More Love to Thee, O Christ

I grew up hearing and singing hymns in Korean and was late in the game to contemporary Christian music.  While I love modern Christian artists and the freedom I feel when I worship to them, more often than not, my heart finds its way back to the hymns of my childhood.  Today is one of those days, and the tune that rises to my lips this morning is More Love to Thee, O Christ.

So I did a quick Google search and found that Elizabeth Prentiss penned these words in 1856 during a period of illness.  Knowing that and then reading her words makes them even more powerful.  Illness in those days was often life-threatening, and of all the things she could have prayed for and desired in that time, the prayer than she made "on bended knee," her most "earnest plea" was "more love to Thee." 

My husband and I just got through a hump in our marriage.  We were both chronically tired and had pent up frustrations which escalated into a week of fighting.  Although we are good now, I can easily recall the emotional exhaustion of fighting, the pain of it, and the desire for peace during the storm.  These are things that everyone naturally desires, let alone when you are sick!  But above that storm, Elizabeth Prentiss desired one thing alone: more love to Thee.

By the time you reach the final verse, you are pretty much overwhelmed with her love to Christ!  And yet, envisioning the end of her life--which may very well have been a near reality for her--she still declares that her last breath will "whisper Thy praise," that the "parting cry [her] heart shall raise," and her final prayer shall still be "more love to Thee!"  I mean, I don't know that I would even still be praying with my final breaths!  I would probably have more of a "Get ready, Lord, I'm coming! Open those gates for me!" kinda attitude if I were that close to the end.  But still she is seeking, still she is striving, still she is offering till the final drops of her life for more love to Thee!  Now that is a good fight fought. 

This hymn is my prayer today, the desire of my heart, and the goal of my faith.  And here it is in all its uninterrupted beauty:

More Love to Thee, O Christ
-Elizabeth Prentiss, 1856

More love to Thee, O Christ, more love to Thee!

Hear Thou the prayer I make on bended knee.
This is my earnest plea: More love, O Christ, to Thee;
More love to Thee, more love to Thee!

Once earthly joy I craved, sought peace and rest;
Now Thee alone I seek, give what is best.
This all my prayer shall be: More love, O Christ to Thee;
More love to Thee, more love to Thee!

Let sorrow do its work, come grief or pain;
Sweet are Thy messengers, sweet their refrain,
When they can sing with me: More love, O Christ, to Thee;
More love to Thee, more love to Thee!

Then shall my latest breath whisper Thy praise;
This be the parting cry my heart shall raise;
This still its prayer shall be: More love, O Christ to Thee;
More love to Thee, more love to Thee!