“Meekness is self-giving and sharing even with those who demand all and give nothing in return; who take by force and thereby take advantage of the meekness which will not resist them. It is the very opposite of self-assertion and self-getting. Here in these little trees of meekness you have the perfect picture of the Kingdom of Heaven. For remember, the Kingdom of Heaven is everywhere where the law of love is practiced and perfectly obeyed and where I, who am the King of Love, reign. It is my Kingdom come in the hearts of men and then, through them, come on earth. The meek of the earth already live in heaven. That is to say, they have their roots in heaven, though for a little while longer their bodies are in the material world and subject to pain and death. The meek are like the lilies whose blossoms float on top of the water, but whose roots go down into quite another realm out of sight below the water.”

For a little while they sat without speaking, watching the King’s gardeners as they worked among the “happy” or blessed trees of Meekness, making incisions in them through which each tree might gladly and thankfully pour out its own self to others and in so doing be made ready to burst into a glory of bloom and fruitfulness.

At last Grace and Glory turned and looked again into the face of the King of Love, the one who plans for all his lovers such unutterably glorious destinies in the future. As she looked into his face and put her hand into his nail-pierced hand, close to the wound in his side through which his very life had been poured forth for all mankind, she prayed him to show her how she too might pour forth her own life to share with others.

Before they left the Mountain of Meekness he sang her another of the mountain songs:

O blessed are the patient meek

Who quietly suffer wrong;

How glorious are the foolish weak

By God made greatly strong;

So strong they take the conqueror’s crown,

And turn the whole world upside down.

O dreaded meek! None can resist

The weapon which they wield,

Force melts before them like a mist,

Earth’s “strong ones” faint and yield.

Yea—slay them, lay them in the dust,

But bow before them, earth’s might must.

Immortal meek! who take the earth

By flinging all away!

Who die—and death is but their birth,

Who lose—and win the day.

Hewn down and stripped and scorned and slain,

As earth’s true kings they live and reign.

O Christ-like meek! by heaven blessed,

Before whom hell must quake,

By foolish, blinded men oppressed,

Who yet the earth do shake.

O “seed” of him who won through loss,

And conquered death while on a cross.

Chapter 17 Mountain of Aloes (Self-Control) Self-Controlled by Love

CHAPTER 17
Mountain of Aloes
SELF-CONTROL: Self-Controlled by Love