The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. XX. No. 1003, March 18, 1899Various
General
The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. XX. No. 1003, March 18, 1899
Various
Children's literature -- Periodicals
When we think of it, does it not seem strange that “feigned lips,”
wandering thoughts, outward reverence without any real adoration, can
be permitted to pass current in our minds? We know that, in God’s
sight, one little act of kindness done for His sake, one spark of love
fanned into a flame which illumines the life of a fellow creature who
is sitting in darkness and the very shadow of death; one honest effort
after righteousness; one sentence of true prayer uttered with a sense
of need by longing lips; one note of true, spontaneous praise and
thanksgiving from a grateful heart; one cry for strength, light and
needed grace, spoken in the fewest words that can express desire; each
and all of these, though small in a sense, are precious and will not
be forgotten. Mere grains they may be, but they are living grains—the
seeds whence come grand harvests to God’s glory and our own good.
I have taken the higher and more important part of our subject first,
but we will come down to a lower level and speak a little about
carrying the same spirit of truth and thoroughness into our everyday
work.
I hope we all feel that we ought to render of our very best to God,
and to do this with full sincerity of purpose and of heart. Surely the
same spirit should enter into all our dealings and intercourse with our
neighbour. Whatever work may be entrusted to us, do not let us think
how little will pass muster, but what is the best we can do, and then
resolve on doing this.
We must never forget that whoever truly loves God will love his
neighbour also, and will prove this in daily life and intercourse.
I want you, my dear girl friends, to be animated by this spirit in
the home, whether you are a daughter or one who, in serving, serves
also the Lord Christ. In the work-room too, where so much of the
character and success of the employer depends on the thoroughness and
conscientiousness of the workers.
Do not give the mother, the mistress, or the outside employer cause
to complain that you put no heart into your work, or that, if you can
do it without immediate loss to yourself, you will bestow less pains
upon the portion which is below the surface and not likely to be so
carefully examined as the rest. To act in such a manner is to render
the merest eye-service. It is giving straw from which nearly all the
golden grain has been taken away. It is fair-seeming, but unreal and
untrue.
Little things sometimes illustrate important lessons. Some time ago,
two girls undertook to dress a couple of dolls which were exactly
alike and intended as presents for twin sisters, seven years old. Both
were equally anxious to give pleasure to the little people, but they
set about it in different ways. Each had the same amount to spend on
clothes, which was not to be exceeded, but the details were left to
themselves.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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