What I learned

How little she had imagined, when first she set out on that strange journey, what lay ahead of her and the things which she would be called upon to pass through. So for a long time she sat silent - remembering, wondering and thankful.

At last she put her hand in His and said softly, "My Lord, I will tell You what I learned."

"Tell Me," He answered gently.

"First," said she, "I learned that I must accept with joy all that You allow to happen to me on the way and everything to which the path led me! That I was never to try to evade it but to accept it and lay down my own will on the altar and say, 'Behold me, I am Thy little handmaiden Acceptance-with-Joy.'"

He nodded without speaking, and she went on, "Then I learned that I must bear all that others were allowed to do against me and to forgive with no trace of bitterness and to say to Thee, 'Behold me - I am Thy little handmaiden Bearing-with-Love,' that I may receive power to bring good out of this evil."

Again He nodded, and she smiled still more sweetly and happily.

"The third thing that I learned was that You, my Lord, never regarded me as I actually was, lame and weak and crooked and cowardly. You saw me as I would be when You had done what You promised and had brought me to the High Places, when it could be truly said, "There is none that walks with such a queenly ease, nor with such grace, as she.' You always treated me with the same love and graciousness as though I were a queen already and not wretched little Much-Afraid." Then she looked up into His face and for a little time could say no more, but at last she added, "My Lord, I cannot tell You how greatly I want to regard others in the same way."

A very lovely smile broke out on His face at that, but He still said nothing, only nodded for the third time and waited for her to continue.

"The fourth thing," said she with a radiant face," was really the first I learned up here. Every circumstance in life, no matter how crooked and distorted and ugly it appears to be, if it is reacted to in love and forgiveness and obedience to Your will can be transformed.

"Therefore I begin to think, my Lord, You purposely allow us to be brought into contact with the bad and evil things that you want changed. Perhaps that is the very reason why we are here in this world, where sin and sorrow and suffering and evil abound, so that we may let You teach us how to react to them, that out of them we can create lovely qualities to live forever. That is the only really satisfactory way of dealing with evil, not simply binding it so it cannot work harm, but whenever possible overcoming it with good." (Hinds' Feet on High Places - Hannah Hurnard)

Lord Jesus, thank You that -

"Weeping may last for the night,
But a shout of joy comes in the morning."

~Psalm 30:5

Thank You for the lessons I have learned with Grace and Glory as we journeyed together to the High Places. Little did I imagined...

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