Call Back

I found the following poem quoted in a Beth Moore book this morning. It expresses so well the need to be encouragers of our brothers and sisters in Christ, and it reminded me how thankful I am of those who have "called back" to me to encourage me to "keep climbing".

Life is a steep climb, and it does the heart good to have somebody "call back" and cheerily beckon us ono up the high hill. We are all climbers together, and we must help one another. This mountain climbing is serious business, but glorious. It takes strenngth and steady step to find the summits. The outlook widens with the altitude. If anyone among us has found anything wortwhile, we ought to "call back."

If you have gone a little way ahead of me, call back—
‘twill cheer my heart and help my feet along the stony track;
And, if perchance, faith’s light is dim, because the oil is low,
your call will guide my lagging course as wearily I go.

Call back, and tell me that He went with you into the storm;
call back, and say He kept you when the forest’s roots were torn;
that when the heavens thundered and the earthquake shook the hill,
He bore you up and held you where the very air was still.

O friend, call back and tell me, for I cannot see your face;
they say it glows with triumph, and your feet bound in the race;
but there are mists between us, and my spirit eyes are dim,
and I cannot see the glory, though I long for word of Him.

But if you’ll say He heard you when your prayer was but a cry,
and if you’ll say He saw you through the night’s sin-darkened sky,
if you have gone a little way ahead, O friend, call back—
twill cheer my heart and help my feet along the stony track.

Mrs. Charles E. Cowman,
Streams in the Desert