Text and art by I. Lilias Trotter
‘Concerning the work of my hands command ye me’, is the Old Testament foreshadowing of these creative hours of which, with our poor, tentative, calculating faith, we know so little. But to command is to know the will of the Father and it has come to me with new light and power that the first thing we have to be sure of day by day, is that our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. If we can listen in the stillness, till our hearts begin to vibrate to what he is feeling about the matter in question, whether it concerns ourselves or others, we can, from that moment, begin to pray down from his throne.
***
‘It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait.’ I never saw, till recently, how that word ‘both’ exactly strikes the balance so needed… Some of us rush ahead with our hopes and are downhearted when they crumble, having never learned to quietly wait. Others go on quietly waiting for a lifetime, without much of the spring of hope anywhere; both hope and wait… in quietness and confidence; that is the answer.