"O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps...A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps."~ Jer. 10:23; Prov. 16:9
Many, I'm sure, of my readers can attest to the fact that their life did not go as they had planned. Their dreams, although possibly noble, as the old prophet said, "as the morning cloud...pass[ed] away."
Mrs. Ina Ogden was such a person. She had great hopes as a young girl of being a missionary. But circumstances dashed these hopes against the rocks. Her father had fallen sick and instead she cared for him. She wrote a song that grew out of her desire, "That I should try to make things as cheerful as possible for my father." Her intent in writing the song, said she, was "to remind Christians the pulpit and mission field were not the only places one might make a difference for the Kingdom of God." Hence, the song, "Brighten the Corner," came into being.
"Do not wait until some deed of greatness you may do,
Do not wait to shed your light afar,
To the many duties ever near you now be true,
Brighten the corner where you are."
Most certainly, Naaman the leper could attest to the fact the little Jewish maiden taken captive and made to serve within his household, brightened every corner of his home. And the testimony of most all who came in contact with Joseph bore witness to the truth, he lit-up every dark and dreary corner around him. We must not leave out Paul and Silas, with backs beaten bloody, singing and praising God at the midnight hour in their cell. When the jailer sprang-in at the darkest hour of his life he found there was no need for his lantern; those two saints had already lightened up the corner where they were!
O, dear child of God, be assured your disappointment is God's appointment. Therefore let each of us, like the saying goes, "light up the room," wherever we might find ourselves.
By An Old Disciple
Welcome!
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