A Glass Darkly

"What is a glass darkly?" I asked my mother once when I was a child. I knew the Bible said that "now we see through a glass darkly" (I Corinthians 13:12 KJV), and I imagined that it must be something like the isinglass windows in our wood-burning stove. Through those little openings covered with thin sheets of mica, I could see an orange glow, but the flames themselves were indistinguishable. I just needed to know for sure what a darkly was if I was expected to see through it!

The words that puzzled me as I child, I now understand, and the truth remains the same. I am still able to see only a little this life's wonderments, to say nothing of the life beyond. The things I can never perceive clearly while I have my limited, earth-bound vision will some day be plain when I see "face to face."

My mother had a favorite poem, which she quoted so often that I learned it as well.

"With patient mind thy course of duty run:
God nothing does, nor suffers to be done,
But thou wouldst do thyself, couldst thou but see
The end of all events, as well as He."

--Adam Clarke's commentary on Eccl 7:8,
where he credited a Dr. Byrom

He can be trusted!

MaryMartha