Weekly Reading: Chapters 18 & 19

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Hi all, Rainey here! Thank you for joining me for this week’s episode of Tip Lewis and His Lamp! Let us once again open the pages of this little green book, and watch the story unfold…

Little by little, Kitty Lewis is changing. The harsh, saucy, outspoken young girl is learning what it means to love and be loved for the first time in her life. Her brother’s fervent and faithful prayers have led her to the cross, but what’s the next step?

A brief interview with Minister Holbrook finally brings the answer to light:

“Well now, Kitty, almost the first things which people think of after they have found Jesus, is something to do for Him; they begin to look around to see what they can find. What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know, Sir; I haven’t got anything I can do.”

“Ah! That’s a mistake; you can find plenty of work if you look for it; only don’t look too far, because it is the little bits of things, which come right in your way, that Jesus wants you to do. When you brush up the room, and set the table neatly, and brighten the fire, and do little thoughtful things to help your mother,—then you are pleasing Jesus, doing work for Him.” 

Pleasing Jesus…now there’s a new thought!

Up until this point, Kitty has only ever lived for herself, but things are different now. A strange new desire to please and serve her Savior has entered her young heart—but it isn’t going to be easy. Mother is just as cross and quarrelsome as ever, Father can’t leave his room, and the house—well, let’s just say, it’s more fit for pigs than for human habitation! And yet…nothing worth doing is ever easy.

One cold wintry day, the opportunity comes. Mr. Lewis is in bed, Mrs. Lewis is out doing errands for a neighbor, and Tip is on a quest for a new grammar book. Kitty is left all alone, and as she stands in her childhood home, a sudden idea settles upon her. Now here was something she can do!

As she begins her worthy work, one improvement leads to another, and, slowly but surely an entirely new room emerges from the layers of filth. (Goodbye, disgusting butter-flies and dust bunnies!) What is the effect of this surprising change? Let’s find out…

All evening there seemed a spell on the Lewis family. Mrs. Lewis didn’t say one cross word; indeed, she had no cause, for in Kitty’s heart there was a strange, new feeling of love for her mother, of longing to please and give her comfort…This was the first coming of home-comfort for the family…and they were happy.

Growing up, my mom always told us kids to “leave a place better than you found it.” Kitty does just that—but not merely through hard work and tireless cleaning. Far greater than these acts of service are the kind ministrations and affectionate greetings that she bestows upon her family. Then, as the busy day comes to a close, and Kitty looks upon her mother’s bewildered face, and hears the warm tone in her voice, a beautiful thought enters her mind…

“Mr. Holbrook told me true; I do believe. I guess I have pleased Jesus today; I feel so.”

Little Kitty Lewis has learned that to please others above herself is to please Jesus. She has learned the blessedness of God’s own words, 

“It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).

and,

“...it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).

God always has a work for his children to do. This week, this very day and hour, may we learn to see the work that is set before us. May we have eyes to see how we can alleviate the cares of those around us, bringing comfort and joy, and do those little bits of things that will bring our Father pleasure. For it is through these labors of love that we bring a smile to our Father’s face. 

Until next time!