A is for Amazing Grace
#AtoZchallenge Day 1
“Amazing Grace” a poem and hymn that has probably touched us all came to my mind when I was searching for something that starts with A this month. Just hearing the opening music for this song gives me goose bumps and once it was in my head I couldn’t let it go. As I started to think about writing about it, I realized I didn’t know the history or where this song came from so I was inspired to do some research.
History tells a story about the author who had quite a past. The story goes that he left the service in the Royal Navy as a deserter and went to work on a slave trade ship. His outrageously obscene behavior and use of profanity resulted in his being treated badly at sea and even almost being starved to death at one point. Quite a journey for someone who eventually went into the ministry and began to write prayers and poems. Poems that have touched all of our lives hundreds of years later.
I remember singing this song growing up in the Methodist church. I heard Randy Travis sing this song in a football stadium during an Easter sunrise service many years ago here in Albuquerque. I have sung this song in the forest with my family during our camping trip “church services” as a child. I’m sure you have your stories too.
Don’t you think that the beauty of the song and now the author’s story is about hope? “Tis grace that brought me safe thus far and grace will lead us home”. Wow. No matter what your religious or nonreligious background, the words just speak to our hearts. No matter your background, hope fills the air. We’ve all been somewhere else in our lives. “Amazing grace that saved a wretch like me”. I think at its most simple interpretation, we are reminded that we have the power to open our souls until we feel whole. “I once was lost but now am found”. Amazing Grace.