June 25 A Heart That Won’t Quit
June 25
A Heart That Won’t Quit
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
—Galatians 6:9
For the fourth time yesterday I needed to be lifted out of my wheelchair and laid down on the office sofa. Shallow breathing and skyrocketing blood pressure were signaling that something was pinching, bruising, or sticking my paralyzed body. As my secretary shifted my body, examining my legs and hips for any telltale red spots, I stared vacantly at the ceiling, overcome by frustration. “Where do I go to resign from this stupid paralysis,” I mumbled.
We couldn’t find anything wrong, so I was hoisted back into my chair. Sitting there slumped, I looked at the pile of work on my desk. I felt like giving up. As my secretary left the office, I dreamed what I have dreamed of a thousand times: The perishable shall one day put on the imperishable. I smiled.
Don’t let your heart quit. For at the proper time, we will reap!
O Christian worker, Christian soldier, Christian pilgrim, in the midst of your “contest” and your “running” today, or in what seems the midst of it, for the end may all the while be just upon you, take heart often from the thought that even so for you, if you are true to the blessed Name, it shall one day be. The last care will have been felt and cast upon the Lord, the last exhausting effort will have been made, the last witness under difficulties borne, the last sorrow faced and entered, the last word written, the last word spoken. And then the one remaining thing will be to let the Lord, “the Man at the Gate,” lift thee in, and give thee rest.
—Bishop Moule
Lord, when my heart gets tired and my soul gets weary, strengthen me with Your grace.