| Things to Live For |
Chapter 7 |
Page 2 |
If only we understood that Christ himself is with us still and always, not only in his spiritual presence, but in the person of every needy or suffering one who belongs to him, it would transform all life for us, putting glory into the commonest lives, and the splendor of angel service into the lowliest ministry. How sacred it would make all life if we saw Christ in every one who comes to us in any need! We wish sometimes that we had lived when Jesus was here, and we say we would have served him most sweetly and lovingly. Would we? Mrs. Margaret E. Preston has taught us a needed lesson in one of her poems:–
“If I had dwelt”–so mused a tender woman,
All fine emotions stirred
Through pondering o’er that
Life, divine yet human,
Told in the sacred word–
“If I had dwelt of old, a Jewish maiden,
In some Judean street,
Where Jesus walked, and heard his word so laden
With comfort strangely sweet;
And seen the face, where utmost pity blended
With each rebuke of wrong,–
I would have left my lattice and descended,
And followed with the throng.
“‘Foxes have holes’–methinks my heart had broken
To hear the words so said,
While Christ had not–were sadder words e’er spoken?–
A place to lay his head!
I would have flung abroad my doors before him,
And in my joy have been
First on the threshold, eager to adore him,
And crave his entrance in!”
“Ah! Would you so?
Without a recognition
You passed him yesterday;
Jostled aside, unhelped, his mute petition,
And calmly went your way,
With warmth and comfort, garmented and girdled.
Before your window sill.
“Sad crowds swept by–and if your blood is curdled,
You wear your jewels still.
You catch aside your robes lest want should clutch them,
And you be thus defiled.
Oh! Dreamer, dreaming that your faith is keeping
All service free from blot,
Christ daily walks your streets, sick, suffering, weeping,
And you perceive him not!”
Page 2