Keeping Love Alive as Memories FadeSample

Pray

In 1845, a 25-year-old Irish man, Joseph Scriven, stood on the bank of the River Bann, watching as his fiancée crossed a bridge on horseback, making her way toward him. Tragically, before she could reach the place where Joseph stood, she fell from her horse and drowned. It was the day before their wedding.

Not long after, the grief-stricken young man made the long voyage across the Atlantic to Canada. Starting over in this new country, Joseph worked as a tutor and a lay preacher. Years later, at age 39, he fell in love again. The bride-to-be was the lovely Miss Eliza Catherine Roche, just 22 years old. Unbelievably, before they could marry, Eliza died of pneumonia.

Joseph Scriven never married. He devoted the rest of his life to tutoring, preaching, and performing acts of Christian charity. After his death in 1886, the city of Port Hope, Ontario, Canada, erected a monument to his life.

Scriven is best known for a poem he wrote in 1855 to comfort his mother who was seriously ill in Ireland. Perhaps drawing deeply from his own journey through grief, he titled the poem, Pray Without Ceasing. Today we know these words as the lyrics of the beloved hymn, What a Friend We Have in Jesus. These lyrics are especially applicable to dementia care partners, providing as much comfort and encouragement today as when Mrs. Scriven received them from her son more than a century and a half ago.

What a friend we have in Jesus,

All our sins and griefs to bear!

What a privilege to carry

Everything to God in prayer!

Oh, what peace we often forfeit,

Oh, what needless pain we bear,

All because we do not carry

Everything to God in prayer!

Listen to the song here: What a Friend We Have in Jesus.

(Note: this hymn is in the public domain per hymnal.net: "A public domain hymn is a hymn that predates copyright laws, and whose copyright has expired. Materials dated 1922 or earlier are usually in the public domain.")

This devotional was written by Deborah Barr — a versatile writer, speaker, and health educator. An experienced wellness writer and speaker, Deborah volunteers as a community educator for the Western Carolina chapter of the Alzheimer's Association.