A Time for Moving Forward

We often need an inner searching, of ourselves⎯our lives, our habits, and a searching of our surroundings, with frank and thoughtful appraisal of our own performance. “‘Tis greatly wise to talk with our own hearts,” said Edward Young, “and ask them how we stand…where we have failed; and how we may avoid failure in the future; how grow wise and good; how others bless, and be ourselves approved, by God, and conscience, and our fellow men.” “The first step to improvement,” said Tyron Edwards, “is to know ourselves⎯our weaknesses, errors, deficiencies, and sins, that…we may overcome and turn from them all.” And as we look at what we have already lived through, and how we have adjusted to life, we may learn that we are stronger and more durable than we have sometimes supposed. We learn also that everything that affects us or other people is deeply personal. We learn that even public things are personal, because they all affect people, and we learn that when the need is there, there is understanding, kindness, and compassion in other people. And we learn that life goes on, and that somehow we survive even the set-backs and the sorrows. There is a sentence from Don Quixote which says, “Where one door shuts, another opens.” And this reminder also, that “…Time is the great healer of hurts, and sorrows.” “When one door closes, another will open⎯IF we don’t lose heart.” And so we gain strength as we seek to meet all matters of the moment, with faith and calmness and courage⎯and an honest searching of ourselves. “‘Tis greatly wise to talk with our own hearts and ask them how we stand.”