What I learned from a cartoon!

When I was a child, my favorite time in the movie theatre was spent watching the cartoon at the beginning of the show. One I remember was of a little Indian boy sheepishly standing with an empty bow saying: “I shot an arrow into the air, it fell to earth I knew not where.” And then the Indian chief would turn around and the arrow was stuck in his back-side and he would reply, “I do!”
It was funny to a child, but I did not realize that I was beginning to learn the opening lines of a poem that would later be one of my favorites.

The Arrow and the Song

I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in flight.

I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of a song.

Long, long afterward in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroken;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

My love for poetry and music were both affirmed from an early age. Every time I think of the way I learned, I realize that this was God’s gentle hand teaching me that there was a world out there to explore and find true meaning. Just like the way the people following Jesus wanted to be touched by His eyes of love and His Spirit of healing.
What does the world teach our children today?

Mid-week Prayer

Holy God, teach us from the words of the Bible the way to live truly in Your Holy Grace. Let the words of Exodus teach us the Commandments of Life; Let the Beatitudes of Jesus show us the way to care; and let the Promise of the Resurrection lift fallen Spirits. Then we will know the lessons to teach others. We pray this in the blessed name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

This has been Rev. Jim Massey. Look in your heart and see the song of a friend. Look here again next week and find another touch of the Mid-week Epistle.