joy in "leanin' on the Lord's side"

We sang a song in Uganda that I loved - "Whose side are you leanin' on? " "I'm leanin' on the Lord's side". We would lean back with each line of the chorus - it was a great stretch! - " I lean, I lean, I lean, I lean, I'm leanin' on the Lord's side". Until yesterday I always thought about that song in terms of being on God's team, doing things His way, you know...being on HIS side, instead of on Satan's or the world's. The guy from England who taught us the song didn't give a talk with it, or give us a theology for it. But when I think about that now, the actions didn't really fit with that theology. Because if you were on God's team, you wouldn't want to be spending a lot of time leaning back...you'd want to be moving forward!! It would seem that leaning should be reserved for the times when YOU were needing someone to lean on. But somehow, in that time when I was a missionary and enjoying leading all sorts of action songs in the workshops and Bible classes and Scripture Union conferences that I was involved in, I didn't think that one through.

Now of course, as you know from reading my blog, this season in my life since my missionary days has had a lot of leaning. It has been incredibly fruitful of course, and I am learning so much about being someone whom others can lean on. Not that I didn't before, but I didn't think of it that way. I just did it. Now it is a very intentional aware process, from being a parent of teenagers to studying to be a counsellor/therapist.

Yesterday's entry in Streams in the Desert opened up my understanding in a whole new way about this. The simplest and best way would seem to be to quote from it directly:

"Someone gained a good lesson from a southern prayer meeting. A colored brother asked the Lord for various blessings - as you and I do, and thanked the Lord for many already received - as you and I do; but he closed with this unusual petition: "And, O Lord, support us! Yes support us Lord on every leanin' side! Have you any leanin' sides? This humble man's prayer pictures them in a new way and shows the Great Supporter in a new light also. He is always walking by the Christian, ready to extend His mighty arm and steady the weak one on 'every leanin' side.".

It feels to me like having my daughters back home is supporting me again on a leanin' side, and that many ways God provides for me bring such supports. By the same token, I have to remember always that my support comes from Him. My girls, or any other human friends or loves, will not always support me on my leanin' side. They might even cause me to lean, to go off balance, to need support from another direction. And then the challenge for me is to gain that balance in God's way, to find the way to stay on level ground, and keep on straight paths. Only God can do that, and be there to support me on my "leanin' sides". So may He be there for me, and may I always remember that when I do lean, to do it on HIS side, so that He can make me "UP right" again!!