I Cannot ope mine eyes,
But thou art ready there to catch
My morning-soul and sacrifice:
Then we must needs for that day make a match.
The nobility of an idea usually diminishes when our eyelids are heavy. How many times have I pillowed my head thinking of grand things to be done at sunrise? But rarely do I "make my match with God" at dawn. There are times, however, that God grants me grace to enjoy the beauty of a resolution realized. I have seen the sun rise and it far outshines fitful rest stolen from a bed too long warmed. How good it is to purpose a thing and do it - to not let the shadow fall between idea and reality! Eliot might have been less crestfallen had he seen one man who replaced straw with steel.
Don't we all want to live life resolved?
The next few years for us will require a God-enabled resolve. We will pass through tears resolved that God's Grace is inextricably linked with His Will. When His finger points, his hand comforts. As we dwell in Him, any house can be our home. But even on a less grand scale, I have come to find that life is not lived to the full by half measures. Books that are cracked must be finished. Love must gush. Worship must be prostrate not akimbo if we are ever to know a joy that stretches us.
Of the extra-biblical things I have read, one of the most helpful has been the Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards. I encourage you to read and benefit from (many of) the things he resolved to do. In reading them I have seen that no garden is truly planted until we taste produce. One caveat before we all launch out into grand schemes. Edwards prefaces his resolutions with these words:
BEING SENSIBLE THAT I AM UNABLE TO DO ANYTHING WITHOUT GOD' S HELP, I DO HUMBLY ENTREAT HIM BY HIS GRACE TO ENABLE ME TO KEEP THESE RESOLUTIONS, SO FAR AS THEY ARE AGREEABLE TO HIS WILL, FOR CHRIST' S SAKE.
Be encouraged unto good works, good friends.(For a complete listing of the Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards go here.)
Tim
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