The Master Refiner

   I have been doing very well for the better part of the summer and fall. I believe that it is a result of all of your prayers for us and the Masses that are offered for us, as well as some good medical care. I am truly blessed. I looked out the living room window this morning after reading the meditation that follows, and I saw a male and a female red cardinal sitting on the garden fence! The first red cardinals I have seen for several months. God is good!

    I thought I would share the meditation with all of you, since it struck me as very fitting for all of us, and especially for me. I start off with a bit of scripture:

Malachi Chapter 3:1-3

1)   Behold I send my angel, and he shall prepare the way before my face. And presently the Lord, whom you seek, and the angel of the testament, whom you desire, shall come to his temple. Behold he cometh, saith the Lord of hosts. [2] And who shall be able to think of the day of his coming? and who shall stand to see him? for he is like a refining fire, and like the fuller's herb: [3] And he shall sit refining and cleansing the silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and shall refine them as gold, and as silver, and they shall offer sacrifices to the Lord in justice.

Meditation For October 29^th Taken From “Streams In The Desert”

     Our Father, who seeks to perfect His saints in holiness, knows the value of the refiner’s fire. It is with the most precious metal that a metallurgist will take the greatest care. He subjects the metal to a hot fire, for only the refiner’s fire will melt the metal, release the dross, and allow the remaining, pure metal to take a new and perfect shape in the mold.

     A good refiner never leaves the crucible but, as the above verse indicates, “will sit” down by it so the fire will not become even one degree too hot and possibly harm the metal. And as soon as he skims the last bit of dross from the surface and sees his face reflected in the pure metal, he extinguishes the fire.

 

Author Tappan Pierson

He sat by the fire of sevenfold heat,

As He looked at the precious ore,

And closer He bent with a searching gaze,

As He heated it more and more.

He knew He had ore that could stand the test,

And He wanted the finest gold

To mold as a crown for the King to wear,

Set with gems with a price untold.

So He laid our gold in the burning fire,

Though we would have asked for delay,

And He watched the dross that we had not seen,

And it melted and passed away.

And the gold grew brighter and yet more bright,

But our eyes were so dim with tears,

We saw but the fire – not the Master’s hand,

And questioned with anxious fears.

Yet our gold shone out with a richer glow,

As it mirrored a Form above,

That bent o’er the fire, though unseen by us,

With a look of unspeakable love.

Should we think that it pleases His loving heart

To cause us a moment’s pain?

Not so! For He saw through the present cross

The joy of eternal gain.

So He waited there with a watchful eye,

With love that is strong and sure,

And His gold did not suffer a bit more heat,

Than was needed to make it pure.

 

Doesn’t that just about smack you between the eyes? We always wonder why people have to suffer, but God, the Master Refiner, has a plan for each of us. He did not say He came to take away our suffering, but to share in it with us.

Take care, have a great day, and God Bless all of you who are praying for our family as we journey down this road.