This excerpt was written by F W Boreham and it comes from his book, The Silver Shadow.“Forgetting those things which are behind, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”- Philippians 3: 13-14
It was at Criccieth; and Mr. Lloyd George was playing golf. It happened that, after a round, he and a friend had to cross some fields in which cattle were grazing. ‘I was so eager to catch every word that fell from his lips,’ explains his companion, ‘that I failed to close one of the gates through which we passed.’ But Lloyd George noticed it, paused, went back and carefully shut and latched the gate. They resumed their walk.
‘Do you remember old Dr. ____________ ?’ he asked, mentioning a local worthy not long deceased. ‘When he was on his deathbed a clergyman went to him and asked him if there was anything he would like to say or any message he wanted to deliver. "No," answered the doctor, "except that through life I think I have always closed the gates behind me!"'
There is, I fancy, a good deal in that. I had in my congregation at Mosgiel a little old man of singular serenity of countenance and sweetness of disposition. Nothing seemed to ruffle his faith or disturb the perfect tranquility of his spirit. One evening, in the early Autumn, he came down to the manse to bring me a basket of freshly gathered fruit. We sat for a while chatting. It was an hour for confidence, and he opened his heart to me. I asked him how he accounted for the calm which seemed a perpetual rebuke to our fretfulness and worry. He would not at first admit that he possessed any features that distinguished him from the rest of us. But I pressed my point, and at length he said, ‘Well. I'll tell you this. I've always made it a rule that when I've shut the door, I've shut the door!'
Source: F W Boreham, The Silver Shadow, pp 109-10.
Image: Bamboo Gate