Hymn Story: Day by Day
Lina Sandell wrote the hymn “Day by Day (and with Each Passing Moment)” in 1865.
Several years earlier she’d witnessed the tragic drowning of her father.
She was a prolific Swedish hymn writer. The hymn was originally titled “Blott en dag,” its first three words in Swedish, meaning “just one day.”
Andrew L. Skoog, a Swedish immigrant to the U.S., translated Sandell’s hymn into English.
“Day by Day” first began to appear in American hymnals by the late 1920s.
The song is often used for funerals or as a hymn of assurance.
Oscar Ahnefelt composed the tune in 1872.
