| The Joy of Service |
Chapter 6 |
Page 4 |
It is a serious thing to give a traveler who asks the way a careless or mistaken direction by which he is led out of his course, perhaps to his own great loss or disadvantage. It is a serious thing to give unwise advice to a young person, or to any one who is seeking guidance in perplexity. Wrong advice has wrecked many a destiny. We cannot too carefully weigh our language when we are speaking words which may influence or shape the lives of others, or determine the course they shall take.
All our influence over others is included in the deposit committed to us. Everyone has his influence. God puts into the hands of each one of us something which belongs to Him, which we are to carry through this world for Him, and bring at last to His feet. When a little child is laid in a young mother’s arms, something of God’s work which no other one can do becomes hers. She is charged to guard the precious life in its journey across this world, and to lead it safely home. Her keeping includes far more than the child’s body. Its whole being is entrusted to her that she may woo out in it whatever of beauty and strength is folded up in the immortal soul; that she may train the life for its mission, and develop in it all its possibilities of power and usefulness.
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