When I can no more stir my soul to move,
And life is but the ashes of a fire;
When I can but remember that my heart
Once used to live and love long and aspire—
Oh, be thou then the first, the one thou art;
Be thou the calling, before all answering love,
And in me wake hope, fear, boundless desire.
__The Diary of an Old Soul, by George MacDonald
*****
Entry from my personal journal for July 18, 2021…
It is amazing how whichever stage of life we are in impacts what moves us.
For example, for much of my life, this poem would probably have passed through my mind like a pebble thrown into a pond – visible for a moment and then soon forgotten as it sank into the murky waters of forgetfulness.
But now, at this stage of my life, it resonates.
As a younger man, I wish I had been more sensitive of the needs of my elders, but how could I have known?
But I do know what it feels like to be a young man and a middle aged man; I can be sensitive to their needs. Perhaps that is the mission of the older generations.
One thing is for sure…whatever stage of life I am in, I must never make it about me.
The ONE THING 