In Retrospect

When I retired, I spoke of myself as a third generation Methodist preacher.  When my father died and my mother re-married some five years later, she married a Methodist preacher.  I grew in my adolescent years under his influence.  When his father, who was also a Methodist preacher died, I was blessed by being able to add some of his books to my fledgling library.  One of those books sorta jumped off the shelf the other day to be held and read again.  It was a book entitled, "Markings," by Dag Hammarskjold.  Hammarskjold was the Secretary General of the United Nations when his airplane crashed in 1961 as he was going to Rhodesia to negotiate a cease fire. 

It is not a book like a novel, nor does it follow the format of a personal diary though it could  be characterized as such, but it comes across more as spiritual reflection as he moves toward that moment some months before his death when he wrote on Whitdsunday, "I don't know Who--or what--put the question.  I don't know when it was put.  I don't even remember answering.  But at some moment I did answer Yes to Someone--or Something--and from that hour I was certain that existence is meaningful  and that, therefore, my life, in self surrender had a goal.  From that moment I have known what it means "not to look back," and "to take no thought for the morrow."   

In retrospect I cannot imagine my very young self being able to grasp what "Markings" had to say for even now as one who has had the benefit of more years than are deserved, I find myself still reading with wonder and amazement.  What I do know is that this man's writing which is surely a part of his legacy, had an impact on my journey of faith.  What I also know is that he is only one of many who pushed me toward the road that leads Home.  Today I am grateful for each of them.