year old Tommy Wheeler
had been involved with music for decades, and would continue this path long
after his mid-life musical statement. In a way, 1969 and “I Love the Lord”
might be described as a hinge-point for other events in his life too, a looking
back behind what he’d experienced, as well as looking forward to where he was
headed. His cousin, Max Wheeler, remembers Tommy was at a “serene point” that year,
after enduring the death of someone he loved years earlier – a crucible for
faith growth, huh? Early in his life, Tommy was blessed to grow up in a musical
family, under the tutelage of his father who was a minister and musical
director. Through high school, Tommy sang and wrote music in many choral groups.
This continued through college, and he also obtained some practical teaching experience
as a young man. Later, he began writing more music, including much of it for
the Stamps-Baxter company while he remained engaged in singing and working with
local churches. So, one might say the Lord and music had been cooked into his
blood. He was hooked, apparently, on serving God through music. In fact by 1969,
Wheeler says he thought of Psalm 116 and how that ancient songwriter’s prose
could be woven into his own verses, echoing back another biblical love passage –
John 3:16. Wheeler has maintained his path after this 1969 hinge-point, writing
or co-writing at least a dozen more songs through the early 21st
Century that are published in many contemporary hymnals today. But, “I Love the
Lord”, which Wheeler first published in his own hymnal Gospel Gems, is perhaps
the most well-known, for a good reason – its message sums up succinctly why any
believer feels the way he or she does.
The door was beginning to open wider for Wheeler as the
1960s concluded and the 1970s dawned, as it would for anyone reaching mid-life.
He’d experienced much that had blessed him, including a family -- three
children, and after his first wife died, a second marriage -- and his cousin
Max with whom he shared the musical gift of composition. His childhood, youth,
and young adult years now behind him, he wrote of his eternal years in his love
song. ‘He has been so good to me’, Wheeler reminisces in the chorus, one reason
to devote yourself to the Holy One. But, he goes further in all three verses,
setting his gaze ahead, to the period beyond earth’s time. These emotions
resonate with most humans who consider their lives closely, so it’s no mystery
why “I Love the Lord” is sung in other languages besides English, including
Russian and Portuguese. Glancing back, yes, but looking forward too, and saying
something that transcends any language. I plan on talking to Tommy more, if not
here, then up there in the ‘Great Ahead’…maybe I should learn some Russian or Portuguese
before I get there, whaddya think?
Biographical information on the composer obtained from the
book “Our Garden of Song”, edited by Gene C. Finley, Howard Publishing Company,
1980.
Also, many thanks to Tommy Wheeler for sharing his personal reflections
on the song with this SongScoops blogger in December 2012!
Also see following sites for information on the song: http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/hymnoftheday/message/1342
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