I stood a mendicant of God before His royal throne
And begged him for one priceless gift, which I could call my own.
I took the gift from out His hand, but as I would depart
I cried, “But Lord this is a thorn and it has pierced my heart.
This is a strange, a hurtful gift, which Thou hast given me.”
He said, “My child, I give good gifts and gave My best to thee.”
I took it home and though at first the cruel thorn hurt sore,
As long years passed I learned at last to love it more and more.
I learned He never gives a thorn without this added grace,
He takes the thorn to pin aside the veil which hides His face.
- Martha Snell Nicholson
This poem was quoted by Elisabeth Elliot at the funeral service of Roni and Charity Bowers. For a brief account of their story, check out John Piper’s sermon, To Be A Mother is a Call to Suffer – the source of this quote.
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‘Well, that sermon was quite the downer’ was my first thought. Then after letting it sit in came to realize the glory in his message. Thanks for the link!
Hey, sorry, my inbox is so flooded by junk mail that half the time what isn’t junk mail gets buried before I have a chance to see it. Anyway, I would post about my friend’s presentation, but he does a much better job explaning it himself than I would just offering a little summary. So if you have the chance, here it is:
http://www.siolon.com/lama/wp-content/Open_Theism.html
:-) Happy Memorial Day Weekend!