One of my favorites, Rudyard Kipling reminds us that our time on the New Earth won’t be spent sitting around doing nothing. . . On the contrary, it will only be than that we can increasingly, for all of eternity, be all God intended us to be – – being creative, working, glorifying Christ, and enjoying him forever.
(I do have at least one question about the poem- – see if you catch it reading through, and then notice my follow-up note).
L ‘Envoi by Rudyard Kipling
When Earth’s last picture is painted and the tubes are twisted and dried,
When the oldest colours have faded, and the youngest critic has died,
We shall rest, and, faith, we shall need it — lie down for an aeon or two,
Till the Master of All Good Workmen shall put us to work anew!And those that were good shall be happy: they shall sit in a golden chair;
They shall splash at a ten-league canvas with brushes of comets’ hair;
They shall find real saints to draw from — Magdalene, Peter, and Paul;
They shall work for an age at a sitting and never be tired at all!And only the Master shall praise us, and only the Master shall blame;
And no one shall work for money, and no one shall work for fame,
But each for the joy of the working, and each, in his separate star,
Shall draw the Thing as he sees It for the God of Things as They Are!
Kipling says, that no one shall work for “fame.” By that, I assume he means the applause of people in a people centered way — and, yet,we will work for “fame” with the Master, and there will be awareness and recognition by God’s people – – So, we will work for fame in the best sense of the thing.
I love the phrase, “They shall work for an age at a sitting, and never be tired at all.” I suppose everyone who has ever taken a stab at writing, knows that the frustration of wanting to write more . . . yet, wearing out physically – –
