NOVEMBER 9
Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for
the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished
your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake.
—VICTOR HUGOWe feel the weight of grief so heavily. There are tasks to
perform. Not to mention all the emotional weighing and
reweighing we do. We find it hard to relax, to achieve any
tranquility, to sleep—though we know nothing is gained by
all this mental agitation.
There is a story about a man called Charles Carter who
was involved in many good works. One day he felt himself
becoming ill. In great distress he thought, “I can’t be sick
now. I have too much to do, too many people depending
on me.” But he did go to sleep, and in his sleep he had a
dream in which he saw the Lord God Almighty pacing the
floor of Heaven, wringing His hands and saying, “What
shall I do? What shall I do? Charles Carter is going to be
sick.”
The world is not in our hands, and when we find ourselves
squeezed in a vise of our own anguish, let’s try to release
all that, give it into the hands of One who is the source of
all power and love, who neither slumbers nor sleeps.
I will give over this turmoil in my mind, and be at peace.