How many of you know this old Sunday School song?

The composer, Ina Duley Ogden, wrote this well-known song after a particularly disappointing development in her life.  She had been asked to participate in an evangelistic service in what is now recognized as one of the most important cultural phenomenons of the last century.  Most of us know that the New York Chautauqua was what spawned a national movement to provide cultural – mostly music – experiences for people in small towns across the country.  What many of us don’t realize is that the whole Chautauqua program came about as a result of a series of evangelistic “camp meetings.”

Anyway, Miss Duley (later, Mrs. Ogden) was invited to participate in one of Billy Sunday’s (if you don’t recognize the name, “Google it”….it’s worth the effort) tent meetings at Chautauqua.  However, just before she was to leave, her father was involved in a horseless carriage accident and she was forced to stay home to help him.  Her dream of having a huge impact on hundreds – maybe thousands – of people at the Tent Meeting were dashed.

In her disappointment she came to realize that she could also serve and affect the lives of those who were close to her …even if it wasn’t in the way she had imagined.

I’m not suggesting that we should become complacent in our current circumstances – or that we shouldn’t work toward our dreams.  We can, however, help those closest to us and work to provide them the best programs we can.  We often never know who our work is affecting the most …nor do we even know how our teaching is being perceived by our students.  Seldom do we know at the moment it is happening the long-range effects we have on students.  If we’re lucky, we may see (or hear about) the results of our teaching efforts many years after it happens.

Brightening the corner where we are seems to be a pretty solid teaching goal, doesn’t it?

Copyright – JB Gilliland 2012