Wednesday Wisdom 05
The mental gymnastics that my brain goes through to spell Wednesday correctly remains puzzling to me, no matter how old I get. Kinda like life.
There’s no doubt I need God’s wisdom to guide me every day. But I need extra on Wednesdays. 
Weak Lyrics
If you’re at all like me, you’ve probably misunderstood a song lyric or two in your travels.
And like any other communication misfire, you roll with your version like it’s the truth. You don’t know any better. Yet.
You stay in that holding pattern for years.
Then comes the day when you realize what the correct lyrics are, and you’re like, “Wait. Whaaat?”
You and I are not alone.
A quick Google search for misunderstood song lyrics will produce a vast array of examples.
More than one person out there thought eggshells had a proper place in the song Angels We Have Heard On High.
You know, Gloooo-ooooo-ooooo-ooooo-ria, in eggshells seas deo.
Seriously. That’s what Google said, anyway. But I digress.
The Wrong Song
A few months back, I had one of those actual lyric vs. lyric I heard revelations, and that is where my short story begins.
In the middle of a Bible study one day, I was reading Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV):
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Suddenly, a song that I’d learned in church as a child (and probably haven’t sung since) crept up in my heart and got stuck there.
Throughout the rest of the day, I went from humming the melody to recalling bits and pieces of the song, to finally scribbling out the lyrics to the chorus as I remembered them:
Come unto me. Come unto me.
And I will give you rest. I will give you rest.
Take My yoke upon you. Take My yoke upon you.
Hear me and be blessed. Hear me and be blessed.
I am meek and lowly. I am meek and lowly.
Come and…
Here comes the disconnect.
Years ago, my elementary school ears heard touch my mind for the next three words in the song.
But my grownup brain wasn’t having it. Touch my mind?
That didn’t make any sense at all.
The entire song so far was Jesus speaking in first person, like He is in Matthew 11:28-30, the Scripture reference that inspired it.
Why would the lyrics suddenly turn into the songwriter’s plea? And why would the plea be touch my mind?
(Though you could argue that my mind back then could’ve used a touch).
The Mighty Big Misunderstanding
Off I went to seek truth.
It didn’t take too long to find.
Here’s the rest of the chorus from the song, Come Unto Me, according to the original songwriter, Charles P. Jones, a pastor and hymnist from Kingston, Georgia who is said to have written over 1,000 gospel songs between 1895 and 1905:
Come and trust My might.
Come, My yoke is easy, and My burden light.
Wow.
Had this accidental stumble upon some misunderstood lyrics from my childhood just blessed my soul?
It sure had.
The Finishing Touch
The songwriter was encouraging the listener to not just come to the Lord, but to come and trust.
Come and trust His might.
Come and trust that He is who He says He is.
That He is mighty enough to take all of our burdens and give us rest.
Oh, my feeble faith.
I have too often treated God like a weakling who needs my help.
He does not.
I remain thankful for the God-sent reminder I got on that day of discovery.
Turns out, my mind was touched after all.