First, let me say how much I enjoy your editorials, each one, and especially this last one with comments regarding the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It was very thoughtful of you to publish the Charter in the May 12 issue. Many of us in Moose Jaw (in the country) may not even be aware, as we should, of what it says. If people carefully read it they would quickly see how our freedoms are being taken from us under [certain] guises.
But my intent in this email is not to discuss what is happening. I want to share the following correspondence with you.
A dear friend of mine, now approaching her 90th birthday, emailed me the following: "My day is another one of feeling I am not 'redeeming the time.'"
I replied: "Thanks for sharing — as to 'redeeming the time,' well, I sometimes feel that I'm just 'filling in time,' not really useful to anyone, only waiting for His coming! But my (our) waiting has to be seen as 'occupying 'till He comes.' We study to know Him, to worship and praise Him, to grow in grace, to pray His will be done, and His kingdom to come. It's a season in life — being older and less involved, less active, that calls for its own kind of faith. It's also learning to be content in our situation.
She answered with the composition of this beautiful poem written by R. Wolfe:
Someone has clicked the button that says “Pause”
And shut us in with many unconstitutional laws
We sometimes feel we’re just “filling in time”
And although we’re not exactly “in our prime”
We want to be useful and a blessing to someone --
But especially to God the Father and His Son.
But His plan for this time is for us to know Him more clearly
To love Him more dearly and follow Him more nearly,
And look at our waiting as “occupying till He comes” --
Our lethargy gone as we pray “Thy will be done”.
Teach us too as we wait, in our faith to mightily grow,
Reveal Yourself – help us understand how much we owe.
Through trusting You, may we learn to be content
Until that instant comes -- that great event
When the trumpet shall sound -- and we shall be changed
In the twinkling of an eye – this You have ordained.
And now Lord, give sleep – and in the hymn writer’s words
Drop thy still dews of quietness
‘til all our strivings cease;
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
and let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of thy peace.
Regards,
Doug Russell
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
