“Abide with Me,” Ensign, June 1998, 59–60
“Abide with Me”
It seemed the hot, oppressive miles stretched on forever as we fidgeted restlessly in the crowded car. We had already been traveling 12 hours through a midsummer heat wave on our trek home to Chicago from a vacation in the West.
My husband, Chris, was driving, with seven-month-old Peter in his car seat next to him and our friend Sheryl next to the baby. I sat in the back with our three-year-old daughter.
As night approached, Peter’s frustration and fatigue progressed from whining tooutright wailing. After Sheryl’s attempts to console him failed, we finally swapped seats. I put my hand on a tear-stained cheek, murmuring comfortingly. Immediately Peter stopped crying and, with just a few whimpers, fell asleep. His obvious appreciation for my nearness was tremendously satisfying—and humbling.
As my baby slept, I pondered times when I have been in similar situations—frustrated by the constraints of my circumstances, exhausted by my trials, and feeling helpless and alone. Yet for me also had come a comforter with familiar tenderness and soul-soothing power. As we drove on into the night in those cramped quarters, I sang to myself in gratitude and relief:
Abide with me! fast falls the eventide;
Abide with me! fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens. Lord, with me abide!
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me!
(Hymns, no. 166)