I Remember You

I remember you, my dearest childhood friend

My confidant, my companion, my protector to the end 

I know you as well as I know my own name

I’m a lot older now, but you’re exactly the same

Yours was the hand in mine when I walked alone

The voice that calmed me at the height of the storm

The face I saw when I closed my eyes to pray

The arm around my shoulders at the end of every day

I don’t know how or when I lost hold of your hand

And wandered away to follow my own plan

Adrift in a world where so much is wrong

Searching for something I had all along

The world’s ugliness and hypocrisy turned me inside myself

I believed in me and mine and doubted everything else

  I thought I was so smart, so gifted, so urbane

So certain that people would someday know my name

But something was missing from every small success

I needed to share them with The One who knew me best

I was jaded and bitter, so I had to wonder why

Those childhood songs about you would always make me cry

I’m so glad you didn’t forget me while I wandered away

I know how it must hurt you for one of us to stray

Thank you for your patience, your love and your grace

And for welcoming me back into the haven of your embrace

Never mind the fancy churches built for vanity’s sake

Or the world’s interpretation of which rules we can break

I found you in the faces of the very young and very old

I found you in my Treasure, more precious to me than gold

You were the place in my heart that nothing else could fill

Calling to me from the shadow of a cross on a hill

In a voice I knew well from sweet childhood memories

Telling me in song that Yes, Jesus Loves Me

Each line on my face is a lesson I have learned

And I know you’re the prize for which I’ve always yearned

No longer do I wonder what it is that I should do
Everything I need, I find in knowing you