Sunday Morning Hymn

Day by Day
Day by day, and with each passing moment,
Strength I find, to meet my trials here;
Trusting in my Father's wise bestowment,
I've no cause for worry or for fear.
He Whose heart is kind beyond all measure
Gives unto each day what He deems best—
Lovingly, its part of pain and pleasure,
Mingling toil with peace and rest.

Every day, the Lord Himself is near me
With a special mercy for each hour;
All my cares He fain would bear, and cheer me,
He Whose Name is Counselor and Power;
The protection of His child and treasure
Is a charge that on Himself He laid;
"As thy days, thy strength shall be in measure,"
This the pledge to me He made.

Help me then in every tribulation
So to trust Thy promises, O Lord,
That I lose not faith's sweet consolation
Offered me within Thy holy Word.
Help me, Lord, when toil and trouble meeting,
Ever to take, as from a father's hand,
One by one, the days, the moments fleeting,
Till I reach the promised land.

Words by Karolina Wilhelmina Sandell-Berg , tranlated from the Swedish by Andrew L. Skoog.

Music by Oscar Ahnfelt

Lina Sandell's hymns were made popular here in North America by Swedish singer Jenny Lind. Lina was the daughter of a Swedish Lutheran pastor, and when she was 26, she saw her father fall overboard and drown during a boat trip. That tragedy was the catalyst for her prolific hymn writing. In all, she wrote more than 650 of them, and it's because she wrote so many that she was known as the Fanny Crosby of Sweden.