Already Immortal
My eternity is not to come, it is here, it is now. The life eternal is not merely the life beyond the grave, but the life on this side the grave. I am now in eternity, I am breathing the very air of those who have passed the gates. I am already immortal; death can no more destroy my life than it can destroy God’s life.
—George Matheson.
Three Great Hearts
There are some hearts like wells, green-mossed and deep
As ever summer saw;
And cool their water is,—yea, cool and sweet;—
But you must come to draw.
They hoard not, yet they rest in calm content,
And not unsought will give;
They can be quiet with their wealth unspent,
So self-contained they live.
And there are some like springs, that bubbling burst
To follow dusty ways,
And run with offered cup to quench his thirst
Where the tired traveler strays;
That never ask the meadows if they want
What is their joy to give;
Unasked, their lives to other life they grant,
So self-bestowed they live!
And One is like the ocean, deep and wide,
Wherein all waters fall;
That girdles the broad earth, and draws the tide,
Feeding and bearing all;
That breathes the mists, that sends the clouds abroad,
That takes, again to give;—
Even the great and loving heart of God,
Whereby all love doth live.
—Caroline Spencer.
Alternate Reading: Revelation 21: 3-4 and 22: 5.