| Making the Most of Life |
Chapter 14 |
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Things we do for others in Christ’s name are done for him. We all remember that wonderful “inasmuch” in the twenty fifth of Matthew. If we find the sick one, or the poor one, and go and minister, as we may be able, as unto the Lord, the deed is accepted as if done to him in person. Mrs. Margaret J. Preston, in one of her beautiful poems, tells of a weary sister who grieved sorely because, as it seemed to her, she had not been able to do any work for Christ. By a mother’s dying bed she had promised to care for her little sister and her work for the child so filled her hands that she had not time for anything else. As she grieved thus once, the little sister sleeping beside her stirred and told her of a sweet, strange dream she had had. She thought her sister was sitting sad because the King had bidden each one to bring him a gift.
“And in my dream I saw you there,
And heard you say, ‘No hand can bear
A gift, that are so filled with care.’
“‘What care?’ The King said, and he smiled
To hear you answer, wailing wild,
‘I only toil to feed a child.’
“And then with such a look divine
(’Twas that awaked me with its shine),
He whispered, ‘but the child is mine.’”
There are many for whom this little story poem should have sweet comfort. There are fathers and mothers who find it hard to provide for their children. It takes all their time and strength, and sometimes they say, “I cannot do any work for Christ, because it takes every moment to earn bread and clothing for my little ones, and to care for them.” But Jesus whispers, “Yes; yet your children are mine, and what you do for them you do for me.”
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