But just to breathe that untainted air, just to see once the boundless open of colored sand and rock—to realize what the freedom of eagles meant—would not that have helped anyone?”
–Zane Grey (The Call of the Canyon)
Be to me a rock of habitation to which I may continually come; You have given commandment to save me, For You are my rock and my fortress.”
–Psalm 71:3 (NASB)
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There’s still a few embers burning in the campfire of 2019. The year–the events, sorrows and pain, gladness and smiles–that it brought are now history. There’s nothing that can be done about them, but to store them away in our memory and learn, hoping that we can be a better person in 2020 because of them.
I almost didn’t get this sent out. One, I thought about not sending anything out until next week, but felt stirred that I should as someone out there needs this. Second, I almost forgot. Call it the length of the year, or if you must, progressive aging. The year being almost over we do take time to think of the past year, the good and the bad. But take a minute or two, and ponder the words I’m going to relate to you from Bruce Kiskaddon. This is not the complete poem, just a few verses for you to ponder as you sit, coffee in hand, in the evening shadows.
The Creak of the Leather
It’s likely that you can remember
A corral at the foot of a hill
Some mornin’ along in December
When the air was so cold and so still.
When the frost lay as light as a feather
And the stars had jest blinked out and gone.
Remember the creak of the leather
As you saddled your hoss in the dawn.
When the glow of the sunset had faded
And you reached the corral after night
On a hoss that was weary and jaded
And so hungry yore belt wasn’t tight.
You felt about ready to weaken
You knowed you had been a long way
But the old saddle still kep a creakin’
Like it did at the start of the day.
. . . .
When yore old and yore eyes have grown hollow
And your hair has a tinge of the snow
But there’s always the memories that follow
From the trails of the dim long ago.
There are things that will haunt you forever
You noticed that strange as it seems
One sound, the soft creak of the leather,
Weaves into your memories and dreams.
There are some things that make us sigh about the past years, including 2019. True, there are probably some things from the past that haunt us. But we must never forget, that means always remember that the Lord makes all things new. The year is almost over, a new one to begin so what is it that will be in store for you in 2020?
Perhaps for many that read this, it will be the year that they take their purpose in life seriously. They quit playing games with the Lord and seek to follow Him completely. And, you want to know something else? Look up! This may be the year of the Lord’s return.