| The Every Day of Life |
Chapter 13 |
Page 5 |
Here is a young man in sore temptation. He is tangled up with evil associations, which have thrown their chains about him. He is in danger of being swept away. You know it and see it all. You are near him, and your heart is full of sympathy with him. You speak to some of your friends of his danger, but you do not say a word to him. Yet it may be that a true word, the expression of your loving interest at the right time, might have saved him. Unspoken sympathy is better than indifference.
Your neighbor is in sorrow. It is known for days and days that a loved one is hovering between life and death. Then the crape on the door announces that death has conquered and that the home is darkened. You want to help, but shrink from intruding upon the sorrow. With a heart full of affection, longing to be of use, you do nothing. Is there no way by which your brotherly love might make your neighbor’s load a little lighter or their heart a little stronger? Are we not too timid in the presence of others’ sorrows?
God wants us all to be true comforters. The priest passed coldly by on the other side when he saw the wounded person. The Levite seemed to do better, for he drew nigh and looked upon the sufferer with a feeling of compassion. But his compassion issued only in a sigh, for he too passed on without giving any help. The Good Samaritan alone-illustrated love’s whole ministry, for his sympathy took shape immediately in most practical relief. Sorrow is very sacred, and we must enter its sanctuary with reverence; but we must beware that we do not fail in affection’s duty in the hour when either a brother or sister’s heart is broken.
Perhaps it is in our homes that the lesson is most needed. There is great deal of love there that never finds expression. We keep sad silences oftentimes with those who are dearest to us, even when their hearts are crying out loudest for words. In many homes that lack rich and deep happiness, it is not more love that is needed, but the flowing out of love in little words, acts, and expressions. A husband loves his wife and would give his life for her; but there are days and days that he never tells her so, nor reveals the sweet truth to her by any sign or token. The wife loves her husband with warm, faithful affection, but she has fallen into the habit of making no demonstration, saying nothing about her love, going through the duties of the home life almost as if there were no love in her heart. No wonder husbands and wives drift apart in such homes. Hearts too need their daily bread, and starve and die if it is withheld from them.
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