One of the more appealing aspects of black gospel lyrics is the economy in the message. I often refer to myself as a wordy introvert so no doubt I have sound bite envy, but I tend to agree with Paul McCartney who suggested that no song lyric should exceed 25 words. I agree in theory anyway--if not practice. My first publisher in Nashville, Tennessee once said to me, "Ashley, no one is interested in your second page of lyrics." At the time I was crushed but now I consider it one of the more valuable bits of advice that I’ve received and over the years I’ve made a conscious effort to pare and pare again in the writing process.

Traditional black gospel, much of it written in the slave fields or lined out by a pastor to his congregation, doesn’t suffer from such overthinking. In his book, People Get Ready! A New History of Black Gospel Music, Robert Darden quotes an elderly former slave describing the spirituals as the "...whole bible sung out and out." Consider "Keep your lamp trimmed and burnin', see what the Lord has done."

I have something of a candle fetish and usually burn one, at some point, daily. A few years ago we had the interior of our house painted and the painter told us it would cost more because of the smoke residue from all my candles. He said "Maam, you need to either switch to a room spray or do a better job of trimming your wicks." And my candle wicks aren’t the only things smoking. I tend to blow a fair amount of smoke myself—-like the smoke of arrogance and self-will; or telling people what I think they want to hear rather than living authentically and faithfully. Conversely, at times I live entirely too authentically, acting out my intolerance and judgment as I go. But a trimmed wick—-now that’s a beautiful thing.

1st Corinthians 15:14 talks about how among the heavenly bodies one star differs from another in splendor. As Christians we are members of the body of Christ who is our light source but Romans 12 points out that each member doesn’t have the same function or an equal measure of faith. To me, this means that we all shine a little differently and if one of us burns out, the glory of the saints is not the same.

Two of the primary means that I have of keeping my lamp trimmed are prayer and scripture. I grew up in a shattered family and as a result I turned to self-reliance to an idolatrous extreme. My attitude about prayer is that it's a default position after I’ve exhausted all of my own resources. Mercifully, God has shown me throughout my life the futility of this kind of thinking, the end of my own solutions and the reality of my own powerlessness as I have watched Him work out His own plans, often with a lot of showing off-—like the old crow who knows her baby is the blackest. I know now-—even though I like to forget-—that prayer is not only my first and best line of defense, most times it’s the only one I’ve got. I try to read scripture every day and recommend memorizing it-—by the verse, by the chapter, by the book-—because as Anne Lamott so aptly points out: "my mind is a bad neighborhood...." But the word of God is "...a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path."

Finally: "See what the Lord has done." Sooner or later the path becomes difficult, tedious, mundane, brutal or simply impossible. It is a great encouragement for me to remember how the Lord has brought me through these deserts before and how He rescued me when I had one foot in the grave and was doing my level best to swing the other one over. I look at my life today which overflows with the details of God’s mercy and grace and I can only respond: “Lord, the one you love is grateful. Would you light my path and show me how to walk it with my lamp trimmed and burning? Knowing, always knowing, that I know."

Scriptures:
Luke 12: 35, 36
Psalm 77: 11, 12
Psalm 119: 105
Acts 6:4