In 1939, as the world was engulfed in war, King George VI faced a tremendous responsibility in leading his nation and empire through these challenging times. As the New Year approached, he sought to provide a message of hope and resilience to his people. Drawing from a poem given to him by his daughter, the future Queen Elizabeth II, he shared the poignant words of a poem written by Minnie Louise Haskins, published in 1912. during his Christmas broadcast. This little known poem, with its themes of faith and trust in the face of uncertainty, offered comfort and inspiration not only to his nation, but to all people everywhere and continues to inspire and which we do well to remember today. The world is in a precarious state...and there is only one place we can go to to find hope and comfort.
The King's decision to share these words was a defining moment, one that showed the gravity of the situation and the hope that God would bring them through. The full text of the poem below:
THE GATE OF THE YEAR
'God Knows'
And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:
"Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown".
And he replied:
"Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way".
So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night.
And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.
So heart be still:
What need our little life
Our human life to know,
If God hath comprehension?
In all the dizzy strife
Of things both high and low,
God hideth His intention.
God knows. His will
Is best. The stretch of years
Which wind ahead, so dim
To our imperfect vision,
Are clear to God. Our fears
Are premature; In Him,
All time hath full provision.
Then rest: until
God moves to lift the veil
From our impatient eyes,
When, as the sweeter features
Of Life's stern face we hail,
Fair beyond all surmise
God's thought around His creatures
Our mind shall fill.
Minnie Louise Haskins 1875 - 1957.
We cannot weigh how much comfort, hope, inspiration and faith those words would have given during those dark days - but they are still as relevent today as they ever were.
The digital image created with AI and photo edtiting.
No comments:
Post a Comment