Article November 3, 1928 Issue

Signs of the Times

with contributions from Noel Porter, Arnold N. Hoath, Winfred Rhoades

[Rev. Noel Porter, as quoted in the Chronicle, San Francisco, California]

Moses was the grandest figure in the first half of the world's history. It was while he was in the wilderness, "the mother country of the strong," where he was tending his father-in-law's sheep, that God called him to be a shepherd of the centuries. Part of the divine call was this: "The place whereon thou standest is holy ground." Much of life has a wilderness aspect. We all at times have certain gray days, days with no rippling fountains of hope, days with no perfumed shrubs of friendship, days with no singing birds of aspiration, days as gray as the unrelieved stretches of the desert waste. But whatever the wilderness may be, whether it be in the home, or office or store or factory or kitchen, or in poverty or in some great trial or tribulation, it may be transformed, it may be glorified. It depends upon the inner attitude of life, whether that inner attitude be thoroughly spiritual, genuinely Christian. If it is, then from that wilderness of experience we will come to a larger, clearer, nobler vision of the Master's face. ... We need not go far for materials out of which to make our wilderness glorious. All that we have to do is to look about where we are. You wish to be happy? If you cannot be happy where you are, I doubt whether you could be happy anywhere. "The kingdom of God is within you." "The place whereon thou standest is holy ground." It matters not what your troubles may be to-day, a Christian life of peace and usefulness and happiness is possible to you just where you are if you will only trust your heavenly Father and make use of the opportunities He will give you. The smallest pool by the wayside can reflect the stars.

[From an article by Arnold N. Hoath, in the Living Church, Milwaukee, Wisconsin]

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

Signs of the Times

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access