" I Have Finished the Work"

 "I have finished the work."

 

What words!

    Thirty three years of life lay behind,

        three years of ministry,

            adulation and rejection,

                rest and weariness,

                    callings of mercy,

                        works of healing,

                            declarations of judgement. 

 

And now we have the summing up,

    now the final declaration.

He knew the Father's will and He did it -

    "I have finished the work." 

For us, time yet stretches before us.

"The evening bringeth all things home,"

-but not yet.

 For us who read these words there is yet time,

     there are yet more days.

        And over all there is still a Responsibility.

 

There are days to end with, "I have finished the work."

    There are weeks that await for us to fulfill God's call to us.

 

    Someday, we know not when, will be our last day on earth

        and what may it be to reach heaven and proclaim,

            "I have finished the work."