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With a heavy heart she said:
In his 64 years George Matheson struggled profoundly with this handicap. He was born with poor eyesight and yet with a sharp intellect. In his home in Glasgow, Scotland his devoted sisters studied Greek, Hebrew and Latin to help his education. His ears became what his eyes failed to be: the windows of knowledge. George had a powerful mind but it was trapped inside a failing body. Every year more ordinary tasks became impossible. As the power of sight gradually departed he wrote these haunting words: "O Light that follows all my way, I yield my flickering torch to Thee; My heart restores its borrowed ray, that in Thy sunshine's blaze its day may brighter, fairer be." Yes, the words are indeed a prayer. George entered into a relationship with God and served him in the Church of Scotland. He made a choice between being bitter about the "flickering torch" that was his vision and being committed to the "sunshine's blaze" that was the higher purpose of God for his life. George chose well. That doesn't mean he didn't feel the struggle. At 20 he graduated from Edinburgh University, but do remember that the 2nd and 3rd decade of life is when we most dream of doing great things. Edinburgh U lauded its sports teams. None of that for George. Great inventors studied there, but George could hardly see to cut his fingernails. That's part of the backdrop to his words: "O Cross that liftest up my head, I dare not ask to fly from thee; I lay in dust life's glory dead, And from the ground there blossoms red Life that shall endless be." He laid down life's glories. Perhaps he could do no other - but ah - how attitude makes the difference! Ours is an age of the quick fix. The TV evangelist promises healing for a small donation and the modern "snake oil" salesman touts cures on radio stations throughout the night. For Matheson the life that was endless rose out of the impending blindness. For him there had come a glimpse of eternity and it changed all that was temporal. From the university he went on to become a Presbyterian minister. He memorized his sermons so well that most visitors to his church, St. Bernard's Church in Edinburgh, never knew of his blindness. The verses I've quoted come from a hymn that Matheson composed in his 40th year. How long did that take? He spoke of being inspired to write it by an "inner voice" but the penmanship took only a few minutes. More accurately you could say it was 40 years in the making and 40 minutes in the writing. George spoke vaguely of a time of great pain that led to the hymn's composition. He never detailed the cause of the struggle but it comes through in the verse: "O Joy that seekest me through pain, I cannot close my heart to Thee; I trace the rainbow through the rain, and feel the promise is not vain, that morn shall tearless be." No wonder many have found these words helpful! God's servants bring most consolation to our world when they express the very comfort they themselves have received. Frustrated in some of your goals? Jilted in love? Struggling with failing health? Wondering about life's meaning? George has a word for you. Though his tongue lies in peace in the cemetery of his native Glasgow he wants you to know of a love that still reaches out to you from God's heart. Perhaps the following are the words for which his 66 years are best known: "O Love that wilt not let me go, I rest my weary soul in
Thee; I give Thee back the life I owe, that in Thine ocean depths its
flow may richer, fuller be."
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