| The Joy of Service |
Chapter 1 |
Page 7 |
There is a beautiful legend which tells that one shepherd was kept at home, watching a fevered guest, the night the angels came to Bethlehem with the announcement of the birth of Jesus, and sang their songs of joy. The other shepherds saw the heavenly host, heart their song, and beheld the glory. Returning home, their hearts were wondrously elated. But all the night Shemuel sat alone by the restless sufferer, and waited. His fellow shepherds pitied his deprivation, – that he missed the vision and the glory which they had seen. But in his lowly serving Shemuel had blessing and reward of his own. He missed, indeed, the splendour of that night in the fields, and in his serving he gave his own life: but his eyes saw then a more wondrous glory than that which his fellow shepherds had seen.
“Shemuel, by the fever bed,
Touched by beckoning hands that led,
Died and saw the Uncreated;
All his fellows lived, and waited.”
He had waited by the bed of sickness while they saw the glory; now they waited amid earth’s dull scenes while he witnessed the glory of the Eternal. So it is always in life in this world. Those who sit by fever beds, and minister to human need in its countless forms, seem to miss much that is very beautiful. Their holy ministry keeps them away from places of honour, even from scenes of spiritual ecstasy. While at their common tasks they see not the angel hosts nor hear the music. Absorption in the duties of human love in the home, or among the poor, causes men and women to miss much that the world esteems. But meanwhile there is a higher reward, not only in the store at the end, but even now, for those who serve. They enter more fully and deeply into the joy of the Lord; and then, in heaven, they will be received into holier fellowship, closer to Christ.
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