QUIET HOUR

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 7 August 1926, Page 8

QUIET HOUR

WAYSIDE MINISTRIES

(Selected.) There arc two ways in which all ot us work, and two classes ot results which flow from our lives. There arc things we do purposely—that we deliberately plan to do. Wo take pains to do them. We spend long years oftentimes in fitting ourselves to do them. They cost us thought and care. We travel many miles, perchance, to perform them. They are the things we live to do. , , Then there are other things that we do that have formed no part ot our plan We did not set out m the morni„<r to accomplish them. They arc unplanned, unpurposed things, not premeditated or prearranged. * h ,fy are wayside ministries. They are the little things 'we do between the greater things. They are the minor kindnesses and courtesies that, fill up the interstices of our busy days. They are the smaller opportunities which open to us as we carry our great responsibilities Thev are the things of which we take no note, and perhaps retain no memorv— mere touches given as wo hasten' by, words dropped as we pass along. . . . , „ We set no store by this part oi our life-work. We do not expect to see any result from it. We pride ourselves on our groat masterpieces. We point to' them as the things which fitly represent us, the things in which we hope to live. And vet oftentimes those unpnrposed things are the holiest and most beautiful things we do, far outshining those which we ourselves prize so highly. I believe that when the books are opened it will be seen that the very best part of many lives are the parts by which they set no store and from which they expected no outcome, no fruits, while the things they took pride in and wrought with plan and pains shall prove to be of but small value. The Lord tells us that the righteous shall be surprised in the judgment to hear of noble deeds wrought by them of which they have no knowledge or recollection. No doubt there is a wondrous amount of good done unconsciously, of which the doers shall never be aware until it is disclosed in the future life. In all true living, while men execute their greater plans, they are ever unintentionally performing a series of secondary acts which often yield most beneficent and far-reaching results. There is a wayside ministry, for instance, made up of countless little courtesies, gentle words, mere passing touches on the lives of those we meet casually, impulses given by our salutations, influences flowing indirectly from the things we do and the words' we speak—a ministry undesigned, unplanned, unnoted, merely incidental — and yet it is impossible to measure the results of these accidents of usefulness.

We go out in the morning to our round of duties, and perform them with more or less-faithfulness and effectiveness. But during the busy hours of the day we find opportunity for doing many minor kindnesses. Wc meet a friend on the street whose heart is heavy, end wc stop to speak a word of thoughtful cheer and hope which sings in his car like a bar of angels' song all day long. Wo ring a neighbour’s doorbell as we go out from dinner, to inquire for his sick child, and there, is a Jiltie more brightness in that sad home all the afternoon because of this thoughtfulness." We walk a few steps with a young .man who is in danger of slipping" out of the way, and let fall a sincere word of interest which he will remember and which may help to save him.

All sorts, of people come to us on all sorts of errands during the day. We cannot talk much to each, and yet we maj r drop into each heart a word of kindness that will prove a seed of beauty. We meet people in business relations. To talk to them on religious themes may be neither practicable nor expedient. And yet there is not one of them to whom we may not minister in some way. One man has had sorrow in his home. His face carries the marks of sore struggle and inward pain. By a gentler bearing, a mellowed speech, a heartier hand-grasp or longer pressure and a thoughtful expression of the sympathy and interest we feci, wo send him away strangely comforted. Another is staggering under financial burdens, and a hopeful word gives him courage to. stand more bravely under his load. We are writing business letters, and we put in a personal sentence or a kindly inquiry, revealing a human heart even, amid the great clashing grinding wheels of business, and it carries a pulse of bettor feeling into some dingy office and some dreary treadmill life far away. Not one of these things have we done with any clear thought, or even consciousness of doing good, and yet, they yield loveliness and fragrance to brighten many a bare and toilsome path. In every life there are opportunities for wayside ministry. Indeed, the voluntary activities of any life do not by any means measure its influence. 'The things we do with deliberate intention make but a small part of the sum total of our life results. Our influence has no nights and keeps no Sabbaths. It is continuous as life itself. We are leaving impressions all the while on other lives. There is a 'ministry in our handshaking, in our greeting, in the. most casual conversation, in the very expression we wear on our faces as we move along the street, in the gentle sympathy that adds such a thrill of strength to fainting weariness—- “ Like moonlight on a troubled sea, Brightening Ihe storm it cannot calm. ’ ’ To meet some folk on the sidewalk arid have their cheery “Good-morning,” makes one. happier all day. To encounter others is as dispiriting as meeting a funeral procession. There is a magic potency always in a sunny face. There is a holy aroma always about unselfish love. A joyful person scatters gladness like song-iiotes. A consecrated Christian life sheds a tender warmth wherever it moves. What a wondrous sphere of usefulness is tlms opened, to every one. of us! Preparation for it is best made bv heart-culture.

It is purity, truth, helpfulness and love that sanctify the influence. Pull of Christ, wherever, we move, we leave brightness and joy. Amid the busiest scenes, when engaged in the most, mo mentous labours, wo carry on at the same time a quiet, unpurposed ministry, whose results shall spring up in our pathway like lovely flowers, or echo again in the hearts of others in notes of holy song, or glow in human lives in touches of radiant beauty.