| The Joy of Service |
Chapter 7 |
Page 6 |
Some people, when they think of how little they can do to help others, despair of making of their life anything worth while. They cannot leave blessings in the world. They cannot speak words that will impress others, or write books that will give cheer, comfort, and hope to any one. They cannot do kindnesses which the recording angel will care to write down to their account. But God can use the smallest deeds, the smallest words, even a smile that comes from a loving heart, in making the world happier and sweeter. No thing that has love in it ever perishes or fails to be useful.
“The look of sympathy, the gentle word
Spoken so low that only angels heard,
The secret act of pure self sacrifice
Unseen by men but marked by angels’ eyes–
These are not lost.
“The sacred music of a tender strain
Wrung from a poet’s heart by grief and pain,
And chanted timidly with doubt and fear
To busy crowds that scarcely pauses to hear–
It is not lost.
“The kindly plans devised for others’ good,
So seldom guessed, so little understood,
The quiet, steadfast love that strove to win
Some wanderer from the woeful ways of sin–
These are not lost.”
Page 6