I am making these little pieces. I call them “Set in Stone”. They are little ice cube sized pieces of concrete with a word of encouragement, inspiration, or truth. I am using a lot of the pieces that I have made over the years that for one reason or another didn’t get finished. As I packed up my studio in Tampa and unpacked it here in Wisconsin I found several. This one had “Leaning on the everlasting arms” stamped on it.
I have no idea what I was going through that day. I do know pretty much everything I take time to stamp one letter at a time into a piece of metal is significant to me. No doubt I needed to remember there is a God and He is timeless. As I looked at the history of these words written over 100 years ago, according to Wikipedia, I found that they were penned by a man named Anthony J Showalter after he received news from 2 former students that their wives had died. As he was writing to them he quoted the scripture from Deuteronomy 33:27, “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms”. Then he and Elisha Hoffman wrote this now famous hymn. Here are the lyrics:
- What a fellowship, what a joy divine,
Leaning on the everlasting arms;
What a blessedness, what a peace is mine,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.- Refrain:
Leaning, leaning,
Safe and secure from all alarms;
Leaning, leaning,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.
- Refrain:
- Oh, how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way,
Leaning on the everlasting arms;
Oh, how bright the path grows from day to day,
Leaning on the everlasting arms. - What have I to dread, what have I to fear,
Leaning on the everlasting arms?
I have blessed peace with my Lord so near,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.
My favorite part was the Refrain, “Leaning, Leaning, safe and secure from all alarms”
This little “set in stone” piece is actually still curing here in the picture. When it’s ready to go, it will probably be shipped off to one of the wonderful shops that carry ReJoyed. It is my hope that it will find its way to someone that needs a little reminder that there are everlasting arms and they are more than strong enough to lean on.
How about you? What are you leaning on?
