One Step Forward
I came across this little excerpt from a Frederick Buechner novel yesterday, and it stayed on my mind all day. A godly woman is teaching the faith to a group of children.
"May the shadow of Christ fall on thee. May the garment of Christ cover thee. May the breath of Christ breathe in thee," she told them each morning at sun-up. Winters they'd sit there with blue noses and frozen fingers and the way their breath came out of them in white puffs you could almost believe it was Christ's indeed.
True faith. A simple life. A helping hand. She said those was the three things prized most in Heaven. On earth it was a fair wife, a stout ox, a swift hound.
Beg not, refuse not, she said. One step forward each day was the way to the Land of the Blessed. Don't eat till your stomach cries out. Don't sleep till you can't stay awake. Don't open your mouth till it's the truth opens it.
"May the shadow of Christ fall on thee. May the garment of Christ cover thee. May the breath of Christ breathe in thee," she told them each morning at sun-up. Winters they'd sit there with blue noses and frozen fingers and the way their breath came out of them in white puffs you could almost believe it was Christ's indeed.
True faith. A simple life. A helping hand. She said those was the three things prized most in Heaven. On earth it was a fair wife, a stout ox, a swift hound.
Beg not, refuse not, she said. One step forward each day was the way to the Land of the Blessed. Don't eat till your stomach cries out. Don't sleep till you can't stay awake. Don't open your mouth till it's the truth opens it.
Comments
Like runners in a marathon, we are in it for the long haul. Our journey…our race…lasts as long as God gives us life, and we aren’t meant to wander off the track, or quit and join the spectators, or decide that we’ll just slow down and take it easy while others pass us by. Nor are we meant to collapse from exhaustion in the middle of the race, our strength gone, and our reserves drained. God didn’t intend for us to travel our journey in our own strength anyway, but only with the strength He supplies.” Billy Graham
Believers need to understand that life’s problems will never go away, and we probably will never grow to the point that you look forward to them. However, we can grow to the point that we can see God’s hand, through faith, even in the problems.
We not only belong to God, we belong to each other. We're not alone on this journey. God has given us others to travel with us. During this journey, we need to remember that we are all brothers and sisters in the same family…the family of God.