My Help

Henry Lee, Juanita, Evalina, & Edner.  I wanted to record for posterity the names of some of the women who "practically raised" me, according to my mother.  I don't know their last names.  I don't even know if their names are correctly spelled (the above names are phonetically spelled, based on my mother's pronunciation).  These were black women who worked for my mother, taking care of me when I was very young.  Sadly, I don't remember them (I have no memory of anything before kindergarten.  I remember getting a whipping for "getting lost" during a kindergarten class trip to the circus.  I also remember that I wasn't lost; I wandered off to look at the chameleons that were for sale.  I was fascinated by them & wanted to watch them more than whatever else was going on under the big top.  No doubt that unjust whipping scarred me for life.  It wiped out my pre-kindergarten memory & to this day I don't like circuses & I break out in a cold sweat in the presence of old maid schoolmarms).  Anyway, it grieves me that I don't remember these women or the things they taught me.  However, given the culture of the day, I have no doubt that they were relatively strict and openly & unashamedly based whatever rules they had on the Bible.  Consequently, I also have no doubt that I'll see 'em again in glory.

I will lift up my eyes to the hills--
From whence comes my help?
My help comes from the LORD,
Who made heaven and earth.

These are the opening two verses of Psalm 121, one of the Songs of Ascents, recited by the Jews as they walked up to Jerusalem for one of the holy days.  As they approached Jerusalem, they looked up at the hills where various "high places" were found.  These were shrines, often to idols, that were unauthorized by God.  The Jews then affirmed that their help comes not from any source other than the Lord, who made heaven and earth.  I also affirm that God alone is my help and that, ultimately, it is he who works through various agents to help me, discipline me, and direct my way.  He worked through Henry Lee, Juanita, Evalina, and Edner.  He will be my help today, and I can trust him to be my help in the future.  He neither slumbers nor sleeps.  Praised be God, and not our strength, for it.