They Will Keep

I remember an exchange in the recent movie Jane Eyre (also in the book) between St. John Rivers and Jane. It’s so simple, but it showcases a great character who isn’t consumed with ambition or personal gain. 

St. John Rivers worries that Jane’s simple work and life is somehow beneath her or wasteful. 

He asks: “What will you do with all your fine accomplishments? 

Jane Eyre replies: “will save them until they’re wanted. They will keep.”

While I’m remembering this quote, two different friends point out the incredible story of the American Agava plant that has waited 80 years to bloom. This very week, the plant has bloomed at Michigan’s Matthaei Botanical Gardens.

I learn something about this plant whose fine accomplishment has been kept for 80 years. 

Nobody knows why it waited so long. Nobody can explain the particular timing of it. It’s a mystery. 

All I can think about is the truth that our gifts and offerings to the world will keep until the right time–when they’re needed. 

Until then, we live in the mystery of it and the comfort that we can save all our offerings until they’re wanted. 

They will keep.




Share the Post:

0 Responses

  1. Oh Heather, I so needed to hear this today. Yesterday was hard as someone contacted my husband about a book they wanted. I knew I had a copy and searched. As I did, I came upon studies and journals and my past.
    And I began to fret and mourn over Past.
    Now I see that whatever the Lord used in the past will continue to keep until it is wanted again. Mystery and comfort, indeed!

  2. Hi Heather! I love your writing and very much relate to the feeling of perpetual angst. It is exhausting – and I often worry that I'm alone in my perpetual quest for peace of mind, that the rest of the world is much better able to cope and doesn't analyze life nearly as much as I do! I liked what you write last week – “I always feel a little off-kilter, like a tipping sailboat. I always
    feel an undercurrent of homesickness, a not-rightness, a longing…” I wonder if this is because earth isn't our home. Does God intend for us to feel tossed about so we keep searching for Him? Thanks for sharing! I really enjoy your blog and can definitely relate…

  3. When I get in my bratty way of wishing things were different and all, I remember this quote, one that is nice on its own, but when I look at who wrote it, I quickly come out of my 'poor me' rant: “So much has been given to me; I have no time to ponder over that which has been denied” by Helen Keller How dare I complain!
    I love your revelation: “Yes, forgiveness of sin that separates me from God–this is what I most desperately need. And because I have it already, I ask God to restore the truth of it to me, the pure and raw joy of it.”