[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":4},["ShallowReactive",2],{"reading-1205":3},"DECEMBER 5\r\nO Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps (Jer. 10:23).\r\nLead me in a plain path (Psalm 27:11).\r\nMany people want to direct God, instead of resigning themselves to be directed by Him; to show Him away, instead of passively\r\n\r\nfollowing where He leads. --Madame Guyon.\r\nI said: \"Let me walk in the field\";\r\nGod said: \"Nay, walk in the town\";   I said: \"There are no flowers there\"; He said: \"No flowers, but a crown.\"\r\nI said: \"But the sky is black,\r\nThere is nothing but noise and din\";\r\nBut He wept as He sent me back,\r\n\"There is more,\" He said, \"there is sin.\"\r\nI said: \"But the air is thick,\r\nAnd fogs are veiling the sun\";\r\nHe answered: \"Yet souls are sick, And souls in the dark undone.\"\r\nI said: \"I shall miss the light,\r\nAnd friends will miss me, they say\"; He answered me, \"Choose tonight,  If I am to miss you, or they.\"\r\nI pleaded for time to be given;   He said: \"Is it hard to decide?   It will not seem hard in Heaven\r\nTo have followed the steps of your Guide.\"\r\nI cast one look at the field,\r\nThen set my face to the town;\r\nHe said: \"My child, do you yield?\r\nWill you leave the flowers for the crown?\"\r\nThen into His hand went mine, And into my heart came He;\r\nAnd I walk in a light Divine,\r\nThe path I had feared to see.\r\n--George MacDonald",1783499794093]