The Tuning

"Oh, how the old harpist loves his harp! He cuddles and caresses it, as if it were a child resting on his lap. His life is consumed with it." Thus begins the reading for January 28 in Streams in the Desert. It continues:

"But watch how he tunes it. He grasps it firmly, striking a chord with a sharp, quick blow. While it quivers as if in pain, he leans forward, intently listening to catch the first note rising from it. Just as he feared, the note is distorted and shrill. He strains the string, turning the torturing thumbscrew, and though it seems ready to snap with the tension, he strikes it again. Then he leans forward again, carefully listening, until at last a smile appears on his face as the first melodic sound arises."

This is a picture of God's working in our lives. "He will never cease from striking the strings of your heart until your humbled and disciplined soul blends with all the pure and eternal harmonies of His own being."

For rapture of love is linked with the pain or fear of loss
And the hand that takes the crown must ache with many a cross;
Yet he who has never a conflict wins never a victor's palm,
And only the toilers know the sweetness of rest and calm.

Who would dare the choice, neither or both to know;
The finest quiver of joy or the agony thrill of woe!
Never the exquisite pain, then never the exquisite bliss,
For the heart that is dull to that can never be strung to this.

One of Israel's kings received a hostile letter from the commander of powerful enemies. The Bible says he took the letter to the temple and "spread it out before the Lord." Yesterday I did that with my CT scan report. (No, not in the temple, simply in my blue wingback chair.) The facts in that report are only one small paragraph in the current chapter God is writing for my life. I need to keep that in perspective, and live the whole chapter--the rest of the "book," for that matter.

Blessings for your day,
Carol