So, Lord, Art Thou to Me - As a Guide through Narrow Pathways

There's a song I like that I've heard the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square sing. It's title, forgettably, is "As The Bridegroom to His Chosen," but I would have named it after its refrain: "So, Lord, Art Thou to Me." This hymn is chock full of analogies and parables, each illustrating an aspect of the relationship of the Lord to the singer. Of these analogies, "As the Bridegroom to His Chosen" is the first. Many of these analogies make a lot of sense, including "As the King unto His Realm" and "As the Shepherd to His Lambs," but there are some that could use a bit more explaining, like "As the Sand unto the Sea" and "As the Sparrow in the Nest." Maybe the idea of the sand is that it encompasses the sea, without restricting it too much? I have no idea about the Sparrow analogy. Anyhow, since each verse is literally just a list of six relational analogies (with the correct number of syllables each), only two of which need to rhyme with each other, followed by the refrain "So, Lord, Art Thou to Me," I figure it wouldn't be too hard to for me to write my own verse to this song. Let me see what I can come up with.

As a Guide through Narrow Pathways,
As a Wise Man to a Fool,
As a Bridle to a Stallion,
As a Halter to a Mule,
As a Sword of Righteous Judgement,
As a Balm of Unearned Grace,
So, Lord, Art Thou to Me.

I think I could learn a lot about my current relationship with God (or my current understanding of my relationship with God) by studying these lines.

Adding these notes will make the blog post late, but I want to elaborate a bit on these lines. 

I thought the Stallion line gave me too much credit, and the Mule line maybe too little, so I thought I'd include them both to balance each other out, especially given the rhyme with the Fool line. 

Of course, a Fool could learn a lot from a Wise Man, but the Fool is usually too Foolish to listen, hence the necessary Sword of Righteous Judgement and the Balm of Unearned Grace.

And the Guide line... What could I say about it that isn't obvious? God is the only good Guide I have, but the Pathway is too Narrow for my taste. I wasn't kidding about being the kind of beast that needs a Bridle or a Halter.

I want freedom. I want more freedom than is good for me. I need God's firm but gentle hand. Sometimes, I feel like I need God to drag me, grumbling and groaning, down the road to salvation. 

But He doesn't do that sort of thing. God's not going to force me to do anything or go anywhere I don't want to do or go. And that's my problem. God lets me make my own decisions, and I make too many wrong ones.

I sometimes wish God would bridle or halter me, but having a beast to drag along is not why people bridle stallions and halter mules. Stallions are supposed to bear riders (or stud foals, but let's not go there), and mules are supposed to bear burdens. If I'm not carrying my own weight and at least a little bit of someone else's, why should the Guide bother to bring me along? And if He would have to drag me down those Narrow Pathways, wouldn't He be better off without me?

I need to learn to be less willful and more willing to follow the Wise Man and Guide and to unbegrudgingly bear a burden while doing so. That's a tall order for a Foolish "Stallion" like me, but maybe I'll figure it out one of these days.

Anyhow, I've rambled long enough. This blog post is late, and I should get to bed. I just hope that God has a lot of patience and a lot of Balm.