One day at a time - Lena Martell

A very popular Country and Western-style Gospel song, recorded by over 200 artists, it has reached No.1 many times. Chief writer, Marijohn Wilkin, had a conventional Baptist upbringing in the States and became a schoolteacher. Three years into her marriage her husband, a pilot, died in South Africa, in the war. She remarried and when she was 37 and moved to Nashville where she became a successful writer of country songs. Amid the acclaim, money and success she stopped attending church and eventually became addicted to alcohol. More than once she attempted suicide. When she was 53 she wrote this her most famous song. It came at a time when she was totally frustrated by what seemed to her an inability to write Gospel songs. She stopped by a small church and asked a young minister for counsel. She was the first person he had counselled, she discovered later. When he asked her what was wrong she confessed she did not know. “At that point in our conversation" she has said "he said a funny thing, but it was okay, because it worked. He asked, ‘Did you ever think about thanking God for your problems?’" She returned home, sat at the piano and wrote the song's chorus. Her ‘Nashville mind’ told her it was a hit. She wrote some verses but did not complete the song until she had help from Kris Kristofferson the next day. It was first a hit for American country singer Marilyn Sellars in 1974. I particularly remember the version by Scots singer Lena Martell recorded for the UK market in 1979. A big success, it stayed at No. 1 for three weeks. I remember it because as an evangelical Christian and knowing Lena Martell was a favourite of my unconverted dad's, I hoped it would have a good influence on him. It did not appear to. How come? Apart from the fact people often do not take in song lyrics, the song, despite an apparent dependence on Jesus, is pretty man-centred and more an exercise in positive thinking. Yes, there is Just give me the strength To do every day what I have to do  but then there is also Help me believe in what I could be And all that I am Show me the stairway I have to climb Lord for my sake, help me ... The If you're lookin' below betrays a very tentative sort of faith. So when Joe Walsh recovered from heavy alcohol and cocaine addictions in the early 90s this is the song he went to. "I wanted to put that song on the album for anybody that comes across my music and might be in trouble too. It feels like the 'phone weighs 80 pounds when you pick it up, but you gotta pick it up and ask for help." The message then is not trust in Jesus for forgiveness but admit your weakness and ask for help, an important message but not the gospel.