“Everywhere I find the signature, the autograph of God, and he will never deny his own handwriting. God hath set his tabernacle in the dewdrop as surely as in the sun. No man can any more create the smallest flower than he could create the greatest world.” - Signature by Joseph Parker, an excerpt from The Treasure Chest, edited by Charles L. Wallis, and published in 1965 by Harper and Row, publishers.
“We are not hen’s eggs, or bananas, or clothes-pins, to be counted off by the dozen. Down to the last detail, we are all different. Everyone has his own fingerprints. Recognize and rejoice in that endless variety. The white light of the divine purpose streams down from heaven to be broken up by these human prisms into all the colors of the rainbow. Take your own color in the pattern - and be just that…” - Variety by Charles L. Wallis, and published in 1965 by Harper and Row, publishers.
And before you think there is nothing more to create, I’d like you to think about all the songwriters playing with a lyric line and a melody right now, the artists in their studios standing before an empty canvas, ready to apply the first brushstroke, the writer sitting in front of the word processor ready to begin Chapter One, the inventors who tinker away at an idea in their workshop. Eventually, they will all end up with something they can attach their signature to, even if the song is only sung for themselves, the painting hung on the wall of one room, the words read out loud as a bedtime story, or a better mousetrap that only works for the person who created it.
We recently lost a prolific writer who gave us so many remarkable visions of the future. I read his science fiction stories with great interest. It was partly his vision that got us dreaming about the year 2000. And then he got us thinking ahead to the year 2010. In his vision of the future, a journey to the stars was just the beginning. He was a creator of fantastic worlds that still live in our imaginations. When we dream of the day when computers and humans will engage in a conversation, we hope the computer isn’t called ‘Hal’. We lost a great mind with the passing of Arthur C. Clarke. We can only imagine what he would have created for us next. His next chapter is just a beginning.
“God gave us a world unfinished, so that we might share in the joys and satisfactions of creation. He left oil in Trenton Rock. He left electricity in the clouds. He left the rivers unbridged - and the mountains untrailed. He left the forests unfelled and the cities unbuilt. He left the laboratories unopened. He left the diamonds uncut. He gave us the challenge of raw materials, not the satisfaction of perfect, finished things. He left the music unsung and the dramas unplayed. He left the poetry undreamed, in order that men and women might not become bored, but engage in stimulating, exciting, creative activities that keep them thinking, working, experimenting, and experiencing all the joys and durable satisfactions of achievement.” - Our Unfinished World by Allen E. Stockdale, another excerpt from The Treasure Chest, edited by Charles L. Wallis, and published in 1965 by Harper and Row, publishers, Pg 8.
In other words, it’s time to put your own signature on your life…
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Don Jackson
