The Hidden Ones

Psalm 83:3
    They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones.

  [hidden ones] Those whom God has hidden because they trusted in Him (Psalm 17:8; Psalm 27:5; Psalm 31:20; Psalm 64:2).

Thick green leaves from the soft brown earth,

Happy springtime has called them forth;

First faint promise of summer bloom

Breathes from the fragrant, sweet perfume,

Under the leaves.

Lift them! what marvelous beauty lies

Hidden beneath, from our thoughtless eyes!

Mayflowers, rosy or purest white,

Lift their cups to the sudden light,

     Under the leaves.

Are there no lives whose holy deeds--

Seen by no eye save His who reads

Motive and action—in silence grow

Into rare beauty, and bud and blow

    Under the leaves.

 

Fair white flowers of faith and trust,

Springing from spirits bruised and crushed;

Touched and painted with Heavens own light

     Under the leaves.

Full fresh clusters of duty borne,

Fairest of all in that shadow grown

Wondrous the fragrance that sweet and rare

Comes from the flower-cups hidden there

  Under the leaves.

Though unseen by our vision dim,

Bud and blossom are known to Him

Wait we content for His heavenly ray---

Wait till our Master Himself one day

    Lift up the leaves.

Luke 14:23:  God calls many of His most valued workers from the unknown multitude

--Streams in the Dessert -February 24

I Have Hope

    But we had hoped that He was the One who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. Luke 24:21 

The soft sweet summer was warm and glowing
Bright were the blossoms on every bough:
I trusted Him when the roses were blooming;
I trust Him now..

Small was my faith should it weakly falter

Now that the roses have ceased to blow;

Frail was the trust that now should alter;

Doubting His love when storm clouds grow

 --The Song of a Bird in a Winter Storm

Streams in the Dessert-March 6