A labour of love

      Regular visitors to 'Share My Journey' will know that one of my favourite tasks is hymn-writing, and since the beginning of September 2010, I have managed to post a new hymn onto this Blog every single day, with the exception of three days recently when I had problems with my computer. From the many comments that I hear I know that my hymns are enjoyed by readers around the world, and that many of them are subsequently used in worship services attended by my readers. The great thing about this is that they are used for the intended purpose, which is to praise God and draw attention to His grace and mercy. At the same time I hope that they also draw people to His righteousness.
      We are taught in the Bible that we should seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, (Matthew 6:33), and so if anything that I can do, whether through my hymns or in any other way, can help to point people in that direction, then I will have achieved much through my efforts.
      I have no idea how long I will be granted the blessing of hymn-writing, but I readily acknowledge that it is the work of the Holy Spirit, working through me, that is the real creative talent. My part in the whole thing is simply to write down what I am given and deliver it. I often describe myself as 'the Mail-man' for this reason. 
      I  started to become a serious hymn-writer in March 2006, when I was at home for three months, recuperating after a period of poor health. I have been writing verse since I was an eight-year old boy, and have had a measure of success as a poet with eleven collections of my poetry now published, but over the years had only managed about a dozen hymns. This changed very slightly when, following the end of the Christmas services in 2005, I commented to the church organist that I would try to write some new songs for the following Advent season. The result was that I presented her with three songs a couple of weeks later and, encouraged by her complimentary comments, I set about writing three new songs for use in the Communion services. Pleased with the results of my labours, and now with eighteen hymns to my name, I felt that it was not too presumptuous to add the sobriquet hymn-writer to my personal CV.
      The problem came when I was preparing an article on Charles Wesley for The Voice Christian News & Views magazine at the beginning of March 2006. The problem was quite simple; Wesley had written an estimated 7000 hymns during his lifetime. How could I even consider myself to be a hymn-writer in the face of that! Totally daunted by the facts staring at me, I then kept on questioning how he could have done it. It was about midnight a couple of weeks later when I suddenly awoke, sat bolt upright in bed and said out aloud, "I've got it!", waking my sleeping wife in the process. Needless to say, once she realised that I was not having a heart attack but was speaking yet again about Charles Wesley, she was none too pleased!
      The revelation that had come to me in the night was simply that Wesley had not really written all those hymns at all. He had written them down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, which is a slightly different thing altogether. With that realisation I immediately got up, went to my computer and wrote down six new hymns as fast as my fingers would type. The following morning I was sitting at the computer once again and wrote another five hymns. Over the ensuing eight weeks the number rose to around two hundred! It has been a wonderful journey since then, with the increase of the blessing day by day, and now that I no longer have a full-time job with the church since my 'retirement', I am able to apply myself for awhile every day to this gifted task. 
      I shall continue to be the Mail-man, and deliver all that the Spirit inspires in me. I hope and pray that the results will be a blessing to countless others, causing them to proclaim the glory and greatness of God through the singing of my hymns.