Quiet Talks on ServiceGordon, S. D. (Samuel Dickey)
Religion
Quiet Talks on Service
Gordon, S. D. (Samuel Dickey)
Christian life
Sometimes worry is carrying a load that one should not carry at all. I
think it was Lyman Beecher who said that he got along very comfortably
after he gave up running the universe. Some good earnest people are
greatly concerned about the way things in the world are going, I'm obliged
to confess to some pretty serious blunders there. It seemed to me that
there was so much to be done, so many people needing help, so much of
wrong and sin to fight that I must be ever pushing and never sleeping. I
had to sleep of course; but all my burden, which meant the burden of the
world's need as I saw it, was lugged faithfully to bed every night. There
was a lot of pillow-planning. But I found that the wrinkles grew thick,
and the physical strength gave out, and yet at the end of vigorous
campaigning there _seemed_ about as much left to do as ever.
Then one day my tired eyes lit upon that wondrous phrase, "the lord of the
harvest." It caught fire in my heart at once. "Oh! there is a _Lord_ of
the harvest," I said to myself. I had been forgetting that. He is a Lord,
a masterful one. He has the whole campaign mapped out, and each one's part
in helping mapped out too. And I let the responsibility of the campaign
lie over where it belonged. When night time came I went to bed to sleep.
My pillow was this, "There is a _Lord_ of the harvest."
My keynote came to be _obedience_ to Him. That meant keen ears to hear,
keen judgment to understand, keeping quiet so the sound of His voice would
always be distinctly heard. It meant trusting Him when things didn't seem
to go with a swing. It meant sweet sleep at night, and new strength at the
day's beginning. It did not mean any less work. It did seem to mean less
friction, less dust. Aye, it meant better work, for there was a swing to
it, and a joyous abandon in it, and a rhythm of music with it. And the
undercurrent of thought came to be like this: There is a _Lord_ to the
harvest. He is taking care of things. My part is full, faithful,
intelligent obedience to Him. He is a Master, a masterful One. He is
organizing victory. And the fine tingle of victory was ever in the air.
Do Your Best--Leave the Rest.
I knew a mother one of whose sons was not a Christian man, and not of good
habits. She was a devoted true Christian woman, bearing her part in life's
service with fine faith and a keen sweet spirit. The children were all
Christians but this one, her first-born, the beginning of her strength.
The thought of him troubled her much. She prayed fervently, and used her
best endeavor, and the years grew on without change. And her face showed
the burden upon her fine spirit. We would talk together about her son, and
pray together, but her brow remained clouded.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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