| The Every Day of Life |
Chapter 21 |
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We forget that heaven is not far off yonder, – at least our heaven has not, – but begins right here in our common days, if it is ever to begin at all for us. Is not that what the prayer means – “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” “On earth” ? – In our shops and stores and schools; in our homes and social life; in our drudgery and care; in our times of temptation and sorrow? It is not a prayer to be taken away out of this world into heaven, to begin there the doing of God’s will; it is a prayer that right here on the earth and now we may learn to live as they do in heaven.
When we think a little of the true mission of Christian lives in this world, – to make at least one spot of it better, changing briers to roses, darkness to light, hate to love, we see how important it is that our prayer be not, “Lord take me home out of all this sorrow and sin;” but, “Lord, let me stay here longer and do thy will and bless a corner of earth.” Well does Susan Coolidge sing,–
“When I sit and think of heaven so beautiful and dear,
Think of the sweet peace reigning there and the contentions here,
Think of the safe, sure justice beside the earthly wrong,
And set our ringing discords against celestial song.
And all the full securities beside ‘O Lord, how long?’
Oh, then I long to be there, and in my heart I pray,
‘Lord, open thou the pearly gates, and let me in to-day.’
And then I turn to earth gain, and in my thoughts I see
The small, unnoted corner given in charge to me,
The work that needs be done there which no one else will do,
The briers that rend, the tares that spring, the heartsease choked with rue,
The plants that must be trained and set to catch the sun and dew;
And there seems so much to do there, that in my heart I pray,
‘Lord, shut thy gate, and call me not, and let me work to-day,’”
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