THE ONE SOURCE OF STRENGTH.
I have made no attempt to define the duties of any special household
department, or to suggest what share of work should fall to each
servant. Details must vary a good deal according to the number
employed, and the habits and rules of each family.
My object in writing has been to offer such advice to servants, and
particularly to young ones, as may help them to take a higher view of
their position, its trusts and responsibilities. To show them first how
great is the influence they possess, and, secondly, how they may use it
for good.
Such little word-pictures as I have drawn, by way of illustrating my
meaning, are all from real life and personal experience. I trust they
may serve either as examples or warnings to those who look on them with
an understanding eye.
I have wished to show girls in service that the very simplest
household work may be performed in such a manner as not only to please
your earthly employers, but to glorify your Master in heaven.
What must you be in order to do this? Faithful, obedient, honest, and
upright, true in word and deed; forbearing, kind, ready to forgive;
unselfish in your dealings with your fellow-servants, loving to the
little ones of the household; merciful to the dumb animals which depend
on human care, careful of the property committed to your keeping; doing
whatever you find to do in a large-hearted, loving spirit, so that
those who see you will acknowledge that thus you are striving to adorn
the doctrine of God your Saviour in all things.
Not in great things only. To do great things is the lot of but few.
It is the doing well the work belonging to our own place in the world
which alone is required from us. Remember the words used by Jesus in
the parable of the talents. To the servant who had received but two,
yet had turned them to the best account in his power, they were spoken,
the same as to him who had received five:--
‘Well done, good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a
few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into
the joy of thy Lord.’
I fancy I hear some young voices addressing me thus:--‘You set before
us a high standard; how shall we reach it? You own that we have
difficulties to struggle with; that we have many things to hinder
us, and so much both to learn and to unlearn. Some of us come from
poor homes at first, and have had very little training to fit us for
service. We have idle and careless habits to amend, self-indulgent ones
to fight against.
‘Many of us have been little used to think before speaking, or to fight
against hasty tempers.
‘Perhaps we do not think as kindly of our mistresses as we ought; but
consider them more our enemies than friends, and that their object is
to get as much work out of us as they can, and return us as little.
‘We have heard people talk of servants as domestic plagues, and the
“servants’ question” is often discussed as though we had no feelings at
all, or else all the bad ones.
‘No doubt we often try the patience of our mistresses by our mishaps
and mistakes. But if only they would not expect us who have not had
half their advantages to be perfect, to begin with, we should not get
disheartened and careless about pleasing, as we often do. We want to do
right, but----’
And the speakers pause, as travellers sometimes do at the foot of
some lofty mountain, in doubt whether it will be worth their while
to toil onward and upwards to the summit. Ah! the climber may not be
sure whether, after all his weary steps, the view will repay him. He
may reach the top, and find himself wrapped in a veil of fleecy mist,
through which his eyes cannot pierce, and he descends sorrowful and
disappointed.
But those who are toiling heavenward, no matter how rough the path by
which they follow Jesus, can never be disappointed. Each step made sure
renders the next easier; each fault conquered makes the victory over
another a something to be counted upon. Was the path of Jesus a smooth
one? Had He no cross to carry before He won the victory over sin,
Satan, death, and the grave, and returned in triumph to take again the
crown eternally His own?
What was our Master’s source of strength? Was it not found in frequent
prayer, in communion with God, in being armed with the sword of the
Spirit, even the revealed Word of God, and ever ready to use it?
Again I think I hear some of you say, ‘We have very little time or
opportunity for private prayer. We seldom have even a bedroom entirely
to ourselves. At night we are often up late; we must rise before the
rest of the family to prepare what is needed for their comfort. We
feel too tired to rise earlier still, in order to get the time for
prayer. During the day, if we think we will get a spare half-hour,
we are liable to many interruptions, and the sound of a bell may call
us from our knees almost as soon as we have bent them at our Father’s
footstool. Much cannot be expected from us--the time we have for prayer
is so short.’
True; and what a comfort to think that we can always count on being
judged according to our opportunities by Him to whom all hearts are
open and all desires known! And how sweet to remember that it is not
only our prayers which find utterance, but the very desires of our
hearts which are known to God! So the longing, earnest wish to be His
child, and to do His will, can be read as plainly as the expressed
petition can be heard by Him.
Let me ask you: Have you used all the opportunities you have had? If
you have only been able to call a few moments your own, have you spent
them in asking for the guidance of God’s Holy Spirit, who will lead
you to see your need, sinfulness, helplessness, and weakness; who will
reveal to you that dear Saviour in whom your wants will be supplied,
your sins pardoned, and strength given you for every good word and
work? Your hands may be busy, but you may lift up your heart in prayer.
You may be working for an earthly employer, yet holding sweet communion
with your Heavenly Father, God, and King.
It is not a long prayer that is needed. But in asking, you must want
also; in coming to God, you must believe in His will and His power to
hear, answer, and save to the uttermost all who approach Him in the
name of Jesus.
A short time since, I read the following anecdote:
‘At the battle of Edgehill, brave Lord Lindsay, with his son, Lord
Willoughby, headed the royal foot-guards. Immediately before charging,
he prayed aloud in these words, “O Lord, Thou knowest how busy I must
be this day. If I forget Thee, do not Thou forget me.” Then turning to
his men, he said, “March on, boys.”’ I cannot tell you how often this
little story has come into my mind since I read it, or how frequently I
have repeated, from my heart, the substance of that short prayer, ‘If I
forget Thee, O Lord, do not Thou forget me.’
And though you and I are placed in very different circumstances from
those in which the brave old soldier who uttered it found himself, we
also must march to battle every day and hour of our lives--the world,
the sinful desires of our own hearts, and the temptations of Satan,
being the foes we have to face, and, in God’s strength and by His
grace, to overcome.
We can go to the Bible for samples of short prayers, which obtained
sufficient and speedy answers. ‘God be merciful to me a sinner,’
gained one with enough of comfort to send home justified the penitent
publican. At the cry, ‘Lord, save, or we perish,’ Jesus arose, rebuked
the winds and waves, and there was a great calm. ‘Lord, remember me
when Thou comest to Thy kingdom,’ called back the assurance from the
dying Saviour to the sinner, enduring a punishment which he owned to
be the just reward of his deeds, ‘This day shalt thou be with Me in
paradise.’ Short petition, and what a brief reply! but enough to take
away the load of guilt, the dread of coming judgment, and the sting of
death itself from the thief upon the cross.
Let these examples cheer and comfort you when, amid the daily
occupations of a life of service, you lament that you have so little
time for prayer or quiet communion with God. If you are in earnest in
wishing for them, you will find more opportunities for both than you at
first imagined to be within your reach.
I remember being much struck with a prayer of which I can only recall a
few words, but these always remain and often recur to my mind: ‘O God,
when Thou comest to number up Thy jewels, do not forget that I cost
Thee as dear as any.’
Surely if we think what a price has been paid to redeem a sinner from
death, we shall have boldness to ask that, with His dear Son, God will
also, for His sake, freely give you all other good things. Do not be
cast down: the way is open, the invitation is for you, the welcome
is certain, and none need be discouraged. Come in heart, though your
hands may be busy and your feet running to and fro. Lift up your voice,
or your thoughts only, in prayer to God, though you cannot bend the
knee. You will never come to the Source of strength and be sent away
without a supply, for the fountain of God’s love is alike eternal and
inexhaustible.
Before I finish this chapter, let me suggest a few short prayers for
your use. We are told ‘in everything, by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving,’ to make our requests known unto God. We can bring the
little matters as well as the great things of our daily life, and
these words encourage us not only to ask but to supplicate, or beg
in earnest, that God will undertake for us. Also in asking for new
mercies, to remember past blessings, and to thank God for them, whether
spiritual or temporal ones.
When we are dressing in the morning, we may say,--
‘O God, I thank Thee for quiet sleep and rest; for health, strength,
safety, friends, food and shelter; but most of all for the gift of Thy
dear Son, my Saviour.’
When commencing our daily work,--
‘O Lord, help me to do everything as for Thee.
‘To take everything as from Thee.
‘To use all I have for Thy glory.’
Through the day, and when in company with others,--
‘Help me to act as remembering that Thou God seest me.
‘To speak as knowing that Thou hearest every word.
‘Create in me a clean heart, O God, for Thou knowest my inmost thoughts
and desires.’
In time of temptation,--
‘Help me, O God, to be true and just in all my dealings, not forgetting
that for all my actions I must give an account unto Thee.’
If unjustly blamed or provoked,--
‘O blessed Saviour, help Thy servant to copy Thy example, and to be
like Thee, meek, lowly, patient under provocation, kind and ready to
forgive.’
If feeling helpless and ignorant,--
‘What I know not, teach Thou me.’
If disheartened at the commonness of the work we have to do,--
‘O my Father, if I can do but little, help me to do that little well.
If I have but one talent, enable me to use it for the good of others,
the welfare of my own soul, and, above all, for Thy glory.’
Then we should not only pray for ourselves, but as members of the
family we live in, for the parents, children, our fellow-servants and
absent friends, and as God’s children for all His family everywhere.
However weary we may be at night, we may say these few words,--
‘O God, for Jesus’ sake forgive all I have done wrong during this day.
I thank Thee for all Thy good gifts, and pray that Thou wilt keep
me and all dear to me in peace and safety, through the hours of the
darkness.’
As a last thought, I would suggest that if the mistress will kneel with
her maid, and offer their united requests to God, incalculable benefits
would result to themselves and to the household in which they rule or
serve.