My family does not like it when I am in control of the remote control. I always pick a biography to watch. I enjoy learning about the lives of others. I am inspired by how people persevered in their difficulties and chose to make a difference despite the obstacles. I cry during the stories while the family waits for a moment to wrestle the remote control from me.
Recently, when I had the remote, I picked a documentary on Charles Wesley. Charles lived in England during the 1700s. He was a clergyman, hymn writer, poet. He and his brother, John Wesley, began the Methodist movement. Charles wrote close to 9,000 hymns over a course of fifty years. They said he averaged around ten poetic lines a day to accomplish this feat.
The documentary was broken into segments, one being the hymns, others being topics such as early life, education, conversion, family, etc. However, I believed that separating the hymn accomplishment was a disservice to Charles Wesley. Because when you put the poems next to his life, it is even more of a marvel to realize he wrote ten lines a day.
Charles was married to Sarah Gwynne. They had eight children together. However, five of their children died and never reached adulthood. Charles wrote ten lines of Christian poetry a day. The documentary stated that their children that did live did not share the same faith and one lived in rebellion. Yet, Charles wrote songs to the Lord, ten lines, every day. While preaching, Charles was often barred from pulpits, despised by many church leaders. Yet, he wrote ten lines of a hymn daily. He was attacked by mobs while preaching in open fields and had objects and mud thrown at him. Charles wrote his ten lines of poetry. His brother and he had heated arguments and painful separations. Charles still penned his ten lines of praise. He dealt with serious illness. Somehow, the ten lines were written each day. His wife almost died of smallpox, which did take the life of one of his sons, and she was scarred horribly by the disease. And Charles wrote his ten lines each day.
In the midst of pain, Charles wrote hymns of praise, or sorrow, of searching out God’s heart. That is his true legacy. He pressed into the heart of God in the pain instead of closing off the Lord because of his difficulties. Around the world, his songs are song hundreds of years after they are written. The one that would be most recognized today would be “Hark the Herald Angels Sing”. He wrote these hymns, line by line, day by day despite his losses and pain.
We all suffer difficulties. We choose our response. We may not be writers, poets, hymn writers. But each day we can choose our “ten lines” of praise. Maybe it is prayer, a song, a psalm, a Scripture, or a quiet commitment to trust God in the heartaches of life. Charles Wesley is an example of this to us.
That is the reason why I believe I should have the remote control more often! We can learn and apply spiritual lessons from those who have gone before us. Give me the remote!