In 12 Step programs there is a step that talks about “being restored to sanity”.  To me, sanity is serenity, and, like many people, my serenity has been in short supply these past few days. I have found myself anxious and fearful from a combination of the raging Pandemic, widespread joblessness and suffering, and waiting for the results of our Presidential election. 

This morning, like a gift, the song “God will take care of you” was running through my mind when I awoke. It is an old, old hymn from my grandmother’s time.  The lines are old-fashioned but I find them so reassuring right now:

Be not dismayed whate’er betide,
God will take care of you;
Beneath His wings of love abide,
God will take care of you.

Refrain:
God will take care of you,
Through every day, o’er all the way;
He will take care of you,
God will take care of you.

Through days of toil when heart doth fail,
God will take care of you;
When dangers fierce your path assail,
God will take care of you.

All you may need He will provide,
God will take care of you;
Nothing you ask will be denied,
God will take care of you.

No matter what may be the test,
God will take care of you;
Lean, weary one, upon His breast,
God will take care of you.

By Civilla D. Martin, 1904

What is “restoring me to sanity” today is two things. The first is trusting my Higher Power, as this lovely old song suggests, and remembering “I know not what the future holds, but I know who holds the future”.

The second is a wonderful video my daughter sent, of ten-month-old Elijah crawling through the leaves on their front lawn.  Elijah is completely in the moment, laughing with joy and with pride in himself as he crawls away from his mother (but keeps checking to see if she is still there).

Children not only are our future, they are our sanity, sometimes.

Like this wonderful child I found on YouTube this morning, singing his heart out on (coincidentally) “God will take care of you”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLPp4gXUY3o