“Thou art of this world, Christ. Thou know’st it all;
Thou know’st our evens, our morns, our red and gray;
How moons, and hearts, and seasons rise and fall;
How we grow weary plodding on the way;
Of future joy how present pain bereaves,
Rounding us with a dark of mere decay,
Tossed with a drift of summer-fallen leaves.
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Thou knowest all our weeping, fainting, striving;
Thou know’st how very hard it is to be;
How hard to rouse faint will not yet reviving;
To do the pure thing, trusting all to Thee;
To hold Thou art there, for all no face to see;
How hard to think, through cold and dark and dearth,
That Thou art nearer now than when eye-seen on earth.
My halting words will some day turn to song-
Some far-off day, in holy other times!”
~George MacDonald, Diary of an Old Soul.
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How comforting to ponder George MacDonald’s prose,
a reminder to us during the changing seasons.
To lift the eyes of our hearts to remember our unchanging God,
His eternal, steadfast love.
We live in deeply concerning and shifting times,
a climate of relativism, pluralism, and pragmatism-
national outrage, corruption,
shameless scandals, entitled rights,
politicized insults, identity confusion, and power struggles.
Often reflective of bullying individualism, and the Tower of Babel.
All is permissible within this embrace.
Yet, is it truly beneficial to
adhere to a culture of idolatry,
in mere creation?
Why,
when our great Creator,
reigning King and comforting heavenly Father,
is for us?
When all He has is ours?
Oh lift our eyes to remember,
His glory through bright, yet fading leaves of red, yellow, and orange.
The heavens declare, and the sky proclaims
the wonders of His sovereignty.
Oh lift our eyes and hearts,
to remember and long for more than the dirt and clay.
Through His presence and powerful Word,
the King of glory longs to dwell deep into our souls and hearts.
Oh lift our eyes,
to remember
He shines creatively in this beautiful world and in our hearts;
His hand prescribes, bright hope to hungry hearts in our grieving land.
Oh lift our eyes,
and proclaim His glory, worth and majesty!
God knows how hard it is to be.
He is the greatest Being.
He has placed eternity in the hearts of all men and women;
to walk in the fear of the Lord.
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Lift up your hands all ye gates, and let the King of glory enter in! Let us trust, pray, wait, and thank Him for new mercies every morning.
Great is His faithfulness.