Sweeter as the Years Go By

Lelia knew she couldn’t see very well anymore. Her family knew it, too. The sad truth was that she was going blind. Lelia loved to sing as she did chores around the house and sometimes, she would stop to write down the new words or tunes she made up. How could she write down her songs if she couldn’t see? This was 100 years ago, before there was a lot of technology to help. Lelia’s family thought hard about the problem. Then they had an idea! It was a BIG idea. They built a chalkboard that was 28 feet long! On the chalkboard they put lines like on a music staff so that Lelia could tell where she could draw in the right notes. Lelia loved it! And she used it a LOT. She may have written as many as 1000 songs! One song she wrote is one you might know, it is called “Sweeter as the Years Go By” and the chorus goes like this:

Sweeter as the years go by,
Sweeter as the years go by,
Richer, fuller, deeper, Jesus’ love is sweeter,
Sweeter as the years go by.

By Lelia Morris

Even though Lelia lost more and more of her ability to see as the years went by, she saw that Jesus’ love got better and better. Jesus’s love was so much better than her ability to see. And that was something worth singing about!