What if your greatest works will be the ones which you will never touch? What if they are ones you will never see or can even imagine this side of eternity?
“Hark The Herald Angels Sing” beautifully heralds in Christmas ever year and seems to have been around forever.
Composed by Charles Wesley, it has in fact only graced our earthly dimensions since 1739.
When we visited London, we were privileged to see an organ that Charles owned.
An unassuming little piece, it may well be a cherished part of history as the very organ on which “Hark The Herald Angels Sing” was composed.
But isn’t that just the potential of all of us? Like the account of Christmas, humble beginnings may just be the herald of awesome endings. If only we let ourselves be in the hands of The One who authors awesome endings.
Susanna Wesley did.
Nearby, we were privileged to see where her earthly body was laid to rest at Bunhill Cemetary, London.
Her husband, Samuel Wesley was not very financially savvy so poverty was a continual struggle. Samuel also spent time in jail twice. This, plus having the family home burn down twice and mourning the loss of 11 of her 19 children in her lifetime bears testament to the hardships she had to bear.
But not only that. It also bears testament to what God can do when one keeps His will first. Writing to her absent husband, Susanna penned words reflective of her determination to fulfil her Godly maternal role….
I am a woman, but I am also the mistress of a large family. And though the superior charge of the souls contained in it lies upon you, yet in your long absence I cannot but look upon every soul you leave under my charge as a talent committed to me under a trust. I am not a man nor a minister, yet as a mother and a mistress I felt I ought to do more than I had yet done. I resolved to begin with my own children; in which I observe the following method: I take such a proportion of time as I can spare every night to discourse with each child apart. On Monday I talk with Molly, on Tuesday with Hetty, Wednesday with Nancy, Thursday with Jacky, Friday with Patty, Saturday with Charles.
The fruits? Her sons John and Charles Wesley went on to launch the Methodist Movement. Hundreds of years later we now bear witness to this as well as the joy of Charles’ Carol.
“…although she never preached a sermon or published a book or founded a church, (she) is known as the Mother of Methodism. Why? Because two of her sons, John Wesley and Charles Wesley, as children consciously or unconsciously will, applied the example and teachings and circumstances of their home life.”
The same God who led her bids us to follow too. May we all seek what He wills where we are. The world needs it.
Year One |
[…] (fathers included) and understand worldviews as it’s what will make or break nations for generations to come by raising blessings or curses. And how it all starts with the person you build a home with and […]