She was probably doing two or three things at once that day
in 1899. Perhaps they all fused in some way as Carrie Elizabeth Ellis Breck
mulled over something and composed “Nailed to the Cross”. ‘Whistle while you
work’ might have been her motto, except that she really didn’t have the gift of
music, at least as most people might have understood it. Nevertheless, she did
seem to have rhythm, that sense of timing that made her in step with what is crucial
in hymn-writing. And, she also began with a foundation that allowed her to overcome
a gap in music-making that otherwise might have discouraged her. If you can ‘carry
a tune in a bucket’, also consider Breck’s methods and see if they improve your
musicianship, and more importantly your worship. Try it out, as you do some of
your duties around the house, like running the dishwasher (see picture).
Carrie Breck’s characteristics might have been considered
rather ordinary except that they fostered a prodigious exhibition over her
lifetime. By the time the middle-aged Breck neared the end of the 19th
century, she was doing what most women of her age did at the time. She was a
housewife raising children (she and husband Frank had five daughters), modeling
the childhood she’d experienced with God-believing parents. And, although she
lacked the gift of pitch, and therefore the voice to sing, she wrote poetry,
even as a child. Was this poetic sense super-developed to compensate for her pitch
deficiency? One might conclude this, as her ‘voice’ reportedly produced up to 2,000
poems by the time of her death in 1934. Her mode as an adult, evidently, was to
ponder while engaged in household chores – doing the dishes, sweeping a room,
holding and feeding a child. She also apparently had a bible handy to bide the
time and occupy her mind, another habit she developed from childhood. She
apparently felt this was her meter, her tempo for creativity. Housework, bible
study, meditation…she had an innate sense of what worked for her, a combination
that she had used even as a youngster to create prose for some publications.
What would an observer of “Nailed to the Cross” think about 44-year
old Carrie Breck? She must have been thinking what the great apostle Paul had
written, probably to the Colossians (2:14) and the Romans (8:1), words that she
echoes with her prose, both in the hymn’s refrain and in verse 2. Like any of
us, Carrie must have felt her life came up short at times, some guilt or regret
that hung over her. Don’t brood, she seems to respond, but seek out what He’s
done for you, even as you engage in the tedium of daily responsibilities. You’re
not condemned, even if you are pushing a broom or cleaning up a child’s mess!
In fact, these tasks may be His way of reserving time to speak to you. Seek Him
out, especially when you think you’re alone, doing some mundane chore. He has a
way of remaking that moment, like He did for Carrie Breck, some 2,000 poems
later.
Some biographic information
on the composer was obtained from the books “Amazing Grace – 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories
for Daily Devotions”, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, 1990, Kregel Publications; and “The
Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs”,
by William J. and Ardythe Petersen, 2006, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
See these sites for further biography: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/b/r/e/breck_cee.htm
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