Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada with a piece of prose that’s pretty inspiring.
The other day I opened up to I Corinthians, the 1st chapter, and was struck by the 5th verse. It simply says, “For in him you have been enriched in every way.” Now there’s a Bible verse worth pondering. And what comforting words to meditate on when you’re hurting, in Jesus you have been enriched in every way –in every way – even during stormy trials when all seems dark. It’s a little like this prose written by Theodore Parker in the last century. This is what he says:
“Have you ever seen men and women whom some disaster drove to a great act of prayer, and by and by the disaster was forgotten, but the sweetness of religion remained and warmed their souls? So have I seen a storm in later spring; and all was black, save where the lightning tore the cloud with thundering rent.
The winds blew and the rains fell, as though heaven had opened its windows. What devastation there was! Not a spider’s web escaped the storm, which tore up everything, even the strong-branched oak. But ere long the lightning had gone by, the thunder was spent and silent, the rain was over, the western wind came up with its sweet breath, the clouds were chased away, and the retreating storm threw a scarf of rainbows over her fair shoulders and resplendent neck, and looked back and smiled, and so withdrew and passed out of sight.
But for weeks following, the fields held up their hands full of ambrosial flowers, and all the summer through, the grass was greener, the brooks were fuller, and the trees cast a more welcoming shade, because the storm passed by, though all the rest of the earth had long ago forgotten the storm, its rainbows and its rain.”
I don’t know about you, but I am so moved by poetic language like that. Because in this wheelchair, I have plenty of days where storm clouds darken and pain threatens my peace of mind and a whirlwind of trials shakes to the core everything I know and love well. And it’s those times that I remember I Corinthians chapter 1, verse 5. “For in him [Jesus] you have been enriched in every way.” And I am comforted by those poetic words by Theodore Parker. The rain may pelt and feel hard and never ending, but I want a fuller brook, I want my tree to cast a more welcoming shade, I want my life to flower. And I think you do, too.
So, if today, you are in the middle of a stormy trial; if all seems dark and threatening, think of these words by Lucy Larcom. She wrote, “Is it raining, little flower? Be glad of rain; too much sun would wither thee; ‘Twill shine again. The clouds are very black, ‘tis true; but just behind them shines the blue. Art thou weary, tender heart? Be glad of pain: In sorrow sweetest virtues grow, as flowers in rain. God watches, and thou wilt have sun, when clouds their perfect work have done.”
Remembering truths like these, remembering that in Jesus we have been enriched in every way, even during times of dark trial, remembering that just behind the clouds shines the blue. Well, it gives you courage to go on, doesn’t it? So, please stop by my radio page today at joniandfriends.org and download this wonderful prose by Theodore Parker and also these lines by Lucy Larcom. I tell you, they don’t write like this anymore! So visit my radio page, and download it all. Or you can just share the radio transcript with your Facebook friends. Looking forward to hearing from you at joniandfriends.org.
© Joni and Friends