Living the Radiant Life: A Personal NarrativeJames, George Wharton
Religion
Living the Radiant Life: A Personal Narrative
James, George Wharton
Conduct of life
Many a time I have bowed my soul in reverence and humility before a
group of Salvation Army lasses who, with sweet, gentle ministrations,
have cheered the dwellers in the wretched hovels of London, New York,
and other cities. I know one maiden, delicately constituted, and reared
in a home full of wealth and luxury, who felt this passionate call of
service so strongly, that, in spite of the protests of her relatives and
friends, she went to London, united with the Salvation Army, and with
her own beautiful and gentle hands, down upon her knees, has scrubbed
into cleanliness the floor of a drunken wife and drunken husband whose
children had never known a clean floor in the whole of their dirty and
wretched lives. I have helped her clean out the accumulated filth, of
what seemed to be months, in similar wretched places, and all this, as
well as the more refined ministrations of the mind and soul, were
offered with a sweet and gentle insistence that no one could take
offense at, and without an air of conscious self-approbation that one so
often finds in those who are seeking to minister to others.
But it is not only in this larger and devoted sense that I would radiate
my desire to serve and minister to my fellows. It is in the small and
every-day things of life, no matter what my work or surroundings may
be, that I would radiate this ministering spirit. What a pleasure it is
to do things for others. What a joy to realize that your friends love
you enough to want you to do something for them.
I find, however, that in the mind of many is the idea that certain
service is menial, and that they would not serve if they were not
obliged to do so for the money it brings. I have a deep and profound
pity in my soul for those who look upon life with this perverted vision.
If I were a waiter in a cheap restaurant, it seems to me it would be my
joy to serve the cheap meals as quickly and as cheerfully as I possibly
could. Surely ministering to the bodily wants of men and women is a
service which ought to be blessed. If I were a housemaid I feel that I
should find joy in making and keeping everything as orderly and tidy as
possible.
I have several times stayed in a semi-public institution where a great
number of nurses were employed, and I have watched both men and women
engaged in this beautiful service. In this particular place they all
seemed full of this passion for service. There was no impatience at the
often exacting calls and demands of the querulous and unreasonable
invalids. Their very lives were a dedication.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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