As we move to the evening hours of life if not yet the midnight hours, it seems most of us seek peace and quiet in our lives more than at any other time.

Sunday morning happens to normally be the time each week that is most peaceful, and the silence is most often only broken by the music we grew up with on the Sunday mornings of our youth.

Other days, music may well include a wide variety of rock ’n’ roll and what some call easy listening, but Sunday has always been reserved for hymns and what we call “Faith of our Father.”

You could break a lot of rules around our home, but don’t even think for a minute something besides church hymns will play on Sunday morning.

That tradition continues today. Not even Steelers fight songs dare break that solemn peaceful time.

This week, a fine Christian woman we have known all our life celebrated her 94th birthday. As we looked at her photograph that her daughter had posted that morning, a sweet, loving memory passed over our thoughts.

It was Aunt Jean who had taught us one of the simplest yet most cherished hymns to our memory. She gave us “Sweet Hour of Prayer.” It was most likely taught to her as a child also, and one of the great blessings in our heritage was the obligation to teach hymns to the next generations and Aunt Jean and her sisters did that as well and as faithfully as anyone.

The hymn dates back to the 1840s, and while Aunt Jean missed its debut by at least a couple of years, I bet she has sung and practiced its meaning far more times than most people.

It is meant to be sung softly with true reverence as opposed to the dynamic belting of “How Great Thou Art” or “Great Is Thy Faithfulness.” It is as the title suggests: a word of prayer set to a sweet melody perfect for a motherly voice.

As we see family members reaching blessed ages that few people ever attain and do so still with grace and free of distress, we realize how blessed their lives have been and in turn also the lives of those so blessed to have been touched by them.

The hours of prayer that she has encouraged all to practice and experience have kept her close to her Father’s throne and away from the world of cares the song speaks of.

The generation of women like Aunt Jean will someday leave us, but when they do, we will cherish the many lessons they gave us, but none will be more important than taking time away from distress and grief to speak quietly with whomever we trust and on whom we cast our every care.

Thank you for teaching us the importance of that Sweet Hour of Prayer.

— RV