There is a devotional I read year after year. Every year, on July 30, I come to this poem which always makes me stop and evaluate my life, my acts of kindness (or lack thereof). It stays in my mind for days afterward, and though I am not a huge fan of poetry, these very old lines from Adelaide Proctor have punch. I share them with you:
It isn’t the thing you do
It’s the thing you leave undone
That gives you the bitter heartache at the setting of the sun
The tender word unspoken
The letter you did not write
The flower you might have sent are your haunting ghosts at night
The stone you might have lifted
Out of your brother’s way
The bit of heartfelt counsel you were hurried too much to say
The loving touch of the hand
The gentle and winsome tone
That you had no time or thought for with troubles enough of your own
Life is all too short
And sorrow is all too great
To allow our slow compassion that tarries until too late
It’s not the thing you do
It’s the thing you leave undone
That gives you the bitter heartache at the setting of the sun
Adelaide Proctor
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