There Are Things You Can See When You “Just Can See”
With World War II looming on the horizon King George VI of England prepared to deliver his Christmas broadcast to the nation. His little daughter, Elizabeth, who was destined to become queen, handed him a paper with these words on it by Minnie Louise Haskins. At the last minute he worked it into his address. It is timely for us in this turbulent time.
“And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:
“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”
And he replied:
“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.
“That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”
May these words inspire you as it did England in their dark hour. Bolstered by that wisdom Sir Winston Churchill later challenged his countrymen with his immortal lines which have been distorted from this actual presentation: “never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty — never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense.”
Tenacity of will reaches its zenith in this text: “That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” II Corinthians 4: 16 – 18 Got it? Let that text be your spiritual night goggles.
When “we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen,” that is a good time to “…put your hand in the hand of God.”
For a person of faith life’s weight on you is not to be compared with the strength within you.
It is a grand time to respond to what Sir Winston referred to as “convictions of honor and good sense.”
In this hour when it seems our nation is about to be swept into the vortex of senseless dishonor and virtue dethroned, character must be revived.
It appears we are further down the road spoken of by the title of a book by Robert H. Bork, a former United States Court of Appeals judge, entitled “Slouching Toward Gomorrah.”
Our society has been spoken of illustratively as a store front display window with select and valueless items on display. Overnight someone had slipped in and reversed the price tags. Tags indicating an item of value had been switched with those for valueless items.
The ancient prophet Isaiah spoke of such a day: “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, And prudent in their own sight!“ (Isaiah 5:20, 21)
Later the Apostle Peter wrote, “For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge” (II Peter 1: 5)
Those who do are more likely to have that for which I pray, a happy year.