| The Secrets of a Beautiful Life |
Chapter 21 |
Page 3 |
But we must not forget that the blessing promised depends upon our faith and obedience. If we do not begin the task that seems impossible, if we wait to receive the help before we will begin it, the help will never come. If we do not begin our march toward the river, waiting till it opens; it will not open at all. If we do not enter upon the struggle, waiting for strength to be given for the battle before we accept it, we shall never get the strength. An old proverb says, “Get thy spindle and thy distaff ready, and God will send the flax.” Yes, but He will not send the flax unless we get the spindle and distaff ready. We must do our part, thus proving our faith, or God will not do what He has promised, for His promise is conditional. Another old proverb says, “For a web begun God sends the thread.” We must take up the scant bundle of threads we have and begin our weaving, confident that the Lord will provide threads as we go on enough to finish the web. He will never put His threads into folded, waiting hands. The best commentary on this proverb that can be given is a little poem by Josephine Pollard, the last she ever wrote:
“‘For a web begun God sends the thread.’
Over and over these words I read,
And I said to myself, with an easy air,
‘What need to burden myself with care
If this be true,
Or attempt to do
More than my duty? For here is proof
That we are to hold ourselves aloof
Until from the Master we receive
The thread for the web we are to weave!’
“So day after day I sat beside
The loom, as if both my hands were tied,
With idle shuttle and slackened warp,
Useless as strings of an untuned harp;
For I took no part
With hand or heart
In the work of the world. To the cry of need,
The voice of the children, I gave no heed.
‘When the task is ready for me,’ I said,
‘God will be sure to supply the thread.’
“Others might go in cellars and slums
And weave a web out of scraps and thrums,
Finding excuse for the daily toil,
The reckless waste of life’s precious oil;
But as for me,
I could not see
How I was to follow them, or believe
That the needed strength I should receive,
Unless I waited, howe’er time sped,
For God to send me the promised thread.
“I had no strength of my own, I knew,
No wisdom to guide, no skill to do,
And must wait at ease for the word of command,
For the message I surely should understand,
Else all in vain
Were the stress and strain
For the thread would break and the web be spoiled—
A poor result for the hours I’d toiled;
And my heart and my conscience would be at strife
O’er the broken threads of a wasted life.
“But all at once, like a gem exhumed,
The word ‘begun’—by a light illumed—
From the rest of the text stood boldly out,
By the finger of God revealed, no doubt;
And shocked and dazed,
Ashamed, amazed,
I saw, as I had not seen before,
The truer meaning the sentence bore,
And read as Belshazzar might have read:
‘For a web begun God sends the thread.’
“The man himself, with his mind and heart,
Toward the Holy City must make a start
Ere he finds in his hands the mystic clue
That shall lead him life’s mazes safely through.
And if loom and reel
And spinning-wheel
Idle and empty stand today,
We must reason give for the long delay,
Since the voice of the Master has plainly said,
‘For a web begun God sends the thread.’”
Page 3