The Water-mill

As I was correcting reading assignments from last year (another item on my to-do list mentioned last week!), I came across this poem in one of the girls' readers. The author is not named.

Listen to the water-mill;
Through the live-long day

How the clanking of the wheels
Wears the hours away!

Lazily the autumn wind
Stirs the greenwood leaves,
While in the fields the reapers sing,
Binding up the sheaves.

Then comes this saying to my mind --
A saying true to the last --
"The mill will never, never grind
With the water that has passed."

Take this lesson to yourself,
And study it through and through;
For golden years are fleeting by,
And youth is passing too.

Learn to make the most of life,
Lose no happy day;
For time will never bring you back
The moments thrown away.

Leave no tender word unsaid;
And love while life shall last.
"The mill will never, never grind
With the water that has passed."

Work while yet the daylight shines,
Man of strength and will!
Never does the mill-stream glide
Vainly by the mill.

Wait not till to-morrow's sun
Beams upon the way;
All that you can call your own
Lies in your to-day.

Clear mind, strong body, youth and health,
May not, cannot last;
"The mill will never, never grind
With the water that has passed."

How many times have we, as parents, marveled at how quickly our children grow? at how fast time flies? at how each passing year seems shorter than the one before?

I am trying (oh, how I am TRYING!) to embrace each moment, not just survive each day. I am trying to overlook the things my mind tells me NEED to be done, in favor of the things my children's hearts are aching for: mom REALLY listening, hugging, tickling, playing, cuddling, teaching, and working alongside them, not in spite of their presence. Sometimes I succeed; more often I fail. But striving to live life thus intentionally means the more I remind myself of what is REALLY important, the easier it will be for my will to choose that good.

And, in that, I find great comfort. And hope. And JOY.

Lord, help us all to learn to make the most of the life You have given us. Teach us to leave no tender word unsaid and to love while life shall last. May we persevere in our work while the daylight shines, and rest in You when evening falls. Amen.