Take My Life and Let It Be -- Frances Ridley Havergal

“It’s all yours” is another way she might have said this the morning after an episode that touched her so profoundly that she was unable to sleep. It might be analogous to a patriotic zeal, upon seeing a nation’s flag (see England’s here), that motivates soldiers or citizens to sacrifice themselves. Frances Ridley Havergal was a 38-year old Englishwoman known for her steadfastness to God, but had any other time in her life affected her so? “Take My Life and Let It Be” was evidently not just pretty words for Frances, an often-ailing figure who must have leaned on Him especially because of her physical challenges. Was her commitment stronger because she suspected hers would be an abbreviated existence?  

As she lived in 1874, Frances Havergal had already suffered enough challenges for a lifetime, and yet she convinced others with her uncomplaining spirit that there was much that was praiseworthy, much that was available even in her delicate frame for His use. While she apparently had a gifted voice, it’s reported that she was often sick, and died with a serious infection at the age of just 42. Before her death she was a model for others of a consecrated character, a condition that especially her father, also a hymnist-writer and member of the Anglican clergy, nurtured in her from childhood. By her 30s, Frances had a well-known reputation for daily living as a spiritually-led individual, as her poetry indicated. ‘Take My Life…’ was reportedly written at the conclusion of a five-day visit to a house where she influenced 10 other people toward a new or stronger Christ-commitment. Had she used her musical voice as part of this witness to urge their lives upward, since it too was part of her God-given talent? If she did, Frances did not dwell on it, but rather credited Him with the inspiration to persuade these acquaintances of His concern for them. This included two girls with whom she was stirred from bed to converse. Afterwards, she was so moved by the experience that she lay awake that night with her own overflowing fervor. As light dawned, she had composed the six-verse poem to cap this experience. She must have thought, as she excitedly pondered the thrill of the events in the dark, that she would surrender anything to His use if she could just retain that moment of Divine success. It oozes from every verse she penned, ‘take this and take that of me’, use it all, God! Hers may have been a weak constitution, but if she truly felt as she wrote that night, maybe her physical infirmity was what she gladly accepted in exchange for making His purposes complete in herself.

What became of the 10 people to whom Frances talked during that week in 1874? Perhaps they sang the words Frances had crafted that one evening, remembering the things she’d said to push them closer to their Creator. Her lines cannot be voiced with casual attention. There’s too many objects of ‘take’ in the words, culminating in ‘all’. Those two words sum up Frances – she invited someone to take it all. That’s probably because she’d discovered it was worth it. He’s worth it.   

See more information on the song story in these sources: The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006; Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1990; 101 Hymn Stories, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1982; and Then Sings My Soul – 150 of the World’s Greatest Hymn Stories, Robert J. Morgan, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003.

Also see this link, showing all six original verses, shown as three verses, and the composer’s story about the song: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/t/a/k/takemyli.htm

More in-depth biography of composer here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Ridley_Havergal

Site describing an Areley House in the United Kingdom: http://www.areleyhouse.co.uk/