A GIFT SUPREME

(These thoughts are added to three times each week)

The hand of some philosopher shook when he wrote the following words for in them was an earthquake of emotion and a map aimed at eternity.

God gives a son.
Man gives a mushroom cloud.
God gives a child.
Man gives a cross.
And yet a few
Echo the Son,
Reflect the Light,
Take up the Cross that takes them up
And give themselves to God.

At the beginning of the week, when palm fronds were laid before Jesus, He knew there would come a place called Gethsemane, a place marked by a traitor’s kiss. He knew that from a triumphal entry would soon come a time when He would be roughly shoved and dragged back down toward the same city. But He also knew there would be a Resurrection. And that it would make the entire week a triumph.

And that Resurrection? It is what can make your life a triumph. That which can keep your soul from shriveling. That which can lead you to make a triumphant entry into a new way of life.
Indeed, save yourself from being like the famous 19th century English poet, Lord Byron, who having wasted his life to such a degree wrote in his final days, “I am fit only for the worm, the canker and grief.”

Save yourself from being like Lord Beaconfield, who is better known as Disraeli and had enough fame for a dozen men, but who one day realized it was not enough and wrote, “…youth is a mistake, manhood a struggle and old age a regret.”

Save yourself from being like Jay Gould, a multi-millionaire in 19th century America. In our time that would make him a billionaire. But though he had wealth in abundance he still said not long before he died, “I suppose I am the most miserable devil on earth.”

Save yourself from being like Alexander the Great, who when he found he had no more worlds to conquer, sat down and wept.

Save yourself from wasting yourself…for I tell you this, those who take Jesus at His word always have a vision. Those who foolishly forget or ignore Him just wear glasses.