Brick by Brick

“Therefore we do not lose heart…. the inward man is being renewed day by day.” 2 Corinthians 4:16 

Thomas Carlyle labored with intensity on the first volume of a three-part study of the French Revolution. He felt it could be his greatest work. He loaned the manuscript to his friend John Stuart Mill to read, and Mill read it by the fire. One morning the maid, cleaning the room and seeing the scattered pages on the floor, threw them in the fire. When Carlyle learned his manuscript was burned to ash, he sank into abysmal depression. Sometime later, still desolate, he saw a brick mason through the window. The man was standing on a scaffold, singing and whistling to himself as he built the wall of a house one brick at a time. Watching him, Carlyle decided he would write his book again, one page at a time. His history of the revolution became famous, and he is remembered as one of Scotland’s literary giants. Perhaps you’ve lost something very valuable to you. Don’t give up. Tomorrow still holds a bright promise, and the Lord blesses faithful, plodding work. Let’s take it step by step, day by day, and moment by moment. 

“Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine, moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.” Daniel Whittle