| The Joy of Service |
Chapter 15 |
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The form of this fancy may be changed. I dreamt that a stranger came to my door, and desired to be my guest. There was something winsome in his face and manner. I felt at a glance that he could be my friend in the deepest sense, and that his influence upon my life would be inspiring. Instinctively I opened to him, and said as I took him up to his room, “This is your house while you are here. You are welcome to all that we have and are.”
Instantly he seemed like an old friend. He entered with zest and freedom into all our home life. There was no restraint in his manner, and his presence made no feeling of restraint in our home. At the table, at my request, he asked the blessing on our food, and then entered into the conversation in a most cheerful way. So the visit began, and so day after day it continued. Each day we saw some new beauty in our guest as he entered more and more deeply, but never obtrusively, into our home life.
But, strange to say, we had never learned his name. Indeed, the question, “Who is our guest?” seemed never to have arisen. At length, however, as we sat one day at the table, I noticed His hands, and there were prints of nails in them. Then I knew it was Jesus who was our guest. Yet I was not disturbed or overawed by this discovery. There was in Him such sweetness, such humanness, such beauty, such dear familiarity of friendship, that even the surprise of learning who the stranger was seemed not to amaze me. Only wondrous warmth came into my heart, and I felt that we would never lose this heavenly guest from our home. In the gladness of my feeling, as I listened to His cheerful table talk, I awoke, and my dream ended.
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