Not I, But Christ

Not I, But Christ
A.A. Whiddington

Not I, but Christ, be honoured, loved, exalted;
Not I, but Christ, be seen, be known, be heard;
Not I, but Christ, in every look and action;
Not I, but Christ, in every thought and word;

Not I, but Christ, to gently sooth in sorrow;
Not I, but Christ, to wipe the falling tear;
Not I, but Christ to lift the weary burden!
Not I, but Christ to hush away all fear.

Not I, but Christ in silent lowly labour;
Not I, but Christ in humble, earnest toil;
Christ, only Christ! To show no ostentation!
Christ, none but Christ, the gatherer of the spoil.

Oh, to be saved from myself, dear Lord,
Oh, to be lost in Thee,
Oh, that it be no more I,
But Christ that lives in me.

....

I read this hymn as part of my quiet time on Monday (yesterday) morning and then retyped it as a draft in the blog, and then proceeded to have a horrible morning with my children! School didn't go well,  there were a couple of "loud mommy" moments (read: yelling), and everybody was generally just not listening to anybody. I hesitated posting this on Monday afternoon, due to my awful attitude, yearning for my own personal holiday--that would definitely solve my difficult day! Not. Coming back to the blog this evening, I noticed it was left unpublished... alas I am now reading the last stanza: "Oh, to be saved from myself, dear Lord, Oh to be lost in Thee, Oh, that it be no more I, But Christ that lives in me." Yes, this is my prayer, and yes, this is a large reason why my day went so badly. I was so wrapped up in pleasing myself and fulfilling my own desires, everybody else was failing my expectations, not doing what I wanted. Rather than focusing on their needs, I was focused upon myself. Rather than being focused on what God wanted, I was focused on what I wanted.

Oh, to be saved from myself, dear Lord....Oh, to be lost in Thee....Oh, that it be no more I....But Christ that lives in me.