Followers

Monday, May 18, 2009

Obedience



I said: “Let me walk in the fields.”
He said: “No, walk in the town.”

I said: “There are no flowers there.”
He said: “No flowers, but a crown.”

I said: “But the skies are black;
There is nothing but noise and din.”


And He wept as He sent me back –
“There is more,” He said; “there is sin.”

I said: “But the air is thick,
And fogs are veiling the sun.”



He answered: “Yet souls are sick,
And souls in the dark undone!”


I said: “I shall miss the light,
And friends will miss me, they say.”


He answered: “Choose tonight
If I am to miss you or they.”


I pleaded for time to be given.
He said: “Is it hard to decide?

It will not seem so hard in heaven
To have followed the steps of your Guide.”



I cast one look at the fields,
Then set my face to the town;

He said, “My child, do you yield?
Will you leave the flowers for the crown?”


Then into His hand went mine;
And into my heart came He;

And I walk in a light divine,
The path I had feared to see.



George MacDonald (1824-1905)
I found this last night while sitting at home thumbing through a book of verses that had been handed down to me. Though not too well known, MacDonald was an inspiration to many notables who came after him.

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