Father, I know that all my life

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Father, I know that all my life

Author: Anna Letitia Waring (1850)
Tune: ST. BEDE (Dykes)
Published in 230 hymnals

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	He Leadeth Me (A budget-stretching resou…

Representative Text

1 Father, I know that all my life
is portioned out for me;
the changes that are sure to come
I do not fear to see:
I ask thee for a present mind,
intent on pleasing thee.

2 I would not have the restless will
that hurries to and fro,
seeking for some great thing to do
or secret thing to know;
I would be treated as a child,
and guided where to go.

3 I ask thee for the daily strength,
to none that ask denied,
a mind to blend with outward life,
while keeping at thy side,
content to fill a little space,
if thou be glorified.

4 In service which thy will appoints
there are no bonds for me;
my secret heart is taught the truth
that makes thy children free;
a life of self-renouncing love
is one of liberty.

Source: Trinity Psalter Hymnal #500

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Author: Anna Letitia Waring

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First Line:	Father, I know that all my life
Author:	Anna Letitia Waring (1850)
Meter:	8.6.8.6.8.6
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

Year A, Lent, Palm Sunday

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Notes

Father, I know that all my life. Anna L. Waring. [Resignation.] First published in her Hymns and Meditations, 1850, No. 1, in 8 stanzas of 6 lines, and headed, "My times are in Thy hand." (Enlarged edition 1863-1871.) One of the first, if not the first, hymn-book to bring it into common use, was the Leeds Hymn Book, 1853, No. 892. Since then it has passed into numerous collections in Great Britain and America. Although faulty, and awkward in rhythm, it has attained to a considerable circulation, its deep devotional spirit and intense personality being very attractive to many. Although best adapted for private reading, it is suitable, under special circumstances, for congregational use. In the American Unitarian Hymn [<& Tune] Book for the Church and the Home, Boston, 1868, No. 224, stanza v., vii., viii., are given in an altered form as:—" I ask Thee for the daily strength:" stanzas i.-iv. being given as No. 223.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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Father, I know that all my life, p. 367, ii. The hymn "I know, my Father, all my life," in Stryker's Church Song, 1889, is an altered form of this hymn.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)

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Father, I know that all my life, p. 367, ii. Appeared in a Selection of Scripture Poetry, edited by L. Squire, 1848, p. 124.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)

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