REWRITING
THE BOOK

Topics: Challenges; Despair; Goals; Hope; Loss; Perseverance; Persistence; Perspective

Reference: Matthew 6:11

Thomas Carlyle had just spent two years writing a book on the French Revolution. He gave his only copy to a colleague, John Stuart Mill, to read and critique. Then the unthinkable occurred: Mill’s servant used Carlyle’s manuscript as kindling to start a fire.

As Mill reported the devastating news, Carlyle’s face paled. Two years of his life were lost. Thousands of long, lonely hours spent in writing had been wasted. He could not imagine writing the book again. He lapsed into a deep depression.

Then one day while walking the city streets, Carlyle noticed a stone wall under construction. He was transfixed. That tall sweeping wall was being raised one brick at a time. He realized that if he wrote one page at a time, one day at a time, he could write his book again. That is exactly what he did.

When faced with seemingly impossible situations, we often see the wall and not the individual bricks, but taken day by day, task by task, the load is more manageable. Jesus prayed for daily bread. He didn’t worry about tomorrow, next week, or next year. God’s help comes day by day.

—Rick Christian, Alive (Zondervan, 1995)

PART 25: SIGNS AND WONDERS