Scripture Verse

Thou shalt be a blessing. Genesis 12:2

Introduction

portrait
George S. Schuler (1882–1973)

Words: Ira B. Wil­son, 1909. To the Moo­dy Me­mo­ri­al Church Choir. As the sto­ry goes, Wil­son wrote the lyr­ics when young, then for­got about them for ma­ny years. Though de­tails are sketchy, by the time the song was used at the In­ter­na­tion­al Sun­day School Con­ven­tion in Cleve­land, Ohio, Wil­son did not real­ize he was the au­thor, a po­si­tion he held to his dy­ing day. The lyr­ics and mu­sic ap­peared in Po­pu­lar Re­vi­val Hymns, ed­it­ed by Rod­ney S. Smith (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: E. O. Ex­cell, 1928).

Music: George S. Schul­er, 1924 (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Ira B. Wilson (1880–1950)

Lyrics

Out in the high­ways and by­ways of life,
Many are wea­ry and sad;
Carry the sun­shine where dark­ness is rife,
Making the sor­row­ing glad.

Refrain

Make me a bless­ing, make me a bless­ing,
Out of my life may Je­sus shine;
Make me a bless­ing, O Sav­ior, I pray,
Make me a bless­ing to some­one to­day.

Tell the sweet sto­ry of Christ and His love,
Tell of His pow’r to for­give;
Others will trust Him if on­ly you prove
True, ev­ery mo­ment you live.

Refrain

Give as ’twas giv­en to you in your need,
Love as the Mas­ter loved you;
Be to the help­less a help­er in­deed,
Unto your mis­sion be true.

Refrain