FRH - It is no wonder she died young
Frances Ridley Havergal was a woman such as I think God took her young because he couldn't stand having her away from Himself. She was truly a citizen of heaven who had no place here. Since John Donne has become a household name here at Son of Man I thought I'd give some attention to a girl with (as far as I am concerned) much more consistent theology than Donne. I was flipping through one of the greatest gifts I've ever received and found this vision of heavenly, eternal truth. Refresh and encourage your soul by carefully reading this entire poem.
I'll be at the cottage till Sunday night so I figured that I'd leave something that could stand some time. This does.
Rest
'Thou hast made us for Thyself, and the heart never resteth till it findeth rest in thee."
- St. Augustine
Made for Thyself, O God!
Made for Thy love, They service, Thy delight;
Made to show forth Thy wisdom, grace, and might;
Made for Thy praise, whom veiled archangels laud;
Oh strange and glorious thought, that we may be
A joy to Thee!
Yet the heart turns, away
From this grand destiny of bliss, and deems
'T was made for its poor self, for passing dreams,
Chasing illusions melting day by day;
Till for ourselves we read on this world's best,
'This is not rest!'
Nor can the vain toil cease,
Till in the shadowy maze of life we meet
One who can guide our aching, wayward feet
To find Himself, our Way, our Life, our Peace.
In Him the long unrest is soothed and stilled;
Our hearts are filled.
O rest, so true, so sweet!
(Would it were shared by all the weary world!)
'Neath shadowing banner of His love unfurled,
We bend to kiss the Master's pierced feet;
Then lean our love upon His loving breast,
And know God's rest.
********
Notice I put stars and many spaces between her words and my own here lest you grossly mistake the two. There is more theology in that piece than many books could hold; more truth and conviction than many a learned pastor could express in great sermons; more glory and grace than my small and pitiful mind can comprehend. I'll point out a few things I love in here.
1. 'Oh strange and glorious thought, that we may be a joy to Thee.' Strange indeed. Do you ever stop and think, WHY? Why the garden of Eden? Why let Adam and his Miss do that? Why Isreal? Why the law? WHY THE CROSS? And most of all: WHY ADOPTION? Thus saith the Lord, "My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure." Isaiah 46:10 (KJV)
2. There is no rest or comfort in taking the place of God. A wise man I know said, "you can either act like you are God or act like God." That quote doesn't exactly relate but it's great anyhow.
3. I'm not saying any more...this is ruining the poem...
******
I can't wait to meet her.
Serve your king
1. 'Oh strange and glorious thought, that we may be a joy to Thee.' Strange indeed. Do you ever stop and think, WHY? Why the garden of Eden? Why let Adam and his Miss do that? Why Isreal? Why the law? WHY THE CROSS? And most of all: WHY ADOPTION? Thus saith the Lord, "My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure." Isaiah 46:10 (KJV)
2. There is no rest or comfort in taking the place of God. A wise man I know said, "you can either act like you are God or act like God." That quote doesn't exactly relate but it's great anyhow.
3. I'm not saying any more...this is ruining the poem...
******
I can't wait to meet her.
Serve your king
posted by Son of Man | 7:21 PM
4 Comments:
beautiful poem
got to say, i'm not such a fan of this poem. there are some good bits, but a lot of it is kinda mellow-dramatic and as a result empty of any real effect. try GH Hopkins. he's a beauty of a Christian poet and has the nobel prize to prove it. but then that's just my ultra-modernist perspective
http://www.bartleby.com/122/34.html
this comment is from sara and lydia
you should update. we're waiting.
^_^
I have a few things to say.
(1) I love how God was so much the same back in Havergal's day that what she writes of Him is WAY true today and still impactful.
(2) I love when people list the great things about God, especially verbally, and they seem to compound eachother until the words are reduced to mere place-holders for the raw sentiment that speaks directly to our spirit. It's funny.. I can't describe it. Have you ever watched/heard that excerpt, the sermon-ish thing which continually concludes, "That's my King," after each paragraph trying to tell God's glory? The speaker is twisting the English language as far as it can go just to say that God is beyond that. The power of words can be so very underestimated. The one line I remember is, "You can't live without Him and you can't outlive Him." It's trippy & powerful stuff. Me likey.
(3) This girl's got something that seems like internal rhyme going on and I like it. These words are not static; they seem to move along faster than I can read them.
(4) Good times.
(5) I love enumeration.
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