Being Arrived

Yet be it less or more, or soon or slow,
It shall be still in strictest measure ev’n
To that same lot, however mean or high,
Toward which Time leads me, and the will of Heav’n;
All is, if I have grace to use it so,
As ever in my great Task-master’s eye.

The weapon Milton wields to battle anxiety is faith.

He vows, “be it less or more, or soon or slow,” whether his accomplishments are regarded as more or less than the accomplishments of his contemporaries, and whether the pace of his race runs faster or slower than others in the race is irrelevant. He commits to finish his own race well.

What does matter above all else lifts Milton’s cry, “(i)t shall be in strictest measure ev’n/To that same lot, however mean or high,/Toward which time leads me, and the will of heaven.”

The rate, pace and merit of personal success is a hallow shadow of our work here.

Faith promises personal progress will always be on level with or equal to the perfect timing God measures for individual.

Milton’s Faith reigns over all personal anxieties, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.,” he sings in iambic pentameter over his own life.

The irony that he gets down and jigitty with the idea in the closed format of a Petrachan sonnet simply delights.

Liberty inward metamorphosed form.

Milton keeps good company with Pindar here:  “But, whatsoever excellence Lord Destiny assigned me, Well I know that the lapse of time will bring it to its appointed perfection.”

Milton consoles himself  and his reader with the assurance that his abilities are God-given, divinely metered, and perfectly timed to open and ripen at the pace and will of God’s own dictate.

“All is, if I have grace to use it so,/As ever my great task-master’s eye,” alludes to  The Parable of the Talents in the On His Being Arrived to the Age of Twenty-three‘s final couplet.

Personally, I find a measure of relief that Milton was anxious about his ability to perform.

Sorry for you, a more brilliant mind never composed verse, and yet, he published a sonnet that documents his very real doubt that he had what it takes.

Mind you, this is the same poet that later sets out to, “Justify the ways of God to men.”

Today is a good day to trust God’s timing.

He perfectly times our portions and always delivers.

He held John Milton when he was 23.

He holds Ashley.

He holds you.

He holds me.

We shall be in strictest measure ev’n
To that same lot,
however mean or high,
Toward which time leads me,
and the will of heaven.

Our journeys are God-given, divinely metered, and perfectly timed to open and ripen at the pace and will of God’s own dictate.

Rest with confidence in Light of Love and sing Praise!

Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah

Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah

Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah!