My Jesus I Love You

1st Timothy 4:12(NIV)

Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.

The hymn, "My Jesus I Love Thee" has been playing through my head today.   I do love this hymn and will always associate it with the funeral of a dear friend of ours, a friend so dear we named our son after him.   The lyrics could have been the testimony of his life   I was astounded to read today that it was written by a Canadian boy, only 16 years old, not astounded that he was Canadian but that he was only sixteen.    He lived a short life dying at 27 years of age, but what a legacy he left behind, this profound, straight forward love letter to his Savior.  When I was sixteen my greatest desire was acquiring my driver's license and/or a boyfriend.   I did get the license.  

"My Jesus I Love Thee" - The Joslin Grove Choral Society

My Jesus, I love Thee

My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine;
For Thee all the follies of sin I resign.
My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art Thou;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

I love Thee because Thou has first loved me,
And purchased my pardon on Calvary’s tree.
I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

I’ll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,
And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;
And say when the death dew lies cold on my brow,
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

In mansions of glory and endless delight,
I’ll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright;
I’ll sing with the glittering crown on my brow;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

William Ralph Featherston, 1864