There used to be a little ol’ Baptist preacher by the name of Reverend Banks. Reverend Banks would often sing a song called, Father Along. It is a beautiful song but as a youngster attending church I did not fully understand or appreciate exactly what the words to that song really meant. Since I lived some more of life I have come to know and appreciate the lyrics of this song. The words are a comfort to me on days when life just doesn’t make sense and there are no answers to comfort the worries of…..why? Ever been there? Well let me encourage you today, to cheer up my brother, my sister… live in the sunshine and know that you will understand all by and by. Now, you can make yourself crazy and sick trying to understand and find answers, and sometimes that is okay to a certain point, but after you have hit some bricks walls followed up by headaches in search of these answers, then you have to trust in the by and by. It is not easy, but there is peace in the by and by. You might still be hurting, but there is a soothing balm in the by and by. Folk might be smearing your name from one end of town to the other, but God knows the truth and by and by we will all know the truth of ourselves and each other. Cheer up! Live in the sunshine! In other words, keep hope for better days alive in your mind and know that you will understand it alllll by and by! Hallelujah!
Peace
Here are the lyrics to the song:
- Tempted and tried, we’re oft made to wonder
Why it should be thus all the day long;
While there are others living about us,
Never molested, though in the wrong.- Refrain:
Farther along we’ll know more about it,
Farther along we’ll understand why;
Cheer up, my brother, live in the sunshine,
We’ll understand it all by and by.
- Refrain:
- Sometimes I wonder why I must suffer,
Go in the rain, the cold, and the snow,
When there are many living in comfort,
Giving no heed to all I can do. - Tempted and tried, how often we question
Why we must suffer year after year,
Being accused by those of our loved ones,
E’en though we’ve walked in God’s holy fear. - Often when death has taken our loved ones,
Leaving our home so lone and so drear,
Then do we wonder why others prosper,
Living so wicked year after year. - “Faithful till death,” saith our loving Master;
Short is our time to labor and wait;
Then will our toiling seem to be nothing,
When we shall pass the heavenly gate. - Soon we will see our dear, loving Savior,
Hear the last trumpet sound through the sky;
Then we will meet those gone on before us,
Then we shall know and understand why.