Take My Life and Let It Be

Continuing our June series on the HIStories Behind the Hymns, today we listen to the hymn Take My Life and Let It Be and learn a bit about its author, Frances Ridley Havergal.

In place of the traditional New Year’s resolutions, I often prayerfully choose a word of focus for the year ahead. Of the words I have used in years past, my favorite was “nurture.” Full of warmth and possibility, it conveyed how I wanted to approach both motherhood and my own personal growth. I loved contemplating over the course of the year what it meant to nurture learning, to nurture faith, and to nurture the little ones in my care.

Sometimes, however, the focus of a season has not been one I selected but rather a theme that became apparent over time. “Surrender” is one of those. Over the past two years, the Lord has increasingly, repeatedly shown me that this walk with Him is largely about Surrender. Without ever using the word, the hymn Take My Life and Let It Be perfectly embodies a life surrendered to the Lord.

Take My Life

     Take my life and let it be
     consecrated, Lord, to thee.

The hymn’s author, Francis Ridley Haverga, was the daughter of a minister in Worcester, born in December 1836. Describing her faith during her school years, she wrote, “I committed my soul to the Saviour, and earth and heaven seemed brighter from that moment.”

The hymn Take My Heart and Let It Be was written in December of 1873. On a visit, she was staying in a home with ten others, “some unconverted and long prayed for, some converted but not rejoicing Christians.” Miss Havergal began to pray, “Lord, give me all this house,” and He did. In a sleepless but joyful night that followed, she penned a series of eleven couplets, later adding a twelfth.

I love how her heart’s response to the Lord’s victory in the lives of these friends was a contemplation of devotion, offering all of herself to the Lord.

All for Thee

     Take myself, and I will be
     ever, only, all for thee

In the course of six stanzas, Miss Havergal lists what she has to offer the Lord: moments and days, hands and feet, voice, intellect, will, heart, and love. The lyrics expound upon Jesus’ words regarding the greatest commandment, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37).

No Longer Mine

In the past two years, I’ve been particularly challenged by this part:

     Take my will and make it thine;
     it shall be no longer mine.

I tend to feel anxious when things are outside of my control (like pandemics). In my anxiety, I grasp to take control of as much as I can. Ask my children how pleasant this makes me. But the Lord has a different way to quiet our hearts. He tells us in Philippians 4:6-7 to turn the circumstances over to Him with both prayer and thanksgiving, letting His peace replace our worry.

“No longer mine” applies to more than my worries. The Lord receives our fears, our pain, and our anger as well.  These are better handed over to Jesus than guarded in our hearts. Surrendered fully to Him, they are transformed for our freedom, healing, and glory (Romans 5:4, 2 Corinthians 4:17-18, 2 Corinthians 12:10).

As I surrender to Him all that is not mine to hold tightly — my wealth, my hours, my talents, my goals, and even my pain, I find my heart becomes more spacious, an appropriate throne for the King of Glory.

     Take my heart it is thine own;
     it shall be thy royal throne,
     it shall be thy royal throne.

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Pause, Reflect

* Listen to Take My Life and Let It Be, sung by Norton Hall Band.

Struggling with the idea of Surrender? These verses are wonderful for some moments of meditation. Try asking the Lord what He would have you surrender to Him today.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. (Matthew 16:24-17)

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7)