As Shadows Lengthen

Representative Text

1. As shadows lengthen and the night grows cold,
Not seeing how life’s pages will unfold,
Give us Your peace as, yielding to Your will,
We trust the Author loves and keeps us still.

2. One thing we pray, when evening round us falls,
Show us the place on memory’s darkened walls,
As dimming eye and failing flesh grow weak,
Show us where pictures of Your love still speak,

3. That we may tell to generations new,
Tell of a faithfulness forever true,
Tell of a power that keeps us to the end,
Tell of our God, protector, guide and friend.

4. Then, when our task is done and comes the wing
Of death’s bright angel, teach us how to sing,
With soaring confidence to mount on high,
Flying to golden streets beyond the sky.

Author: Richard W. Adams

Born: 1952, Mis­souri. Adams grad­u­at­ed from the Un­i­ver­si­ty of Mis­sou­ri, Co­lum­bia (BA 1974, cum laude, Phi Be­ta Kap­pa). Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: As shadows lengthen and the night grows cold
Title: As Shadows Lengthen
Author: Richard W. Adams (2009)
Language: English
Notes: "I wrote this hymn after visiting my mother, Betty Adams, in her St. Louis nursing home, following her diagnosis with Alzheimer's Disease. It was sad to see her faculties slowly deteriorating, but I took hope in the promise of resurrection in a perfect, immortal body that will never age or fail." Richard W. Adams
Copyright: © 2009 Richard W. Adams. Reproduce or publish freely for Christian worship or devotions.

Tune

EVENTIDE (Monk)

According to some sources, William H. Monk (PHH 332) wrote EVENTIDE for Lyte's text in ten minutes. As the story goes, Monk was attending a hymnal committee meeting for the 1861 edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern of which he was music editor. Realizing that this text had no tune, Monk sat down at t…

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The Cyber Hymnal #249
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The Cyber Hymnal #249

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