365 Devotionals

Maintaining the Mainspring: chapter 8

Maintaining the Mainspring

Russell C. Thomas writes: “Not long ago my watch was losing time, so I took it to a watchmaker. He asked me when I wound it. ‘Every night,’ I said.

‘Always wind your watch the first thing in the morning,’ he advised. ‘If you do that, I don’t think you’ll have any more trouble. You see, during the day watch must cope with many jars and jolts. If the watch has been wound the night before, the tension on the spring is weaker and the watch can’t withstand shock as well. But a watch that is wound in the morning can take all these in it’s stride. So,’ he concluded, ‘It’s always better to begin the day with a strong spring.’

I took the advice, and now my watch keeps time perfectly. As I reflected upon what he had said, it seemed a perfect analogy for our need to spend more time with God - our mainspring - each morning if we are not to be dragged down by the jars and jolts of daily life.”

Someone has declared, “Ten minutes spent with Christ’s company every morning, aye, two minutes, if it be face to face and heart to heart will change the whole day.”

A moment in the morning, ere the cares of he day begin,

Ere the heart’s wide door is open for the world to enter in;

Ah, then alone with Jesus, in the silence of the morn,

In heavenly sweet communion let your duty be born.

In the quietude that blesses, with a prelude of repose,

Let your soul be soothed and softened, as the dew revives the rose.

A moment in the morning take your bible in your hand,

And catch a glimpse of glory from the peaceful promised Land;

It will linger sill before you when you seek the busy mart,

And like flowers of hope will blossom into beauty in your heart.

The precious words like jewels will glisten all the day,

With a rare, effulgent glory that will brighten all the way.

A moment in the morning, - a moment, if no more, -

It is better than an hour when the trying day I o’er.

‘Tis the gentle dew from heaven, manna for the day, -

If you fail to gather early, alas, it melts away!

So in the blush of the morning take the offered hand of love,

And walk in Heaven’s pathway and the peacefulness thereof.

                                                                  - Helen Steiner Rice