Bill and I were married and started our family in the sixties. Racial tensions had torn the country apart. Civil rights activists had suffered and some had been killed as our country was forced to look at the gaping chasm between the celebrated American promise of freedom and the reality for many of its citizens. The Vietnam conflict would drag on through three administrations and eighteen years, taking nearly 57,000 American lives.
A young generation of Americans felt disillusioned and unable to find answers to insistent questions few had previously dared to ask aloud. “What’s It All About?” was more than the name of a song; it was an unanswered question this generation drowned in alcohol and obliterated with drugs.
In this climate, Bill and I were writing songs about what we saw as real and lasting answers to the turmoil of the human spirit and about truths that had preceded us and would be around long after we were gone. In the fall of 1969, several things happened to make us test the reality of our convictions.
We realized we were expecting another baby. Although we had always planned to have three, we were not expecting to have a baby so soon. My body had not quite recuperated from the last pregnancy. And Bill, about this same time, contracted mononucleosis, which left him exhausted and depressed.
Bill and I would talk about all the circumstances of the world, and about this new discouragement, and wind up saying, “If this world is like this now, what will it be in fifteen or sixteen years for our baby? What will this child face?” We were filled with fear and uncertainty about the world situation and about the baby I was carrying.
We hadn’t written a song for what seemed like a very long time, but as that season of our lives ended, we would soon put words and music to what God was teaching us: It isn’t because the world is stable that we have the courage to live our lives, start marriages or have children. The world has never been stable. Jesus Himself was born into the cruelest and most unstable of worlds. No, we have babies and keep trusting and risk living because the Resurrection is true!!
On a warm June day, we took our little baby boy home. We named him Benjamin, “most beloved son.” And a few weeks later Because He Lives poured from our hearts:
How sweet to hold our newborn baby
And feel the pride and joy he gives;
But greater still, the calm assurance –
This child can face uncertain days because He lives.
Over the years this song has returned to reassure us that this is the central truth of life. Because He lives, we can face tomorrow. Many times since then, as our children grew, our business-life changed, our fortunes shifted, or our direction clouded, our family has found assurance in this very personal song, “our song.” It has been a joy and somewhat of a surprise that this song, so personal to us, has been so meaningful to others.
“Because He Lives” has been our family’s song – for living. And when we have said good-bye to close loved ones, it has been our song – our song for dying. The Resurrection is the truth that brings victory and hope. Life wins! Life wins!
-Gloria Gaither (used with permission)
