Yonder

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If you are ever in the rural South, you are apt to hear someone say:

            “I’m a fixin’ to do it”

                 – translation: “I am getting ready to perform

                                          this task.”

            “Sho nuff”

                  – translation: “You are absolutely correct.”

            “What’chu doin’?”

                  – translation: “What are you doing at

                                          this moment?”

You are also apt to hear words that are no longer typically used in American conversation; words like victual (vit-l) for food or provisions or holler (hol-r) for calling someone on the phone.

One of my favorite words is yonder.  The word is frequently accompanied by the gesture of pointing toward something.  A common usage is: “I think I left the rake over yonder.  Go get it.”

I belong to a congregation of the Lord’s church that sings some lovely old hymns in four part harmony and the only instrument present is our collective heart.

                “speaking to one another in psalms

                 and hymns and spiritual songs,

                 singing and making melody in your

                 heart to the Lord” – Ephesians 5:19

One of my favorite hymns is Here We Are But Straying Pilgrims by W.G. Perkins.

1. Here we are but straying pilgrims;
Here our path is often dim;
But to cheer us on our journey,
Still we sing this wayside hymn:

o  Refrain:

Yonder over the rolling river,
Where the shining mansions rise,
Soon will be our home for ever,
And the smile of the blessed Giver
Gladdens all our longing eyes.

2. Here our feet are often weary
On the hills that throng our way;
Here the tempest darkly gathers,
But our hearts within us say:

3. Here our souls are often fearful
Of the pilgrim’s lurking foe;
But the Lord is our defender,
And He tells us we may know:

It is a perfect hymn to remind me that this life is temporary and there is a better place coming to those who faithfully follow the Lord’s commands.  I am prayerfully working to be faithful because (in the words of James M. Black):

1. When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and time shall be no more,
And the morning breaks, eternal, bright and fair;
When the saved of earth shall gather over on the other shore,
And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.

o  Refrain:
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.

2. On that bright and cloudless morning when the dead in Christ shall rise,
And the glory of His resurrection share;
When His chosen ones shall gather to their home beyond the skies,
And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.

3. Let us labor for the Master from the dawn till setting sun,
Let us talk of all His wondrous love and care;
Then when all of life is over, and our work on earth is done,
And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.

Lisa H.