Let me share with you an experience I had just a few days ago. I have no idea what prompted it, but the lyrics of a song which I had not thought of for more than seventy years came back to me. They were written on my heart before I entered school, and for some reason, I remembered them.
Where had I learned this song? In my memory I went back to the wooden frame building at West Huntsville, AL where the church met. I recalled what “Sunday School” classes were like where I went to my “classroom” and what I thought was an anciently old woman taught me. We would often begin the class by singing the same song. These were the lyrics that came to my mind the other day.
“I washed my hands this morning,
So very clean and white;
And lent them up to Jesus,
To work for Him till night.”
Think of the power of these words and the impact they had on a child. Once these words were written on the heart, how could a child not think of them every time he washed his hands? Hand washing was far more than getting dirt removed from the hands. It was a reminder that those very hands were lent to Jesus to work for Jesus all day long.
The song did not end with this thought.
There was a chorus, a refrain, which we then sang:
”Little feet, be careful,
Where you take me to;
Anything for Jesus,
Only let me do.”
What a concept. It brought to a child’s mind that wherever he went that day he had committed to do anything for Jesus.
There was a second verse to the song followed by the same refrain:
“I told my ears to listen,
Throughout the live-long day;
For any words of kindness,
My little lips might say.”
Thank you, “Miss Hastings,” for teaching me this song and for helping a small child view each day so differently. I am not sure her name was Hastings, but I remember how she sat with her open Bible and told me stories about what God had done. She had no flannelgraph, no visual aids— nothing like we have today—but I can still see her with the Bible in her lap trying to help children.
So, when you “wash your hands this morning,” think about using hands, feet, ears and lips for Him today!
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