Oh To Be Like Thee -- Thomas O.Chisholm

Thomas Obadiah Chisholm was just starting on his journey, and had some feelings he wanted to share. In the 1890’s, young Thomas Chisholm was a humble believer who nevertheless had ambition that moved him. Later, he might have had reason to feel discouraged at one point, as he’d tried a few vocations that didn’t last, forcing him into plan B…or was it in fact C or D? Could it be that his real purpose didn’t jell with the paths he initially chose?  Could this 20-something have suspected, as he wrote “Oh, To Be Like Thee” in that last decade of the century, what still lay ahead and how his life up to that point had been shaping him for the future? ‘Being like thee’ no doubt took Chisholm places he had not suspected were in his path.  

Chisholm’s birthplace in Franklin, Kentucky (on the state’s south-central border)

was his launching point in more than one sense, a humble beginning that played no small part in his character and faith. His log-cabin birth belied his later abilities, which he first demonstrated by educating himself and becoming a school teacher at age 16. By the age of 21 he was an associate editor of his hometown newspaper Franklin Favorite, so that this young but learned fellow was already accomplished in some respects – a writer who was honing a skill with little assistance. He called himself an ‘old shoe’ later in life, perhaps as he thought of his origins. When he was born again as a believer at age 27, after hearing his mentor (Dr. Henry Clay Morrison) at a revival in Franklin, his humble yet skillful prose was apparent in the poetry he composed in “Oh, To Be Like Thee”. He knew, as a new believer, how his life compared to God’s, and so he called out to Him. Chisholm’s words show the zeal of this new Christian, as he sought His character traits, not merely to admire them, but to shape himself.  Thomas’ physical condition would be a challenge in the period following the hymn’s publication in 1897, as he pursued being editor of the Pentecostal Herald in Louisville and then ordained ministry. Both of these efforts he suspended because of poor health. He must have wondered how his desire to serve and be like Jesus would be accomplished, as he was forced to abandon editing and preaching in pretty short order. He moved himself and his family to Indiana, and then later to New Jersey as he made a new start at age 50, this time as an insurance salesman. But, all along the way, he kept writing the poetry like that which inspired “Oh, To Be Like Thee” in his hometown, ultimately authoring some 1,200 poems, including 800 that were eventually in print. Thomas Chisholm was a humble ‘shoe’, who nevertheless found his niche as God’s tool in hymnwriting.

T. O. Chisholm may have looked back as he retired in the 1950s in New Jersey and reflected upon what his entreaty to God 50-60 years previously had meant for himself. His 1,200 poems, if one examined them as one would a diary, would show us how one Christian’s life experiences wove a story that was unique. He must have had lows and highs, yet what we know of Chisholm is his resolute direction toward a goal at the conclusion of 94 years. Writing his poetry may have been therapeutic, allowing him to express and resolve challenges. Try it. Call it a diary or a journal, maybe even an autobiography or music compositions. If you want it to work like Chisholm’s, just make sure it includes Him throughout.

          

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 brief biography on composer here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Chisholm_%28song_writer%29

http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/c/h/i/chisholm_to.htm